Savoring Italy logo

Chocolate Hazelnut Kiss Cookies and a Double Holiday Giveaway!

DSCN4072

Christmas day is in 26 days and that means the Cake Duchess kitchen is busy! The latest cookies we baked are these Chocolate Hazelnut Kiss Cookies! There is chocolate every where!  Recipes are strewn across my counter. We do make an exorbitant amount of cakes here…but we also LOVE cookies.

Hershey’s Kiss Cookies is one of the cookies I look forward to making every Christmas. I make it the way you probably make it: peanut butter cookie and a sweet kiss on top.
This year I decided we need a little more chocolate. And some nicely chopped and toasted hazelnuts. Funny how the cookie tastes like Nutella, but there is not a drop of Nutella in it! I had to stay away from Nutella for at least a week;)
These cookies will be a new Christmas tradition with our family. I had so much fun making each cookie with my kids. Their favorite part was rolling the cookie into the toasted (and cooled) hazelnuts. Eating the leftover Kisses while the cookies were in the oven were the 2nd best part!

Let’s get on to my FABULOUS Holiday cookie recipe!!

DSCN4064

Chocolate Hazelnut Kiss Cookie
yield: approximately 40 cookies (depending on how close to 1-inch round you make the cookie balls. Don’t worry, you can eat the extra Kisses while the cookies are baking;)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
1 cup butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa
1 cup finely chopped hazelnuts, toasted (approximately-I had some leftover)
40 Hershey’s Kisses

Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse briefly to combine the ingredients. Distribute the butter around the bowl and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Add the egg yolks and process until the dough just begins to come together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gather it together. Knead it briefly until the dough is smooth and shiny. Shape the dough into approximately 40 (1-inch)balls. Indent your thumb to faltten a little the middle of each ball and work around the edges of the cookie to smooth out the shape. There will be cracks in the cookie. Roll the sides of the balls into the hazelnuts. Press down gently and try to gather as many hazelnuts as you can without changing the shape of the cookie.
Bake the cookies a batch at a time for about 8 minutes. Remove cookie sheet from oven and add a Hershey’s kiss to each cookie. Press the Hershey’s Kiss down gently, and be careful not to burn yourself. Add the tray back to the oven and bake for about another minute. Depending on your oven-mine took about 10 minutes total to bake.
If you do not want to make the dough in a food processor, you can let the butter soften and you can mix the batter with a hand mixer. Email me if you need help with those directions.
 

DSCN4073
Bake with your little ones. If you don’t have little ones, bake with your neighbor’s kids! My little guy loved to roll out his own cookies! Smile
DSCN4058
He was ready to add Kisses even when it wasn’t time to add them!!Winking smile
DSCN4060

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  12. SMITH BITES says

    nearly fell off my chair Lora – I WANT THIS BOOK!!! you know i'm in love with all things Italy (including you!) and the movie 'Big Night' is one of my favorite movies ever!! PICK ME, PICK ME!!!

    Reply

  31. Carole says

    ::sigh:: you need to stop posting such tempting things. My will power is waning! I made your nutella crostata and had to give it away after a couple of slivers. It was either give it away or tape it to my thighs, which is where it wind up!

    Reply

  40. Wilde in the Kitchen says

    Mmm, I love the idea of chocolate pasta frolla! You should try this with Brach's chocolate stars instead of kisses, they are shorter and softer. I think they make for just slightly better kiss cookies! 🙂

    Reply

  42. claire says

    looks amazing! i am now following your blog!

    Also, I know you are super busy with baking galore, but we are doing a holiday blogging event and would love if you could join! let me know if you are interested… i did a post with more details on Monday.

    Reply

  44. Mac says

    Now I want to actually do a "Big Night In"! Using the recipes from this beautiful cookbook!
    It's great to find you! Thank you for the giveaway.

    Reply

  52. Pretend Chef says

    The cookies look so good! I love kiss cookies and look forward to them this time of year as well. I would love to win that cookbook and whip up some table worthy recipes. Maybe it will help bring back the comforts of being around my mother's table growing up. She made some of the best Italian fare and I surely miss it!

    Reply

  63. Jamie says

    Oh honey, I follow you everywhere! But now I can't decide whether I want a handful or two of these cookies (I LOVE Hershey's kisses and bring home a suitcase of them every time I visit the US) or the Lemon Crostata. Can I have both? Great book and great recipes you too have made!

    Reply

  84. Foodiva says

    Hiya, I'm not here for the book as I live outside the US, but I just wanted to thank you so much for your kind thoughts on my blog. Congrats also for making Top 9, we are both in it on the same day, how cool's that?!

    These choc hazelnut kiss cookies look so superb, I can eat them all season long!

    Reply

  86. Becky says

    I unusually make the peanut butter Hershey Kiss cookies ,but I'll have to try these. My kids used to help make me make these, too. They're adults now.

    Reply

  93. Monet says

    I adore Hershey Kiss Cookies too, and I'm just smitten by your sophisticated version of one of my favorite classic cookie recipes. Lovely! I follow you on twitter, and I follow you on google, and I'm so very happy that I do! You are wonderful…and this is a great giveaway too! Thank you for sharing. I hope you have a great day!

    Reply

  102. Foodessa says

    I can see how this cookie can quickly become a chocolate treat favourite ;o)
    Thanks for sharing such a tasty and amusing cookie.

    Although, it hasn't been long…I did start following you on my blog's side roll.

    Good luck to everyone,
    Claudia

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *