Candy Cane Blossoms

I found this recipe initially from Pinterest...the great pic caught my eye!

 

Source: bakedperfection.com via Abby on Pinterest

I had this cookie in mind when I signed up for a contest at my church, as part of a Girls Night event they were having on Dec 13.

I had never made them before, but they looked pretty!

I baked all the cookies (6 dozen +) the night before the event.

They are probably one of the smallest cookies I've ever made, ha! 

They were super cute (and yummy)!  These Kisses taste similar to peppermint bark.

If you want a festive cookie to make this Christmas, try these!

Candy Cane Blossoms
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

1 bag Hershey's Kisses Candy Cane Kisses

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons milk

Red and Green colored sugar

 

Directions:

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Remove wrappers from Kisses.
• Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended.
• Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.
• Shape dough into 1 inch balls.
• Roll in red or green colored sugar.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheet; bake 8 - 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies are set.
• Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes.
• Press candy piece into center of each cookie.
• Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
• Cool completely.

Source: Hershey's and Baked Perfection

 

 

The event was awesome, such a nice night.  And the cookie contest was fun! 

 

There was a total of 12 of us that participated.  We had to bring 5 dozen cookies for the audience, and 1 dozen had to be plated (pretty) for the judges.

 

Here was my beautiful creation, for the judges...

 

 

Nice, huh?  I thought so!

 

I was in the kitchen, literally figuring it out as I went!  I had a general idea of what I wanted to do but wasn't sure how to piece it together.  The candy canes around the glass was actually my friend's idea.  She was out shopping with me at Michael's the night before and we were discussing it! 

 

The sign is stuck into a large marshmallow with mini marshmallows all around it, hidden under the unwrapped Kisses.

 

I thought it turned out cute...it went with my "candy cane" theme, obviously!

 

Then to top it off...

 

 

Cellophane wrap (which is a favorite thing of mine), a ribbon and a little note to the judges.

 

And the winner of the cookie contest is...

 

ABBY!

 

No, not really.  I did not win the grand prize, but I did win something...

 

A Christmas platter!

 

AND...a Christmas tree spatula!

 

To be totally honest, I was so excited to win.  (Even if I was 1 of 4 to win the same prize.)  I was all giddy.

 

I was not expecting to win the grand prize - in all seriousness, because my cookie was OK but it wasn't awesome, right?  It wasn't super duper creative or anything (heck, the recipe is on the back of the Hershey bag!) but I knew my plate decoration was killer.

 

When I went up to the stage at the event to place my plate next to the others, I knew I had a shot.  Mine looked sweet.  It looked Christmas-y and pretty.  I walked away from that table with a smirk on my face.  (I'm so competitive, right?!)

 

I came home to tell my step-daughter, Emillie (who was babysitting Riley that night) about my win.  I showed her my prize...and she said, "how adorkable."  Not adorable...aDORKable.

 

Great.

 

I'm 30.  I'm into baking.  I enter cookie contests.  And I get excited for winning a platter and a spatula.

 

She's right!  I am a dork.  A cookie baking dork.

 

Thanks, Emillie, for bringing me back down off my winning high. 

 

Someone had to do it.