Shortbread Blossoms {easy holiday cookie recipe} (2024)

In today’s post: Tender, melt in your mouth shortbread is topped with a Hershey’s kiss to make these shortbread blossoms. Only 6 ingredients!

Shortbread blossoms just may be the perfect Christmas cookie! They are very easy to mix up and only require six ingredients, but the result is absolutely delicious. The flakey, buttery shortbread melts in your mouth, and the sweet Hershey’s kiss is the perfect compliment. This is a great cookie to make with your kids – little ones always love putting the kisses on top!

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Shortbread Blossoms

To make these cookies look a little more festive, I rolled the balls of dough in sprinkles and colored sugar before baking. Most grocery stores sell colored sugar next to the sprinkles, but you can also make your own by mixing food coloring into regular sugar. The green cookies below were made using purchased color sugar (which is a little coarser) and the red cookies were made with homemade colored sugar.

The Perfect shortbread Texture

Shortbread has a different texture than normal cookies; instead of being chewy or gooey it’s has a more delicate, almost crumbly texture that melts in your mouth. However, if you make it correctly the cookies will hold together nicely and not crumble when you pick them up. There are two things to pay attention to:

First, there’s not a lot of liquid in the recipe and it can be tempting to add some water or an egg. Don’t do it! As you add the flour the dough will look a bit crumbly at first; that’s normal. Just beat it a little longer and you will see it start to come together in big clumps. At this point you can stop beating and use your hands to pull the dough together a few times, kneading it once or twice until it forms a ball. Then you’ll be able to scoop out the cookies without the dough crumbling.

The Right Baking Time

The other thing to pay attention to is the baking time. My cookies bake for 14 minutes in a 350 degree oven, but depending on your oven and how large you make your cookie dough balls, you may need a minute or two more or less. Because this is shortbread, you want it to be a little crunchy once the cookie has cooled. However, if you bake them until they start browning they will be very crunchy instead of tender and crumbly. Shoot for about 14 minutes, and check them by touching the side of a cookie – it should feel set, not squishy.

Add the Chocolate!

You’ll place a Hershey’s kiss on top of each cookie soon after they come out of the oven. Move them from a cookie sheet to a paper towel on the counter, then press a chocolate kiss down into the cookie enough that the edges of the cookie start to crack. Then leave them alone for a couple of hours! The chocolate will melt as it sits on the warm cookie, but it will not lose its shape, and it will set back up in an hour or two. These cookies taste best if they are allowed to cool completely before eating.