Hershey Kisses Coconut Macaroons

Here’s a fun recipe to try if you happen to have some coconut around.  These Hershey Kisses Coconut Macaroons are soft, chewy, less-sweet, coconut macaroons with Hershey’s Kisses in the center.

The dough for the Kisses Coconut Macaroons is kind of interesting because in addition to the butter it calls for cream cheese.  It’s not soft and flaky like rugelach dough (which is also made with butter and cream cheese), but rather a little chewy.  The dough is easy to work with once chilled, and that’s a good thing because you get to form sixty little balls.  Yay!  Mindfulness exercise!

The best thing about these cookies is that they have Hershey’s Kisses in the center.  Someone named Michael once commented that if you are making any type of cookie with a Kiss in it (like Peanut Blossoms), put the cookies back in the oven for about 30 seconds after adding the Kisses.  That is suppose to make the Kisses set up a little softer even when they’ve totally cooled.  I tested this theory again today and noticed that a 30-second baked Kiss cookie was slightly softer all the way to the tip, while a cookie with the Kiss poked in it and just left out set up half soft and with a hard tip.  In the end it didn’t really matter because I froze them all.

The last photo is a cookie with a Dove dark chocolate, so if you don’t like Kisses you can use Dove candies.

Print Recipe

Hershey Kisses Macaroons

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time12 mins

Chilling Dough Time1 hr

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Macaroon

Servings: 60

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter softened (75 grams)**
• 3 oz cream cheese softened (84 grams)
• 3/4 cup sugar 150 grams
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups flaked coconut
• 48 to 60 Hershey’s Kisses

Instructions

• Beat together the softened butter, cream cheese and sugar, then stir in both extracts and egg yolk.
• In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir to make a soft dough.
• Stir half of the coconut into the dough, then cover and chill for about an hour or until it is firm enough to shape.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Shape dough into about 60 little balls (a little smaller than an inch in diameter), then roll in remaining coconut. Arrange on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
• Meanwhile, have the candy ready to go.
• Remove cookies from oven and place Hershey’s Kiss in the center. Let cool completely.

Notes

For the butter, you can use unsalted or salted.