Hershey’s Kiss Cookies are soft, chewy chocolate cookies topped with Hershey’s Kisses, ready in under 30 minutes! Perfect for the holidays!
Cookie Recipes are a popular dessert choice here and these chocolate cookies are the perfect complement to the fan favorite Peanut Butter Blossoms.
HERSHEY’S KISS COOKIES
Hershey’s Kiss Cookies are the PERFECT combo of chewy chocolate cookie and Hershey kiss candies. They are made with cocoa powder and melted chocolate, with kisses pressed into the top, which is basically chocolate heaven. Plus they’re totally kid-friendly, because they’ll love helping to press the candies into the cookies!
These kiss cookies are like a chocolate version of popular Peanut Butter Blossoms but without the peanut butter.
Gift Giving Cookie Box Tips:
If you’re making a cookie plate or a cookie box for friends, family and neighbors you’ll want to be sure to include cookies of different shapes. For a well rounded cookie plate you want to include 8-10 recipes and generally 1-2 cookies of each per person.
- Make sure to gift in a an airtight container, use a paper box or a plate only when the gift recipient will be enjoying it immediately, like at an office gathering. Giving someone cookies in a non-airtight container is an invitation for them to taste the cookies when they’re stale, which takes away from all the effort you put into making them!
- 1 Person – include 2 of each variety for a full cookie box and beautiful presentation.
- 2-4 people – Include 1 cookie of each variety per person, and make sure to buy boxes big enough to fit them all.
- Include cookies of different shapes and sizes, add in a bar recipe or candy (like Buckeye Balls and Oreo Truffles) if desired for more variety.
- For easy separation you can add the cookies into muffin liners so flavors won’t blend as easily (this is especially important for spice cookie recipes like Gingerbread), using colorful liners will help with presentation as well.
MORE CHOCOLATE PRESSED COOKIES
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Red Velvet Kiss Cookies
Turtle Cookies
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
HOW TO MAKE HERSHEY’S KISS COOKIES
- Cream: Cream together your butter and sugar well, you’re looking for a light and fluffy mixture so don’t stop when it is just combined, continue for 2 minutes to incorporate more air into the butter.
- Melted Chocolate: Some cookies get their chocolate flavor from cocoa powder, but this recipe uses melted chocolate. Make sure to let the chocolate cool for a few minutes so the butter is not warmed which will result in a denser cookie.
- Measure well: Use a spoon and level method for measuring the flour for correct measurements. If you dip the scoop into the bag or container of flour you’ll be packing in significantly more flour than the recipe needs.
- Sift Dry Ingredients: Make sure to sift your flour before adding it to the mixer to avoid lumps and over-beating to remove the lumps.
- Rolling Dough: Roll the cookies into a ball, handling them as little as possible (the more you handle these cookies the more the butter inside them will melt from the heat of your hand.)
- Coat: You’ll want to roll these in sugar, you can also use colorful sugar if you’d like to be more festive or coarse sanding sugar for a crunch when enjoying them.
- Chocolate Kiss: Make sure you unwrap these before the cookies come out of the oven, you’re going to want to work quickly to press them into the cookies when they come out. The longer they sit the less the chocolate candy will be able to adhere.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
You can use flavored Hershey kisses for these chocolate cookies. They are delicious with the almond, caramel-filled, and white chocolate versions, too!
Try other toppings instead of the kisses, like chocolate chips or chocolate mints, caramel, marshmallows, or peanut butter.
This recipe uses both white granulated sugar and brown sugar, which helps keep the cookie chewy. But if you only have white granulated sugar, you can replace the brown sugar with that, it will affect how chewy the cookies are, but you’ll still have delicious cookies.
Try using peppermint chocolate and crushed peppermint candies for a holiday version!
Be careful not to crowd the cookies on the cookie sheet, so the cookies have room to drop and don’t stick together.
Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper to help keep the cookies from sticking, and also to help with cleanup when you’re done!
If your cookies are crumbly, it’s usually because they’re either over-baked or there’s too much flour being added. Make sure to measure the all purpose flour exactly, leveling the measuring cup or using a scale. This is a good practice with all of the dry ingredients when you’re baking.
MORE HOLIDAY COOKIE FAVORITES
Award Winning Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Shortbread Cookies
Brown Sugar Cookies Recipe
Rolled Sugar Cookies
HOW TO STORE HERSHEY’S KISS COOKIES
- Serve: Kiss cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. If looking to keep them fresh longer add a slice of bread to the container to help absorb moisture.
- Store: You can store these cookies in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Keep the cookies in an airtight container, separated by parchment paper.
- Freeze: You can keep cookies in the freezer, wrapped well with plastic wrap for up to 3 months, be careful storing them as the tops are not even, so nest them carefully.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1/2 cup sugar , plus more for rolling cookies in
- 1/2 cup brown sugar , packed
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 30 Hershey's Kisses , unwrapped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Melt the chocolate chips in a small microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments until smooth and creamy, then let sit for 2-3 minutes to cool.
- To your stand mixer add the butter and sugar to a stand mixer with the beater attachment on medium speed until lightened in color and fluffy, about two minutes.
- Add in the vanilla, egg and finally the cooled melted chocolate.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and add it into the stand mixer on low speed until just combined.
- Scoop with a 1 tablespoon measure into a bowl of sugar and roll in the sugar (try not to touch the dough too much).
- Place on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Once you remove from the oven have the chocolate kisses unwrapped and ready to push into the center of each cookie (gently) immediately then remove from the pan to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Photos used in a previous version of this post.
Hi Sabrina,
Question for you, can I eliminate the cocoa in this recipe to create a white base cookies. Instead of Hersey, I’m planning to use Rollo in the center and create spiders legs with melted chocolates. The recipe looks so delicious unfortunately spider recipes I found has peanut butter and my son is allergic. Thanks
Hi Sara, Cute Ideas! I haven’t tested the recipe without cocoa but would love to know how it turns out if you try it! Enjoy!
Yummy. Two notes: measure out all your balls first before rolling in sugar so you know you have the right sized balls, otherwise for me I ended up with them being too big and not cooking all the way through. I used peppermint kisses, delicious. Second note is if wrapping in saran wrap for any reason, be sure they are fully cooled or the kiss collapses. Yum yum!
I love making these cookies for the holidays! They are super easy to make and always go so fast!
My family loves these so much, so glad you shared the recipe!
My daughter is really into baking these days, she was looking for an easy cookie recipe that you can’t really mess up. These turned out perfectly! We enjoyed them warm out of the oven with cold milk. Delicious!
I love the peanut butter cookie version, but this is so much better than those! thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe!
Can I make this without cocoa powder? 🙂
I just pushed the kisses into the hot cookies from the oven; they smell wonderfully chocolatey and look exactly like the pictures. When a recipe produces precise results, I know it’s a keeper. The only difference was that my scoop measured out bigger cookies, and only yielded 20. But, otherwise, a fantastic cookie!
Thank you Eric! glad you are enjoying them!
Hi, my name is Jeanne. Making your Hershey kiss chocolate cookies for the 1st time. Help me out. You listed brown sugar as 1 of the ingredients. I watched the video & read the recipe several times. I did not see where & when I needed to ad the brown sugar. I added it at the end. If I wasn’t supposed to, oh well, I will let you know how they taste once they bake. Thanks for sharing this recipe! Best Regards, Jeanne
Hi! I see how that can be confusing. Its added with the sugar and butter to the stand mixer. I am so sorry for the confusion
Loved these, and are easy to make!
I also screwed up on brown sugar addition! The recipe should say add “Sugars” but they turned out good even though I added the brown sugar at end(not realizing it was still sitting on counter to be added)
I did the same thing. It should for sure read sugars to indicate both.
This is a very dry recipe. After adding 1 cup of the dry ingredients I started to get concerned. I used all the flour/cocoa recommended but would recommend more butter or adding a few tablespoons oil.
We are going to be living in our camper during Christmas while we get our house built and the camper has no oven. I wanted to know if I can bake a few batches of these and freeze them so we can enjoy Christmas cookies? Thanks in advance!
Hi…Can you freeze the dough and make at a later date?
Thank you
Oops sorry. My mistake.
I reread everything and all was there
Recipe notes discusses using melted chocolate but recipe ingredients list cocoa powder ?
Just saw your second comment, no worries!!!
Fabulously easy to make cookies that will please everyone, especially those with nut allergies if you read the labels carefully for the Kisses.
So yummy! I also made this recipe and added mint chocolate chips then rolled in powdered sugar!!! Mint chocolate crackles!!!! Thanks for the great recipe!
Can I jus buy chocolate chip cookies that you bake? Then put the Hershey’s kiss in before they are done?
Sure 🙂
These are amazingly good!
I made these with pretty striped holiday peppermint kisses and I rolled them in red sugar – *everyone* loved them. Killer recipe, didn’t turn out better when I chilled before baking either, that’s always a plus.
That’s such a great idea!
I made these cookies last night and they are completely as promised, chewy, chocolaty and fun to make. I will have to make another batch so I can include them in my annual Christmas cookie gifts to friends and family. Merry Christmas!
This makes me so happy, Dianna! Thanks for coming back to let me know how much you enjoyed them.
Made these last year for Christmas Eve and they were a huge hit! Wondering if dough can be made in advanced and frozen?
Wow these are good. I made them for the first time today and they were amazing. I had a bit of trouble trying to get the size right (I use cookie scoops and I think that to get 30 it may be an in-between size). I got 23 absolutely fantastic cookies out of this recipe. Added to my list of best baking recipes.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Sara.
So yummy! I also made this recipe and added mint chocolate chips then rolled in powdered sugar!!! Mint chocolate crackles!!!! Thanks for the great recipe!
Sounds amazing, Abby!
Made a batch last week, everyone I gave them too has raved, need to make more now as my son has finished them off! Delicious, chewy, nice texture from the sugar coating, just wonderful!
Wonderful! Thanks for the 5 stars, Lynn.
I doubled the batch and will try other toppings. The cookie is soft and chewy. Great recipe find. Thanks.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Darlene.
I made these today and they were an instant hit. So chocolaty and decadent. These cookies will now be a staple. Yum!
Fantastic! I’m so glad you all enjoyed them.
I made these with my two youngest children. They are so very easy to make. Thank you for a wonderful, delicious recipe. I used peppermint kisses which were heavenly. Great recipe. Thanks again!
Yum! Peppermint kisses sound like a great add! Glad you enjoyed!
Easy to make, and delicious! Light crunch from the sugar coat. Soft but not crumbly. Amazing! Made these with my 4 yr old. Used kisses in 3 flavors: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and cookies n cream. Big thumbs up.
Thanks for coming back to let me know, Lina!
These are really great treats!! My kids won’t stop eating these!
Haha! So glad they enjoyed them.
These would disappear in our house!
Same!
I could eat a dozen of these cookies! They are so delicious!
Very tempting!
Such a yummy classic! The sugar coating is my favorite 🙂
It’s hard to resist!
I am loving how chocolaty these cookies look. Perfect for a treat!
Definitely will satisfy a sweet tooth!
My kids ate these up so quickly that I’m making another batch as we speak! Winner for sure!
Yay! So glad you all enjoyed them!
LOVE these cookies!! They turn out so well every time!!
Any chance for a vanilla version to come?
Great idea! I’ll add it to my to do list. Thanks for the suggestion.
Delicious cookie!! This will be a favorite of my family!! Rolled them In turbinato sugar makes them look more festive!!