Baking Memories: Elf Hat Christmas Cookies

About a month ago I saw these cookies on one of my tagged blogs.  They were so darn cute!  Not only cute, but a 5 year old could help.  It was on my to-do list and we to-done it today.  My little 5 year old neighbor, Lily, was my elf helper.  It’s super simple to do and takes little to no time.  You can contain the sugar by covering your table with freezer paper and using sided dishes when the kids roll the dough in the sugar.

I am so impressed with Lily’s skills.  She dutifully assisted me as we removed all the wrappers for a double batch of ELF HATS (90 plus 16 extra that she was able to put in a Ziploc and take home) – and that was after we put the Fancy Nancy 100 piece puzzle together.   Lily attends kindergarten at Lincoln-Prairie Elementary in Lake in the Hills.  It’s one of the many elementary schools within  Community Unit School District 300.   I’m so impressed with her reasoning skills as we put the 100 piece puzzle together.  I can’t wait to see what she takes for 100 days in school – that’s a big deal in D300.

We worked as a team with our new addition to the family Daisy watching and waiting for the big drop.  (She’s my rescue Schnauzer).  I rolled the dough and Lily coated it in the red and white sugar.  When the cookies were cooling she eagerly moved the kitchen chair to the stove top to place the candies on top of the cooling cookies.  She loved the taste of the cookies and had three.  (It is never-never land in my house, just for the record.)

Lily and I call these Elf Hats but Hershey calls them Candy Cane Blossoms.   We doubled the recipe.  Lily and I totally agree that the cookie is really good. 

I followed the recipe on the back of the candy bag.  NOTE TO HERSHEY what font size are you using?  It must have been 4.

Elf Hats or Candy Cane Blossoms

• 1 package Hershey’s Candy Cane Mint Candies
• 1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Red or green sugar crystals, granulated sugar or powdered sugar
• Store bought tubed vanilla icing.

Heat oven to 350°F. Remove wrappers from candies.

In your electric mixer using your flat paddle, cream the butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, until well blended.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Using 1 small jar of red sugar mix it with ¼ cup of granulated sugar.  Place in a paper plate with sides or use a pyrex pie baking dish. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.  Place a small pea size amount of vanilla icing in the middle of the cooling cookie.  Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Cool completely. Makes 45 cookies