When thinking of holiday traditions, it’s hard not to think of the smell of cookies baking in the kitchen. From sugar cutouts and gingerbread to peanut butter blossoms, cookies just go hand in hand with with the holiday season. What else do you think keeps Santa going all night long? Cookie favorites vary from state to state with sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies topping the list across the country. In fact, Illinois was the only state to name chocolate chip as their favorite cookie around the holidays.
With the holidays right around the corner, we began to wonder, where does the tradition of these holiday treats begin? In the Middle Ages, cooks would prepare sweet baked goods to mark significant occasions. Many of these recipes and ingredients such as cinnamon and ginger were highly prized and quickly incorporated into European baked goods. Christmas cookies, as we know them today, trace their roots to these Medieval European recipes. It was Dutch and German settlers who introduced cookie cutters, decorative molds, and festive holiday decorations to America. German lebkuchen (gingerbread) was probably the first cake/cookie traditionally associated with Christmas.
So what is your family’s favorite holiday cookie? Do you have a tradition you’ve carried on from year to year? Perhaps you’re looking to start new traditions with your friends and family! One of our favorite holiday cookies is the Candy Cane Kiss Cookie. If you’re looking for a fun and easy recipe, this one is great! We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
INGREDIENTS
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 1¼ cups (2½ sticks) butter, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (optional- see recipe notes)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup finely chopped Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses
- granulated white sugar
- 30 unwrapped Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses
INSTRUCTIONS
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Make room in either the refrigerator or freezer for your cookie sheet.
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In a large mixer bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the powdered sugar, butter, egg and extracts. Beat at medium speed, scraping the bowl often until creamy (2 to 3 minutes). In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1 to 2 minutes). The mixture will be a bit crumbly. Stir in the chopped Kisses.
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Shape the dough into 3/4-inch to 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a Candy Cane Kiss into the center of each cookie. They’ll crack a little around the edges, so just use your fingers to kind of hold the cookie together while you set the kiss inside. Put cookie sheet (with cookies) immediately into the freezer (preferred) or refrigerator so that the Kisses will set quickly. As soon as you press them into the cookie, they will begin to soften… so if you can get them into the freezer then they will keep their Kiss shape.
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Store in a covered container- at room temperature for up to a week. In the freezer they should be okay for a couple of weeks.
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