Hugs and Chocolate Kisses

What do you do when you have a bowl full of Hershey Kisses that you bought for your husband during the holidays (Christmas and Valentines) that seems to be never ending? In fact they seem to be mating and multiplying like rabbits.

You make these scrumptious cookies, that's what!

I wanted to make blossom cookies using the kisses but the only recipes I seemed to find were for peanut butter blossoms. If you have been reading long, you know that I don't like chocolate and peanut butter together, so those were out. I wanted to make snickerdoodle blossoms but couldn't find a recipe so I adapted a recipe from Land O' Lakes that was similar to what I was looking for. I subbed the almond extract for vanilla and rolled them in cinnamon sugar for a snickerdoodle-esque cookie and topped them with milk chocolate kisses.

Buttery, cinnamony, sugary, chocolatey. These were delish!

Snickerdoodle Blossoms adapted from Land O' Lakes

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 48 milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped*

Heat oven to 375°F.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar and butter in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add egg, vanilla extract and salt; continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking soda. Beat until well mixed.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. If dough is too soft, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll dough balls in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until very lightly golden brown. Immediately press 1 chocolate kiss in center of each cookie and sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over them while they're still warm. Remove from cookie sheets; cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 4-5 dozen.

NOTE: *I used a small ice cream scoop and was able to make 60 cookies-- 12 more than the recipe states. score! Make sure you have a few extra kisses on hand when making these.

Also, be sure to allow these to cool completely before stacking them. The cookies may be cool, but the kisses may be melty in the center and you want them to stay pretty and blossom-y.

Look boobies!