Hershey's Kiss, Kiss "Dah-ling" Cookies

I must be watching too many episodes of the Real Housewives Franchise because, while putting these together, "Kiss, Kiss, Dahling" (in the voice of Lisa Vanderpump or LuAnn De Lesseps) kept going through my head.  Despite this, I had so much fun making these!!  I first spied the idea on Pinterest here at Munchkin Munchies.  They looked so adorable I had to try them myself.  Since we are fast approaching February 14th, I decided to mimic the hues of the Kiss wrappers found in the Hershey Kiss Valentine's Day packages.  So cute.

I have an absolutely favorite cut-out cookie recipe that I always use, but it contains lemon juice and zest.  I planned to use melted Kisses for some of the cookies instead of icing, however, which didn't seem to appealing to combine with lemon.  Also, I wanted to flavor some of the dough with almond (to create a faux Hershey Kiss Almond candy) and some with cherry (for Hershey Cherry Cordial Kiss cookies).  Neither would be tasty with a lemon based cookie.

For a new sugar cookie dough recipe, I turned to The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, since she makes some of the most amazing cookies I have ever seen.  It only stood to reason that her basic cookie recipe must be delicious, too, right?  I made a few slight changes but was VERY happy with this recipe.  I will most definitely be using it again.

Before baking the cookies, be sure you have your decorating supplies ready:  Unwrapped Hershey Kisses (save the "Hershey Kiss" tag from each), food coloring in the shade of each wrapper you are turning into a cookie, and edible sprinkles in the corresponding icing colors.

Basic Sugar Cookies

adapted from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle

1 cup (2 sticks) of real butter (I used salted)

1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons flavoring extract (I used Almond)

2 1/2 - 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together butter and sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine the egg and flavoring.  Combine butter and egg mixtures and beat until fully incorporated.  In another separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients and add to butter an egg mixture in three intervals.  Mix until dough is pliable but not sticky.  Roll out dough* and cut into desired shapes.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.  Let cool completely before icing.

To make the Kiss shape, I used a small heart cookie cutter.  I tried to smooth out the top of the heart into a straight line for the bottom of the Kiss.  Some were more successful than others.  Last night I picked up a small metal heart cutter and flattened the cutter itself for the future.

Next, I mixed up some icing - confectioner's sugar mixed with water to a thickish consistency.  To test the thickness I run a knife through the icing and count to five.  If the line disappears before 5 seconds, I add a bit more sugar.  If it takes 5 seconds for the line to disappear, it's exactly how I want it.  I just eyeballed the amount of icing, making as much as I thought I'd need for the amount of cookies I had.  Then, I split the icing into three parts dyeing the first one gray, the second light pink, and the third red.

Working with one color at a time, I poured the icing in a plastic piping bag fitted with a #3 tip.  Outline the Kiss with icing and fill the inside.  You can use a toothpick to nudge fill out the icing completely inside the outline.  Immediately after icing a cookie, take one of the Hershey Kiss tags and, again using a toothpick, push it into the icing so it will be secure once the icing sets.  After the tag is applied, immediately pour the sprinkles that match the icing color onto the cookie.  (TIP:  Pour the sprinkles over a coffee filter.  When you are done sprinkling, use the filter to pour the unused sprinkles back into the container.  Not my original idea, but it's genius and works like a dream!)

I started with gray icing and sprinkles:

Then I rounded out the Valentine collection with pink and red:

Once I completed the icing/tagging/sprinkling process, I melted down the unwrapped Hershey Kisses in the microwave in one minute increments at 30% power until they were melted.  I poured the melted chocolate into a piping bag, snipped off a TINY bit of the end, and made a triangle of chocolate on each cookie:

 

Using a toothpick, I pushed the chocolate into a kiss shape and did my best to create that iconic swirly flourish at the top!  I can definitely use more practice with that:

They are not perfect, but I *love* them.  :)

I think these might be a new favorite of mine.  I will make them for every Holiday and event coming because WHO doesn't love a Kiss?  Happy Valentine's Day!

Cookies for the Cure!

A few days ago I returned from a trip to Napa Valley, California with my husband and I was deprived of something I will never again take for granted:  the internet.  I hadn't realized how dependent I've become on it and how my life is adversely affected when I'm without.  I mean, I survived and all, but I wasn't able to get all of my blogging done and I spent way too much time trying.  And no, it wasn't because I drank too much wine that I had troubles!  Our hotel had the worst "high speed" connection I've ever used.  So, I will be posting my last pink treat for my Breast Cancer Awareness (last) Week today.

My idea was to make pale pink heart sugar cookies with a white chocolate ribbon.  They didn't turn out exactly as I had envisioned.  The ribbons were more difficult than I expected.  I need more practice making shapes by piping melted chocolate.  I actually enjoy doing that, so I will come up with more projects to work on to perfect it.

I started by mixing up a sugar cookie dough, rolling it and cutting heart shapes with a cookie cutter.  I baked them for 9 minutes exactly.

While they were baking I mixed together confectioners sugar together with water, drops at a time, until it was the consistency I wanted.  In this instance, I didn't measure anything out.  I added a few drops of red food coloring to make a pale pink.  I wanted to use a squeeze bottle to ice the cookies since I was using one color on the entire cookie.  To pour the icing into the bottle, I used a funnel.  This method works really well.

Once I added the icing, I thought the cookies needed some sparkle, so I sprinkled some hot pink disco dust on them.  In between icing and baking the cookies I melted some white chocolate Merkens chocolate wafers in the microwave.  I placed the chocolate in a piping bag and made the ribbon shape on waxed paper using the same method as the chocolate trees I made for the autumn leaves cupcakes.

Once the ribbons hardened, I carefully peeled them off of the waxed paper and pressed it into the middle of an iced cookie.

So, now October is coming to a close and another month focused on Cancer Awareness will have passed.  I know I am not alone in hoping that we find a cure and October will once again be known primarily for Halloween and the arrival of autumn.  Until that day comes, October will be the month we honor, celebrate, and fight together.