Step into the festive spirit with our delightful Candy Cane Blossoms! These aren’t just any cookies; they’re a vibrant, minty, and utterly irresistible twist on the classic thumbprint cookie, designed to bring cheer to your holiday table. Imagine a soft, buttery sugar cookie, kissed with sparkling red and green decorative sugars, and crowned with a creamy, peppermint-infused Hershey’s Candy Cane Kiss. The result is a truly enchanting treat that captures the essence of Christmas in every bite.
Perfect for holiday gatherings, cozy nights by the fire, or as a thoughtful homemade gift, these Christmas thumbprint cookies are destined to become a staple in your annual baking traditions. Their striking appearance and refreshing flavor make them stand out on any cookie platter, promising to delight both children and adults alike. Get ready to sprinkle some magic into your holiday season with these easy-to-make, utterly charming Candy Cane Kiss cookies.
Why These Candy Cane Blossoms Are a Holiday Must-Make
When the holidays roll around, there’s a special joy in baking, and these festive thumbprint cookies perfectly embody that spirit. Here’s why our Candy Cane Blossoms deserve a prime spot on your baking list this year:
- A Modern Twist on a Beloved Classic: These cookies are a brilliant evolution of the timeless peanut blossom, a favorite for generations. While traditional peanut blossoms feature a peanut butter base and a chocolate kiss, our version reimagines this concept with a delicate sugar cookie dough, vibrant holiday sprinkles, and the crisp, cool flavor of peppermint from Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses. It’s a fresh, exciting take that honors tradition while introducing a sensational new flavor profile perfect for the Christmas season.
- Unforgettable Minty Flavor and Eye-Catching Appeal: Nothing says “Christmas” quite like the refreshing taste of mint. These cookies deliver a delightful burst of cool peppermint thanks to the special Kisses, beautifully complemented by the sweet, buttery cookie base. Beyond the taste, their visual appeal is undeniable. Rolled in shimmering red and green sugars, they instantly evoke the festive colors of the season. Piled high on a serving tray, their vibrant hues and charming shapes make an impressive presentation that’s sure to draw compliments and spark conversations at any holiday event. They are truly Instagram-worthy!
- Perfect for Sharing and Gifting: The holidays are all about togetherness and sharing, and these Candy Cane Blossoms are designed for just that. They are an ideal candidate for your annual cookie exchange, offering a unique and memorable treat that will stand out from the crowd. Planning to visit friends or family? A beautiful tin filled with these homemade delights makes for a thoughtful and much-appreciated hostess gift. They travel well and maintain their fresh taste, making them suitable for sharing with neighbors, teachers, or anyone deserving of a sweet, festive gesture. They’re a simple way to spread holiday cheer, one delicious cookie at a time.
The inspiration for these irresistible holiday sugar cookies often comes from a shared love of seasonal flavors. I recall my daughter, Katie, hinting about these for weeks after spotting them on Pinterest. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and whether her “ulterior motive” was for me to stock up on Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses or to whip up a batch of these glorious cookies, I’m glad she did. Don’t these minty, sparkling blossoms just perfectly shout Christmas? They truly capture the festive magic of the season!
Simple Steps to Create Your Own Candy Cane Blossoms
Crafting these beautiful peppermint thumbprint cookies is a straightforward and enjoyable process, especially if you’re familiar with making classic blossom cookies. For those new to this delightful baking adventure, here’s a simple, step-by-step guide to ensure your Candy Cane Blossoms turn out perfectly every time:
- Prepare Your Workspace: Begin by preheating your oven to 350°F (175°C). This ensures your oven is at the optimal temperature for even baking. Next, line your baking sheets with parchment paper. This crucial step prevents the cookies from sticking, promotes even baking, and makes for effortless cleanup after you’re done.
- Unwrap the Stars of the Show: Unwrap all the Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses before you start shaping the dough. Having them ready to go is a small but significant time-saver, especially since you’ll need to work quickly once the cookies come out of the oven.
- Whip Up the Dough: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until well combined, creating a rich base. Gradually mix in the milk, followed by the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) until just blended. Overmixing can lead to tough cookies, so stop as soon as the ingredients are incorporated.
- Chill for Perfection: If your cookie dough feels too sticky to handle easily, cover it with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for about 30-60 minutes. This firming-up period makes the dough much easier to roll and helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much during baking, ensuring they hold their perfect round shape.
- Shape and Sugar Coat: Scoop out approximately 1-inch balls of dough. For consistent sizing and a professional look, a cookie scoop is highly recommended. Gently roll each portion of dough between your palms to form smooth, round balls. Then, roll these dough balls generously in your festive red and green decorative sugars, ensuring they are evenly coated for that beautiful holiday sparkle. Place the coated cookie balls onto your prepared baking sheets, leaving a couple of inches between each to allow for slight spreading.
- Bake to Golden Perfection: Bake the cookies in your preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned and the centers are set. Avoid overbaking, as this can result in dry cookies. The goal is a soft, chewy texture.
- The Kiss of Mint: This is a critical step! Once the cookies are out of the oven, let them cool on the baking sheet for precisely 2-3 minutes. This short cooling period allows the cookies to set slightly, preventing the Hershey’s Kiss from completely melting and losing its iconic shape when pressed into the warm center. Gently press one unwrapped Candy Cane Kiss into the middle of each warm cookie.
- Cool Completely: Carefully transfer the newly formed Candy Cane Blossoms to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. This ensures air circulates around them, preventing sogginess and allowing the Kisses to fully set without melting further.
Following these simple instructions will ensure you bake a batch of beautiful, delicious, and perfectly festive peppermint blossom cookies that everyone will adore!
Expert Tips for Perfect Candy Cane Blossom Cookies
Achieving bakery-quality holiday cookies at home is easier than you think with a few clever tricks. These tips will help you perfect your Candy Cane Blossoms and make your baking experience even more enjoyable:
- Flavor Variations are Welcome: While this recipe highlights the delightful Candy Cane Kisses, the sugar cookie dough itself does not contain mint flavoring. This versatility means you can easily customize these cookies for different occasions or taste preferences. Feel free to top them with any variety of Hershey’s Kisses you like – milk chocolate, dark chocolate, Hugs, or even caramel-filled Kisses would be fantastic alternatives, transforming them into entirely new treats.
- Color Your World (and Your Cookies!): Don’t limit yourself to just red and green! While these colors are perfect for Christmas, consider rolling the cookie dough in different colored sugars for other celebrations. Pastel sprinkles for Easter, orange and black for Halloween, or even rainbow colors for a birthday party can make these blossom cookies a hit year-round.
- Consistency is Key with a Cookie Scoop: For a batch of uniformly sized cookies that bake evenly and look professionally made, a cookie disher (or cookie scoop) is your best friend. Scooping out consistent amounts of dough ensures that all your cookies will cook at the same rate, preventing some from being underbaked while others are overbaked. While slight size variations won’t impact their deliciousness, uniformity certainly enhances their presentation.
- The Art of Rolling: To achieve beautifully round cookie balls before rolling them in sugar, gently roll the scooped dough between your palms. This helps to smooth out any imperfections and ensures a perfect canvas for the decorative sugar. Once smooth, roll them generously in your chosen red, green, or a combination of holiday sugars. The more sugar, the merrier and sparklier the finished cookie!
- Parchment Paper: Your Baking Essential: Using parchment-lined baking sheets offers two significant advantages. Firstly, it acts as a non-stick barrier, ensuring your precious cookies lift easily from the pan without any breakage. Secondly, and perhaps just as importantly, it makes cleanup an absolute breeze. No scrubbing sticky cookie residue off your pans!
- The Critical Cooling Time (Pro-Tip!): This is arguably the most important step for maintaining the iconic shape of your Hershey’s Kisses. Waiting approximately 2-3 minutes after removing the cookies from the oven before pressing in the Kisses works perfectly. I’ve learned from experience that trying to add the Kiss after just one minute often results in it melting too quickly and losing its distinct shape. This short cooling period allows the cookie to set enough to support the Kiss, but still remain warm enough for the chocolate to adhere beautifully.
- Chilled Kisses for Extra Insurance (Pro-Tip!): For an extra layer of protection against overly melted Kisses, especially if your kitchen is warm, consider chilling your unwrapped Hershey’s Kisses in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes before baking. Colder chocolate will melt more slowly when pressed into a warm cookie, helping to preserve its shape and prevent it from becoming a gooey puddle.
By incorporating these simple yet effective tips, you’ll be baking perfect, picture-worthy Candy Cane Blossoms that are both delicious and stunning.
Frequently Asked Questions About Blossom Cookies
Here are answers to some common questions about blossom cookies, helping you master these festive treats:
Blossom cookies are a delightful category of baked goods, typically featuring a soft cookie dough base—often sugar cookie or peanut butter—that is rolled in granulated sugar, baked, and then topped with a chocolate candy Kiss immediately after coming out of the oven. The warmth of the cookie gently softens the Kiss, allowing it to meld into the cookie while retaining its distinctive shape as it cools. The iconic Peanut Blossom, with its rich peanut butter flavor, is the most famous example. However, the concept is wonderfully adaptable, leading to variations like our Candy Cane Blossoms, or even Rolo blossoms, which use a chocolate caramel candy instead of a Kiss for a different twist.
To keep your Hershey’s Kiss cookies fresh and delicious, proper storage is key. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature, and they should remain fresh for 3-4 days. Placing a slice of bread in the container with the cookies can help keep them soft. For longer storage, these cookies freeze exceptionally well. To freeze, arrange the cooled cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet and flash freeze for about an hour until solid. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe airtight container or bag, separating layers with parchment or waxed paper to prevent sticking. They can be frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving for the best texture and flavor.
Discover More Holiday Baking Delights
If you’ve fallen in love with the festive charm of these Candy Cane Blossoms, you’re sure to enjoy these other holiday-inspired recipes. Perfect for expanding your cookie platter or simply indulging in more seasonal flavors:
- Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows: Light, fluffy, and bursting with minty flavor – perfect for hot chocolate.
- Rich Peppermint Hot Chocolate: The ultimate cozy drink to pair with your holiday cookies.
- White Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies: Another delightful way to incorporate candy canes into your baking.
- Easy Peppermint Hot Chocolate: A quick and simple recipe for a comforting winter beverage.
- Swirled Peppermint Bark: A classic holiday treat that’s surprisingly easy to make and wonderful for gifting.
- Festive Holiday Pinwheel Cookies: Visually stunning and always a crowd-pleaser (pictured below with the Candy Cane Blossoms).
- Explore more Holiday Recipes for endless inspiration!
These Best Christmas Cookies, including our radiant Candy Cane Blossoms and charming Holiday Pinwheel Cookies, make a spectacular display on any holiday tray for our annual neighborhood cookie exchange. They’re more than just desserts; they’re edible expressions of holiday joy and tradition.
This post, originally shared in December 2012, has been updated with fresh photos, enhanced text, and comprehensive tips in 2019 to bring you the very best version of this beloved recipe.
The Recipe:
Candy Cane Blossoms Recipe
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 dozen
A holiday twist on classic thumbprint cookies, featuring minty Hershey’s Kisses and festive sugars! Recipe adapted from Hershey’s.
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Red and Green decorative sugar (or other colors for different occasions)
- 48 Hershey’s Kisses, Candy Cane flavor (unwrapped)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (175°C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Unwrap all the Hershey’s Kisses and have them ready for quick placement.
- In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Stir in the milk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- If the dough is too sticky to roll easily, cover it with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
- Scoop dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball smoothly between your palms, then roll generously in the red and green decorative sugar. Place the sugar-coated balls onto the prepared cookie sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden and the cookies are set. Do not overbake.
- Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool on the sheets for 2-3 minutes. This allows them to set slightly. Then, gently press one Hershey’s Candy Cane Kiss into the center of each warm cookie.
- Carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
If you have difficulty finding Candy Cane Kisses, white chocolate Kisses or even standard milk chocolate Kisses make excellent and equally delicious substitutions.
Recommended Products
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 servings (2 cookies per serving)
Amount Per Serving:
- Calories: 156
- Total Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
- Sodium: 77mg
- Carbohydrates: 23g
- Fiber: 1g
- Sugar: 14g
- Protein: 2g