Red Velvet Hot Cocoa Blossom Cookies
These colorful and playful blossom cookies are a fun and festive treat for Christmas time. The cookies are made with cocoa powder and tinted red, then topped with a marshmallow and hot cocoa Hershey’s Kiss chocolate. Fun to make with your kids or made for a Christmas cookie exchange, these are sure to be a hit with friends and family.
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- ½ teaspoon red gel food color
Toppings:
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 18 marshmallows, cut in half
- 36 Hot Cocoa Hershey’s Kisses
Directions
- In a mixing bowl, combine 1 ¾ cups flour, ¼ cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt. Whisk to combine fully and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or a large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer) add the ½ cup unsalted butter, ¾ cup brown sugar, and ¼ cup white sugar and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and egg and beat on low speed until fully combined, about a minute or two.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, including the 1 tablespoon of milk and ½ teaspoon of red gel food coloring, mixing on low speed until fully combined into a sticky dough. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and preheat your oven to 350°F/177°C.
- Prepare the toppings for the cookies by pouring about a ½ cup of granulated sugar into a bowl, slice 18 marshmallows in half, and remove your Kisses from their wrappers. Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop or estimate that amount with your hands and scoop out some cookie dough. Roll the dough into a ball and then roll in the sugar. Place the cookies on your pan about 2 inches apart and bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and quickly but gently top each cookie with half a marshmallow, sticky side down. Return to the oven and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes until the edges are just starting to set.
- Once cooked, remove from the oven, and gently press a Kiss into the top of each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool and set on the baking sheet about 5 more minutes, and then move them to a cooling rack. The chocolate will be very soft, so allow the cookies to fully cool at least an hour so that the Kisses will set again.
- The cookies can be stored covered at room temperature for about a week.
Equipment Used
Notes
1) Testing – Because ovens can vary, you may want to make a test cookie or two before doing a full baking sheet. See how long a cookie takes to fully cook, then try making one with a marshmallow and add it with roughly 3 minutes left to cook. If you want a clean, white marshmallow, they tend to start browning around the 4-minute mark.
2) Melted Kisses – Adding the Hershey Kisses as soon as the cookies come out of the oven basically melts them from the heat of the cookie. I prefer to add them right away though, because if you allow the cookies to fully cool and set for an hour or so, the Kisses will set again too and retain their shape. What I like though, is that they reset softer than they were before, making the cookies easier to eat.
3) Gel Food Coloring – As mentioned above, gel food coloring tends to be more expensive than the watery dyes. It also gives a stronger color without using nearly as much. Look for gel food coloring where stores sell cake decorating tools and sprinkles. If you feel you need more coloring after a ½ teaspoon, add more a drop or so at a time and fully mix into the batter before deciding to add more.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 cookieCalories: 115kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 72mgPotassium: 24mgFiber: 1gSugar: 13gCalcium: 16mgIron: 0.5mg
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