Peppermint Sugar Bites & Peppermint Kiss Sugar Cookies

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." - Norman Vincent Peale

Salut mes beautes intelligentes! 

I'm so excited about Christmas this year (as with every other year), it truly is my favorite time of the year! From the lit up streets, to baking holiday treats, hanging ornaments, going on Christmas shopping sprees, spending time with loved ones, listening to Christmas music and most importantly, celebrating the birth of Christ! I could go on and on about why I love this holiday so. However, I have to say I'm missing the snow this winter! There's something about having snow for Christmas, of course this didn't matter growing up in Nigeria, but I think New York spoiled me a little in that regard. What's your favorite Christmas/Holiday tradition?

So, a little back story on this recipe - My friend and I set out to bake a bunch of Peppermint Kiss Sugar Cookies and encountered some.. well.. difficulties but were able to save the day by inventing a brand new recipe - Peppermint Sugar Bites! (which is just as yummy!) When in doubt, use sprinkles! (PS you don't have to be a mint lover to enjoy these recipes). Because this recipe is a little tricky, I included different ways in which you could get a presentable outcome. These were all gotten from a series of unfortunate events, trust me! Now, on to the recipe.. :)

Level/Type: Medium/Holiday Treats

Yield: 36 cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Decorating/Finishing Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hr 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

1 1/4 cups of margarine (softened butter will do)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 large egg

3 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of chopped candy cane flavored Hershey's kisses

Granulated sugar for rolling the cookie balls in

1 pound of unwrapped Candy Cane Hershey Kisses

Red Sprinkles

PROCEDURE

1.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F

2.

Chop the Hershey kisses. ( I did this using a table knife, but feel free to go with whatever works better for you)

3.

In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. 

In a larger mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar, butter, egg and vanilla extract and beat until the mix is creamy.

5.

Add the flour mixture, and keep mixing until it is properly blended. Stir in the chopped kisses. Below is what your mix should look like at this stage.

6.

Shape the dough into 3/4 inch balls, roll them in the granulated sugar and align them on your baking sheet.

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If you're interested in making the Peppermint Sugar Bites, continue on to 7th step. If not, skip to Peppermint Kiss Sugar Cookies section. (If you want to make both of them like I did, save half of the cookie balls for the sugar bites, and second half for the sugar cookies :) )

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7.

Bake the balls for 12 - 15 minutes, as they bake, unwrap 20 Hershey kisses, and place them in a baking pan (place foil paper in the baking pan before doing this). 

8.

Halfway through the cookies are being done baking (about 5 minutes in), put the pan with the Hershey kisses into the oven and allow the kisses melt (don't leave it in for too long, once the kisses start to melt, take the pan out).

9.

After the cookies are done baking, roll each ball in the pan of melted kisses (this name makes me giggle! Haha), until it is evenly coated, and then pour red sprinkles over the cookie balls. You want to do this step while the cookie balls are still warm, so work fast :D

Anddd you're done! (Place in fridge for 15 minutes before serving)

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Peppermint Kiss Sugar Cookies

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7.

Now that you have your cookie balls aligned on the baking sheet, slightly press down the middle of each ball. It should look like this. 

8.

Bake the cookies for 12 - 15 minutes. While it's baking, unwrap Hershey kisses (1 per cookie).

9.

As soon as the cookies are taken out, quickly press a candy cane kiss in the center and put in fridge(I left mine over night, and it was set in the morning). Don't panic if some of them melt in the center, it'll still look cuteee but will lose the kiss shape. 

Andd you're done!

Don't forget to leave a comment below letting me know how this turns out. :)

Bon Appetit,

-Onivie