Candy Cane Kiss Blossoms

I had every intention of posting this recipe the week between Christmas and New Years but alas, life got in the way. It's funny how that happens.

These are pretty basic cookies. The cookie itself is the best chocolate cookie I've found. In fact, if I were to ever make cookie dough just to eat this would be the dough I made. Seriously, I'm lucky that cookies actually got baked. Holy cow I love this dough. I also like these with a combination of chocolate chips and vanilla chips. They would also be good with those cute little itty bitty Reese's peanut butter cups. I haven't seen those for a while so obviously chopped up miniatures would work well too. Pretty much anything you want to add to these is ok. I found the candy cane kisses and bought 2 bags not having any idea what I was going to do with them. Then I procrastinated my neighbor gifts until Christmas Eve and needed something that I already had all the ingredients for. Enter Candy Cane Kisses.

I didn't add any mint extract to the dough and I feel like the mint from the kisses was sufficient. If you like a stronger mint flavor like Andes mints give the dough a bit of mint extract.

Candy Cane Kiss Blossoms
Adapted from Our Best Bites

1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening
1/2 c. real butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
optional: 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
48 Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses, unwrapped
Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together softened butter, shortening, brown sugar, and white sugar for 1-2 minutes on medium-high speed or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla. Meanwhile, combine the baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the centers are set but still soft. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Top each cookie with an unwrapped Candy Cane Kiss. Allow to cool completely, long enough for the Kiss to harden. If necessary, after the cookies have cooled, they can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer to re-solidify the Kiss