Peppermint Mocha Blossoms

I know that a lot of people associate the flavor combination of chocolate and peppermint with Christmas. And I know that Christmas was three days ago. But you still should make these cookies. It's not too late, I promise!!

I made a batch of these cookies before Christmas. And I made a second batch after Christmas. After the first round, I couldn't stop thinking about them and knew I wanted to make them again! 

These cookies use Hershey's Kisses candy cane flavored kisses, which tend to only be in the stores around the holidays. They're likely still available to buy in the stores, so you should probably go get yourself some ASAP! And since it's after Christmas, they might even be on sale?! Next time you head to the grocery store (you know, after you finish reading this post), you might want to look for these candy cane kisses!

This wonderful recipe is from Damn Delicious. The only change I made was substituting instant coffee for the instant espresso powder that's in the original recipe. I couldn't find the espresso powder anywhere! The coffee worked great though; it still imparted a nice coffee flavor.

Ingredients:

-3 cups all-purpose flour

-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

-1 tsp. baking soda

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

-1 and 3/4 cups sugar, divided

-2 Tbsp. instant coffee

-2 large eggs

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 tsp. peppermint extract

-34 Hershey's candy cane kisses, unwrapped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. With an electric mixer, beat together the butter, 1 and 1/4 cups of the sugar (set remaining 1/2 cup sugar aside), and espresso powder or instant coffee until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Beat in vanilla and peppermint extract until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture at low speed, beating until just incorporated.

Roll tablespoons of dough into 1-inch balls and coat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Place onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake until outside is crackly, but center is still moist, about 9 to 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool 2 to 3 minutes before topping with a Hershey's candy cane kiss in the center of each cookie. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Crackly tops!

The flavor of these cookies is wonderful - chocolatey with a hint of coffee. And of course, there's also a noticeable peppermint flavor going on too. :)

You may be able to tell in these photos, but I didn't roll these cookies in regular granulated sugar. Instead, I used the same King Arthur Flour sparkling white sugar that I used in my Bailey's Balls recipe.

I think it adds such a fun, wintery touch, don't you??

:)