Pink Sugar Cookie Kisses

Want to make a sweet little cookie for Valentine’s Day? Try our pink Sugar Cookie Kisses! They’re super simple to make and are super pretty too!

My daughter loves pink. She also loves cookies. She also thinks that she is the best, “most cutest”, baking assistant in the whole wide world. This is where we often get into trouble…

You see, at four, she adores “being helpful” – even though we sometimes disagree over what “being helpful” may actually be.

In her mind, eating all of the Hershey Kisses before the cats do is “being helpful”. In my mind, the cats have never eaten Hershey Kisses before and giving herself a chocolate-induced bellyache is not “being helpful”.

In addition to “being helpful”, my daughter also loves to tell me what to bake. This time, I didn’t really have any clear-cut goal in mind, so I let her pick.

She wanted pink cookies with Hershey Kisses in them. I had recently come across this recipe and modified it to suit her tastes.

The funny thing about cooking with your kids is that the end result doesn’t really matter. As my daughter ran away with a warm pink sugar cookie in her hands, she turned around and said, “Thanks Mommy, but I don’t even really like sugar cookies. I just like the chocolate kisses!”

And once again, I was wryly reminded that cooking with your kids isn’t so much about making the perfect cookie, as it is about time well spent instead. So if these Pink Sugar Cookie Kisses don’t look über-perfect, it’s fine by me – because today, I got to spend some quality time with my little Miss and it was worth every not-so-perfect-pink cookie.

PINK SUGAR COOKIE KISSES

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup butter, unsalted, room temperature
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 5 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons Fat Free 1/2 & 1/2, plus 1 tablespoon
• Hershey Kisses, unwrapped (approximately 1/2 a standard sized bag)
• Sprinkles, if desired

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Step 2: In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Step 3: Using the paddle attachment on your mixer, cream together butter and sugar.

Step 4: Add the egg, vanilla, and cherry juice to the batter; mix well.

Step 5: Add 1/2 the flour; until just incorporated. Add 3 tablespoons of 1/2 & 1/2, and the remaining half of the flour; mix until just incorporated.

Step 6: Drop sugar cookie dough onto cookie sheets – make sure dough is uniform in size to cook evenly. Pour the remaining 1 tablespoon of 1/2 & 1/2 into a dipping bowl. Dip clean fingers intot he 1/2 & 1/2 and gently flatten each cookie. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired.

Step 7: Bake 8-10 minutes until edges begin to brown and cookie is set in the middle. Rotate rack halfway through to bake evenly.

Step 8: As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, place a Hershey Kiss in the center of each cookie. Allow cookies to cool on pans for 2 minutes and then move to wire racks until completely cooled.

Happy Valentine’s Day,

Denine