{"id":1383,"date":"2025-12-20T22:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T22:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2025-12-20T22:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T22:55:12","slug":"my-familys-favorite-holiday-cookie-recipe-comes-straight-from-the-back-of-a-candy-bag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=1383","title":{"rendered":"My Family\u2019s Favorite Holiday Cookie Recipe Comes Straight From the Back of a Candy Bag"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"mntl-sc-page_1-0\" data-sc-sticky-offset=\"90\" data-sc-ad-label-height=\"24\" data-sc-ad-track-spacing=\"100\" data-sc-min-track-height=\"250\" data-sc-max-track-height=\"600\" data-sc-breakpoint=\"50em\" data-sc-load-immediate=\"4\" data-sc-content-positions=\"[1, 1250, 1550, 1950, 2350, 2750, 3150, 3550, 3950]\" data-bind-scroll-on-start=\"true\">\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_1-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> When Hershey\u2019s released Hot Cocoa Kisses, I found the holiday cookie recipe that my family would beg me to make for years to come. I should preface this story by saying that the generations before me passed down the sweet tooth gene\u2014or more specifically, a love for all things chocolate. Yet, when it came to the holidays, my predecessors were surprisingly lacking any sort of chocolaty tradition.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_3-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> The day that my mom came home with the new hot cocoa-flavored Hershey Kisses was the day that our yearly sugar cookie was pushed to the side. The milk chocolates are filled with a marshmallow cream\u2014mimicking the hot cocoa flavor while holding the perfect balance of sweet and savory\u2014and the bag features an irresistible recipe that I\u2019ll make year after year.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"heading-toc\" id=\"toc-my-familys-favorite-hot-cocoa-cookies\"\/><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"mntl-sc-block_5-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block allrecipes-sc-block-heading mntl-sc-block-heading\"> <span class=\"mntl-sc-block-heading__text text-title-300\"> My Family\u2019s Favorite Hot Cocoa Cookies\u00a0 <\/span> <\/h2>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_6-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> I love <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hersheyland.com\/recipes\/kisses-hot-cocoa-cookies.html\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">this hot cocoa-inspired cookie recipe<\/a> because it\u2019s so effortlessly simple to bake. According to the brand, it only takes about 30 minutes total, but I\u2019d estimate that it\u2019ll take you around 40 minutes (you have to cut approximately 18 marshmallows in half and unwrap each Hershey\u2019s Kisses individually, which is a task I usually dedicate to my sisters while I prepare the dough).\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_8-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> You\u2019ll need two bowls to separate out the dry and wet ingredients, like you would any other cookie recipe. First, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar well before mixing in the eggs and vanilla. To achieve the right consistency, I recommend bringing the eggs to room temperature and adding them into the sugar mixture one at a time. Next, slowly stir in your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt). It can get quite messy if you add in too much too fast, so beat the dough on a low speed while adding gradually.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_10-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> For the chocolate chips, I prefer using milk chocolate or semisweet. You can use dark chocolate chips, but I\u2019ve learned that the former options balance out the Hershey\u2019s Kisses more delicately. The key to this recipe is chilling the dough in the freezer for about 10 minutes. In my experience, you won\u2019t need more time than that\u2014if you let it sit in the freezer for too long, it can be extremely difficult to shape the dough into proper cookies (once-inch dough balls are usually the size that I aim for).\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"mntl-sc-block_12-0-iframe\" class=\"mntl-sc-block-universal-embed--iframe-legacy lazyload\" allowfullscreen=\"false\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" title=\"Instagram\" data-expand=\"300\" data-src=\"\/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Freel%2FCmeUnQDpt_9%2F&amp;id=mntl-sc-block_12-0-iframe&amp;options=e30%3D&amp;docId=11860726\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_14-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Bake first, then top each center of the cookie with half of a marshmallow, and place back in the oven.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_16-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> The biggest mistake I\u2019ve made is waiting until the marshmallow was slightly brown before taking it out of the heat\u2014don\u2019t do this! It means that you\u2019ve overbaked your cookie. Instead, wait until the marshmallows are slightly puffed. While the cookies are cooling for a few minutes, scrounge up some extra hands to help you top each one with hot cocoa Hershey&#8217;s Kisses (if you do this while they\u2019re fresh out of the oven, the chocolate will completely melt, so certainly adhere to that three-minute cooling period).\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_18-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Once these steps are complete, you\u2019ll have a treat full of chocolaty goodness waiting for you on the other side.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_20-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Warning: Prepare to become the designated holiday baker of the family!\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Hershey\u2019s released Hot Cocoa Kisses, I found the holiday cookie recipe that my family would beg me to make for years to come. I should preface this story by saying that the generations before me passed down the sweet tooth gene\u2014or more specifically, a love for all things chocolate. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kitchen-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}