shortbread chocolate kiss cookies

By á-2005

Ingredients

• 2 sticks plus 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 scant cup (not a full cup) cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used sea salt)
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract (could also use 2 teaspoons but I love vanilla)
• 30-45 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Preparation

Step 1

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar together with either a hand or stand mixer until thoroughly combined.
Sift flour and cornstarch together and stir in salt.
Add flour mixture and vanilla to sugar/butter and mix on medium to high speed until thoroughly combined. This will take a few minutes as you are making a mixture similar to pie crust and the butter needs time to be cut into the flour. If it seems to remain just too crumbly after several minutes, you can add a couple more tablespoons of butter.
Form dough into a ball/disc, as you would pie crust, and wrap with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or over night. Preheat oven to 325°F if making the same day.
Take heaping teaspoonfuls of dough and roll into balls with hands lightly dusted with powdered sugar. If dough starts to melt in your hands, place back in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Place cookie balls onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat, about 1 inch apart.
At this point you can take a small clean glass and dip the bottom in powered sugar and flatten each cookie or use your thumb to create a crater that you press the kiss into later. Both seemed to work equally well for me, though I preferred the look of the thumb-pressed cookies more for this application. Note that these cookies will not rise or expand very much.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges have just a very slight golden tinge. Check at around 10-12 minutes if your oven runs really hot. These are not cookies you want to get brown.
Remove sheets from oven and immediately place an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss into the center of each cookie, pressing down lightly.
Allow to cool and enjoy. Cookies can be stored at room temperature in air-tight container for up to 3 day. Unbaked dough can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.