Mint Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

So it was my little brother's birthday last week, and it should not surprise anyone to know that I like to bake for people's birthdays. However, because I live in NY and he still is in GA, I needed a cookie that would ship well (i.e. not melt in this terrible heat). He loves chocolate-mint combinations and I'd picked up some mint hershey's kisses at Ollie's back in February (January?) so I decided to put them to good use in this dense chocolate butter cookie!

Adapted from this Land O'Lakes recipe
Ingredients

1/2c Butter (softened)

3/4c Sugar

1 Egg

1.5tsp Vanilla

1/3c Cocoa Powder

1 2/3c Flour

1pkg Mint Truffle Hershey's Kisses

OVEN: 375

BAKE: 10-12min

1. Cream the butter and sugar together in a standing mixer until smooth. 

2. Add the egg and vanilla until well incorporated. I had to scrap down the sides with a spatula to make sure everything was all mixed together.

3. Throw in the cocoa powder and then slowly add the flour in, 1/3c at a time, until the dough has thickened. It should be tacky when you touch it, but not super slimy sticky. 

4. Put the dough in a big zip lock bag or cover it in saran wrap and let it cool in the fridge for at least two hours. You could also make this in the evening and then bake the cookies in the morning when it's cooler and the oven won't add to the heat of the day!

5. When you're ready to bake, take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter as you unwrap the hershey's kisses. My batch made 16 cookies, but I'm sure you could stretch the dough to get 20. I normally unwrap all the kisses (plus three or four extra for my own personal consumption) that way you don't have to fuss with it while you're shaping the cookies. I used these:

6. To stuff the cookies, simple pull a small amount of dough off the pile and flatten it in your hand. It should be about the size of your palm. Then place a kiss in the center of the dough and shape the dough around it, pinching off excess dough but making sure that the kiss is completely covered so it won't ooze out while baking. Roll it in your hands to get a nice round ball. 

7. Then pop them in the oven! These are SO delicious right after they've come out and the chocolate is still hot and gooey in the center. For a little extra pizazz you can drizzle some mint chocolate over the cookie or dunk them in powdered sugar!

I think these would also be great for Christmas! Especially if you used the hershey's white chocolate peppermint kisses!