Hershey Acorn Cookies

These adorable bite-sized cookies are bound to be a complete hit! They look stunning all on their own, but are perfect for filling in the gaps on your Christmas cookie platter. Hershey Acorn Cookies are prepared with a miniature homemade cookie, and paired with a chocolate kiss and a single chocolate chip!

I blame the chipmunks for these Hershey Acorn Cookies! We have a tree in our backyard that produces a lot of acorns. The chipmunks love them! I have spent more time than I care to admit peering out our upstairs bathroom window, watching them scurry about the bottom of the tree, stuffing their cheeks with fallen acorns. Once, while watching them, I found myself thinking about whether or not acorns were edible. Turns out, they are! I’ll keep that bit of knowledge tucked away for future use!

During my edible acorn Google search, I stumbled upon pictures of acorn cookies. They looked so cute, I had to have them! As soon as I was able to source Hershey Kisses at a decent price, I got to work. Believe it or not, it took me three attempts at the cookie base to get it just right. Now, here I’m turning over the recipe to you. I’ve taken all of the guesswork out of it.

Before you go ahead and make these, here are a few suggestions. First, buy more chocolates than you think you’ll need. You might be surprised at how many go missing! (That’s what I call it when John.e eats my baking supplies before I get a chance to use them. Also, the assembly is a bit tedious, so if you’re offered help, take it. Besides, that is what makes Christmas baking so much fun!

VISITING HERSHEY PARK

A few years ago, John.e and I decided to take McKenna to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania for a mid-July road trip. We piled into the car, along with my ex-wife, (because we all get along greatly) and made the drive. The park was great! There were lots of rides, lots of activities, and lots and lots of chocolate.

Hershey’s chocolate was everywhere! And, much of it was free. Almost every shop at the park had an attendant handing out sample chocolate kisses. McKenna was so happy. And, so was John.e. But, I wasn’t. You see, Dear Reader, I don’t care much for Hershey chocolate. When it comes to mass-produced chocolate, I much prefer Cadbury.

To be perfectly honest, I grew rather tired of declining the free chocolate. The purpose of the visit was to take McKenna there. I wanted to go, because I knew a part of the trip would find me in Amish country, and I was dying to get to their markets!

I went ahead and used the Hershey’s Kisses in this Hershey’s Kiss Cookies recipe, despite them not being my favourite. They are extremely easy to find and very inexpensive. Also, they work very well in this cookie recipe and 99% of the population tends to like them. It was an easy decision.

CUTE AS A BUTTON!

I can’t tell you how many cookie recipes I have shared over the years, and I’d be hard-pressed to pick a favourite. But, as of right now – at this very moment – this one is my favourite. It will drop to second-best tomorrow, because I’m fickle like that. When I was working with cookie dough to get the right flavour, consistency, and size for these Hershey Acorn Cookies, I almost lost my religion!

I learned a few things about myself along the way. First of all, I learned that I am not a quitter. I was so determined to get this cookie right! Secondly, I learned that I’m stubborn and a sucker for punishment. There are a some tedious steps to this recipe, so you’ll soon see what I’m talking about. And, finally, it turns out that I have more patience for mind-numbing things that I knew!

I have figured out the right texture to match the creaminess of the chocolate. The texture of the cookie works well too, because like the chocolate, it had to melt in my mouth. And, the look of the top of the acorn, which to me is the cookie part, had to look similar to an actual acorn. To me, the tops are a cute as a button, and they work perfectly. The glistening sanding sugar on the outside of the cookie brings it to life!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE:

• Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature! To be perfectly honest, I have made these with both salted and unsalted butter and there’s no difference in taste or appearance once all is said and done. Use what you have on hand.
• Sugar – Sugar will caramelize when baked, which will help to brown cookies and cakes.  In cookies, the sugar will help the dough to spread, and will create a crispness to the bottom of the cookie.
• Eggs – Actually, you’ll only need the yolks. Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Vanilla Extract – Probably the most common extract and the most common flavouring used in cakes and cookies.  
• Flour – No need for anything special. Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Sanding Sugar – Coarse sugar, sometimes referred to as sanding sugar, is used sometimes for decorative purposes.  It is sometimes called pearl sugar or coarse baking sugar.
• Hershey Chocolate Kisses
• Chocolate Chips

SANDING VS GRANULATED SUGAR

I’ve been using coarse sanding sugar quite a bit in this 24 Cookies of Christmas series. I hope it hasn’t been too difficult for you to find. Sanding sugar is sometimes referred to as baking sugar, and there are some substitutes.

You can use other sugars – which are basically the same, but named something differently – there’s pearl sugar and coarse sugar. You cannot, however, use granulated sugar. Let me explain why. Whereas an individual granule of sanding sugar is large and hard, a single granule of granulated sugar is quite small. Sanding sugar will hold up to the heat in your oven without melting; granulated sugar will not.

If you can only find granulated sugar, you can either skip the coating in sugar step, or you can use turbinado sugar. Turbinado sugar is a golden brown though, so it will throw off the colour of your finished cookie

TRIVIA

I learned this when we visited Hershey Park. Do you know why their most popular chocolate confection, the kiss, is called a kiss? Well, we know they are called Hershey’s because the founder was Milton S. Hershey. He introduced the kiss chocolate in 1907.

The name “kiss” was adopted and applied to the confection, because of the sound the melted chocolate made when it was dropped from the vats onto the conveyer belt. The name stuck and it’s hard to imagine those little chocolates being called anything else!

HOW TO MAKE HERSHEY ACORN COOKIES

The first thing you will need to do is to bake the cookies and let them cool. Once that is done, you can start assembling. I tested the measurement of the cookie dough many times to ensure that each cookie would bake up to the right size. It needs to be just slightly larger than the base circumference of a chocolate kiss. That exact measurement is 3/4 teaspoon!

So, let’s get started! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set it aside. Next, in a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolks and vanilla extract. Beat to combine. Now, add the flour and mix into the butter mixture until just combined. Don’t over mix!

Portion into 3/4 teaspoon amounts and roll into balls. Roll each ball into the sanding sugar and place on the prepared baking sheet. Use a flat-bottomed drinking glass to slightly flatten the ball. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookie to cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

ASSEMBLING THE COOKIES

Once the cookies are cooled, it’s time to join them to the Hershey’s Kiss and the chocolate chip. Basically, the two will be “glued” to the cookie using melted chocolate chips. So, the chocolate chips will play a dual role in the assembly of this cookie. But, before you melt the chocolate, unwrap all of the chocolates first! Place them in a bowl, and place a handful of chocolate chips in a separate bowl. This will make the work easier and faster.

Place half a cup of chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl and in 15-second increments, melt the chocolate. Stir with a rubber spatula after each increment. Once melted, you can safely assemble the cookies. Start with attaching the kiss chocolates to the cookies first. If you try to do both the chocolates and the chocolate chips at the same time, you will have a mess!

I used a wooden chopstick to dab melted chocolate onto the flat side of the cookie. Then, I pressed an unwrapped Hershey Kiss onto the cookie, using the melted chocolate as glue. Set the cookie down onto a wire cooling rack with the kiss standing up. Do this until all of the cookies have a kiss chocolate attached. By the time you have finished that, you can go back and affix the chocolate chip.

Start with the cookie you completed in the previous step. Being careful to dab on very small amounts of the melted chocolate, affix one chocolate chip to the rounded top of the cookie. Set the cookie down on the cooling rack to firm up. Once all cookies are done, set aside until the melted chocolate is firm.

TIPS & TRICKS:  The warmer your melted chocolate, the runnier it will become. Once fully melted, stir the chocolate for a minute to slightly cool it down. This will prevent the chocolate from running when you assemble.

STORING, PACKAGING, & FREEZING

When it comes to most cookies, they taste best at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well to being left out on your countertop for long periods of time. Cookies will stay fresh in a cookie jar or food-safe container with a lid for 3-5 days if left to sit on your kitchen countertop. You can store them in a food-safe container in your fridge. When you want one, two, or half a dozen, take them out of the container and place them in a single layer on a plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and they’re ready!

If you plan to freeze your Hershey Acorn Cookies, you certainly can! Once they are completely cooled, pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. I use these quite often when freezing baked goods. I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that freshness locked in!  

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. If you plan to give previously frozen cookies as a gift, I would lay them out onto a wire cooling rack to thaw completely. Once thawed, pile into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon, or stack in a cookie tin/box.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down to follow me and never miss another recipe!

Finally, as I stated previously, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 100 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!