Chocolate dipped candied orange peels

I have made these peels before and I rolled them in sugar as the recipe directed.  However, I felt that they were too sweet, so this time I left out the sugar and I liked them even better!  They are very festive and the flavor is so fresh and delicious.

Candied Citrus Peels

marthastewart.com

Ingredients:

2 grapefruits, 3 oranges, or 4 lemons

4 cups sugar, plus more for rolling

4 cups water

Directions:

Using a paring knife, make 6 slits along the curve from top to bottom of each citrus fruit, cutting through the peel but not into the fruit.  Using your fingers, gently remove the peel.  Slice each piece of peel lengthwise into 1/4 inch-wide-strips.  Remove excess pith.

Place the strips in a saucepan, and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil, then drain.  Repeat twice.

Bring the sugar and water to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the strips to the boiling syrup, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer gently until the strips are translucent, about 1 hour.  Remove from heat, and let strips cool in the syrup.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the strips to a wire rack placed on a rimmed baking sheet.  At this point you would roll the strips in sugar if desired and place back on the wire rack to dry.  The directions say to let them dry for at least 30 minutes, but I let mine dry for 2 days, covered before I felt that they were ready to dip in chocolate and store.

I melted a cup of dark chocolate chips and dipped one end of each peel in the chocolate, placed them on a baking sheet lined with parchment, and let them harden for about six hours.

These can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several weeks.

Hershey's kisses cookies two ways.

When I think about the cookies that I actually want to eat at a Christmas party, I realize that I usually stick to a bar or brownie-type cookie, really good sugar cookies, or those little drop cookies that have Hershey Kisses in the middle of them.  Oh, and maybe  the little thumbprint ones with jelly in the middle and of course fudge and almond rocca.  Also those little patty ones that my sister-in-law makes with yummy frosting in the middle and the currant cookies that Grammie makes.  But I digress. 

I was at Target last week and saw the annual end-cap-by the cash register display of Hershey's Kisses.  Wow!  Kisses with almonds, caramel, cherry-filled, dark, white chocolate peppermint, and of course the original milk chocolate. Now as a rule, I don't really enjoy eating Kisses - the original ones anyway.  However, the almond and cherry ones are kind of amazing, so I decided to make cookies with them.

I had seen a great picture of the Chocolate Kiss Powder Puff Cookies on Pinterest, cut in half, with a Hershey's Kiss in the middle.  Initially I figured that they were modified Russian Tea Cake cookies, but much to my surprise, when I found the recipe, they were made with pie crust dough!  How ingenious and really tasty.  They were simple to make and turned out looking just like the picture.  I also appreciated not having to mix anything since I used pre-made dough.  I would recommend these cookies for your holiday cookie tray.

The second Kiss recipe is the traditional Hershey's Kiss Peanut Butter Blossoms cookie.  The Hershey website:  www.hersheys.com also has recipes for using Kisses to make a chocolate version using cookie dough of the aforementioned pie crust Kiss cookie, as well as a Candy Cane Blossoms cookie using a sugar cookie dough and the white chocolate mint striped Kisses. 

The secret to good cookies, as far as I'm concerned, is to keep them a little under-done. Definitely all of these Kiss recipes benefit from NOT being overbaked.  Don't ask me why I know that.

Chocolate Kiss Powder Puff Cookies

AverieCooks

Ingredients:

One sheet pie crust

About 15 Hershey's Kisses

About 3/4 cup confectioners sugar for dredging