Guest Post: Baking Traditions With Kim

I met Kim when I was looking for roommates for BEA this past year.  She and comes from our neighboring state of Wisconsin and runs an amazing blog over at Sophisticated Dorkiness (I know… love the name right?) I was able to connect with her again at the Twin Cities Expo in September.

Sheila

 

This is the traditional group of bakers that came to our house. My mom, Annette, is fifth from the left (bending down, with a baby over her head), and my aunt, Anita, is behind her to the right, holding the baby.

 

 

One of my very favorite Christmas cookies actually has very little to do with Christmas, and remains a holiday tradition only because I stubbornly resist tearing them apart.

Every year for about as long as I can remember, my mom has hosted an annual Christmas Cookie Bake right around the beginning of December. About 20 women come to our house on a Saturday afternoon and bake hundreds and hundreds of cookies, then do a gift and cookie exchange from the baked goods. Seeing all those cookies spread out on three different giant tables has always been one of the most decadent memories from my childhood.

 

This is, from left to right, my friend Kristi, me, my sister Jenny, and my friend Michelle, helping out. I think this is one of the first years we were old enough to help with the baking. Check out my rockin' overalls and sweet bangs. Way awesome! We may actually be making Hershey Kiss Cookies, it's hard to tell.

When I was about nine, my aunt came with a recipe for a new cookie that changed my world, simply called the Hershey Kiss Cookie. When you combine Hershey’s Kisses, mini-chocolate chips, sugar, butter, and some other ingredients, how can you go wrong?

(In case you were confused, this cookie is not the sugar/peanut butter cookie rolled in sugar then planted with a Hershey Kiss in the middle, often called “Peanut Butter Blossoms.” The cookies I am in love with are far superior.)

I’m not sure what it is about Hershey Kiss Cookies that as captured my heart and taste buds — I just love them so much I’ve been known to sneak them away from the family cookie stash to keep them for myself, and feel seriously dejected when no one makes them around Christmas.

That’s pretty irrational, for a lot of reasons. First of all, the recipe is really simple. The only tedious part is unwrapping the dozens and dozens of Kisses you need, but with a group it’s a lot of fun. Second, there’s nothing about these cookies that make them a “Christmas only” recipe like Gingerbread Men. They’re chocolate wrapped in modified chocolate chip cookie dough — perfect any time of the year.

I tried making them out of season once, I think in the summer when I was craving them too much to wait six more months. But they just weren’t the same. Something about baking and cooking with family and friends has imprinted these cookies with the holidays, and I just can’t eat them any other season.

I’ve never actually taken a photo of these cookies myself, but they look basically like these from the Hershey’s website (minus the frosting drizzle, I am not that fancy). However, DO NOT use the Hershey recipe — the one I got from my aunt, shared below, is far superior.

 

Hershey Kiss Cookies

1 cup butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup mini chocolate chip morsels
14 oz bag Hershey’s kisses

Cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar.  Add vanilla.  Add mini morsels. Stir in flour. Take approximately 1 tsp of dough and wrap around 1 kiss.  Place on cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

 

Check in on Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness