A buttery cookie with powdered sugar on the outside... a delicious chocolate surprise on the inside! These easy, gluten-free cookies are fun to make and to eat, making them a fan favorite around the holidays and Valentine's Day!
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New! I added a cooking video to this page so you can see how easy these gluten-free Chocolate Kiss Cookies are to make.
If you are new to this website, at the bottom of every recipe page is a printable recipe with exact measurements and directions.
Hope you love them!
Original post…
This is one of our favorite holiday cookies!
My family has a long tradition of making LOTS of holiday cookies.
We have several different cookies we make each year –recipes that have been handed down from family and friends–and we bake large quantities, then give them away as gifts.
In fact, there are people that literally email or call to make sure they are still on the list each year… the cookies are that good!
Everyone has their favorites but these Hidden Chocolate Kiss Cookies are always a hit!
They look like a basic butter cookie with powdered sugar but … there’s a Hershey’s Kiss when you bite into this cookie!
My boys love them, especially when they first come out of the oven and the chocolate is still warm!
Recipe is from my Aunt’s friend years ago, they are super easy to make, which is a good thing since I usually make several batches each holiday season.
All you need is 7 ingredients….
Gluten-free all purpose flour (we use GF Jules – affiliate link)
butter or dairy free butter
sugar
vanilla extract
chopped walnuts
Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses
confectioner’s sugar (also known as powdered sugar) to roll them in.
Fun fact… this is a family recipe and the only change I’ve made to the original recipe is to use GF Jules gluten-free all purpose flour — they taste just like the original! Maybe even better!
And you may have noticed that we are affiliate for GFJules. A great gluten-free flour is so important with gluten-free baking! To learn more about why we love GFJules flour and why we have used it for 10 years, click here.
Bonus: at the bottom of that post is a one-time use affiliate Discount Code.
And importantly, purchasing through an affiliate link does not change your cost at all. It generates a small percentage of the sale for me, and purchasing through an affiliate link helps me fund this website and all the recipes I share, so thank you!
Back to the Gluten-free Chocolate Kiss Cookies…
They are really fun for kids to make because the first thing you do is count out 40 Hersey’s kisses and unwrap them (and maybe eat a few..)
The dough itself comes together in about 5 minutes.
All you do is mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla.
Then add and mix in the flour and walnuts. Couldn’t be easier!
Then you divided the dough into 40 pieces.
Roll a Hersey’s kiss inside each piece of dough and bake.
After cooling a bit, you roll in confectioner’s sugar.
Super easy!
And fun for kids of all ages to make and to eat!
Nut-Free Families…
I am often asked if these can be made without walnuts. If you can substitute another nut like pecans that would work.
If you are entirely nut-free, I have made them without and it works fine but you get a few less cookies.
And several of you with nut allergies have reported making them with 1/2 cup oat flour in place of walnut and that that works great!
With or without the walnuts I hope you love them as much as we do!
These easy Gluten-Free cookies are a buttery cookie with powdered sugar on the outside... a delicious chocolate surprise on the inside! Fun to make and to eat, they are perfect around the holidays and Valentine's Day! Super quick and simple 7 ingredient recipe. Notes if you are nut-free: At your request I have made them without nuts, and they are good but you get less cookies. Some of you have subbed 1/2 cup oat flour for the walnuts successfully. And if you are allergic only to walnuts, you could consider subbing pecans.
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time12 minutesmins
Total Time32 minutesmins
Course: Dessert, Cookies, Holiday Baking, Valentine's Day
Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Egg-Free
Servings: 40cookies
Author: Healthy Gluten-free Family
Ingredients
1cupbutteror Earthbalance room temperature
1/2cupsugar
1teaspoonvanilla
2cupsgluten free all purpose flour with xanthum gumwe use GF Jules (affiliate link)
1cupfinely chopped walnuts
40Hershey's Kisseswrapping removed
Confectioner's sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
At medium speed beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
At low speed beat in flour and nuts until well combined.
Divide the dough into 40 equal parts and shape each part around kiss to make a ball.
Bake 12 minutes or until cookies are set but not brown.
Cool slightly & roll in confectioner’s sugar.
Enjoy!
Store in an air tight container at room temperature for several weeks. They also freeze well.
We have a nut-allergy in our family so I substituted oat flour (old-fashioned oats ground in the blender) for the walnuts. I used 1/2 c and they turned out great! Love these cookies and will be making them again!
Oh, my God! These are sooooo good! My whole family loves them! Your recipes are so great, easy to make and delicious! Keep enlighting us! Thank you! ❤️
Great question! The answer is yes, but I haven’t done myself and plan to try it this weekend so that I can give an exact recipe adjustment… one person commented last year that they substituted 1/2 cup oat flour and that it worked perfectly. So if you can tolerate gluten-free oats, that’s an option. Alternatively, I think it will work using an additional 1/2 cup gluten-free all purpose flour. If you decide to try making them without the walnuts prior to my getting back to you, please let me know what adjustment you make and how it works out!
I made these tasty treats this afternoon and they came out so yummy. They were super easy and I will definitely be making them again. I made half with dark chocolate kisses and the other with milk chocolate kisses.
These are the best!! My 5yr old and I made them for Christmas and now we can’t wait to make them again for Valentine’s Day! We did with the oats (nut allergy over here) as the other commenter posted and it worked great!
My grandchildren and I made these cookies today and we substituted with 1/2 c oat flour instead of walnuts. Although, tasty, we found the cookies to be very dry. Not sure if we did something wrong or not. Plenty sweet and kids even said, “these are okay but not our best and kind of dry”. My husband and I found the sweetness and flavor was good but we too thought too dry.
Thanks for the feedback… I’ve never experienced that in all the years we’ve made them so I have 2 thoughts.. 1. I usually use walnuts which impacts the texture… so since using additional oat flour, it’s extra important to measure correctly by spooning flour into the measuring cup and leveling it… extra flour would definitely impact the texture and make them dry. 2. Could they have been overcooked by either the oven running hot or being in too long? Just a few thoughts…
I found mine to be dry, too. I followed the recipe as is (no substitutes). We used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure GF flour. When I added the flour to the mix it became crumbly. Any ideas what I could do next time so the batter is moister??
I just made these again and have two thoughts: 1. was the butter soft enough to really cream with the sugar? 2. Did you measure the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling? If you scooped the flour with the measuring cup, you could have to much flour which would impact the texture.
Hi! My name is Karen, and I’m the mom in our Healthy Gluten-Free Family. My posts and pictures here and on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter are labors of love that allow me to share a very personal journey with you, one our family has taken together — learning, experimenting and sharing how to raise a healthy happy gluten-free family. Read more ...
Scroll down to see the recipe and leave a comment if you try.
We have a nut-allergy in our family so I substituted oat flour (old-fashioned oats ground in the blender) for the walnuts. I used 1/2 c and they turned out great! Love these cookies and will be making them again!
Great idea! So glad it worked out so well and that you love them! Thanks for sharing!
Have you ever used swerve or powdered stevia in place of sugar??
I haven’t… If you try, let me know how it works and how you like it.
Oh, my God! These are sooooo good! My whole family loves them! Your recipes are so great, easy to make and delicious! Keep enlighting us! Thank you! ❤️
Thank you so much! So happy you love these as much as we do! They are a holiday favorite!
Loved these cookies!! I used dark chocolate kisses instead of milk chocolate! Yum!
Thank you! Bet they were yummy with the dark chocolate kisses!
Can I substitute pecans for walnuts?
I have never made them with pecans but I think it would work fabulously! Let me know if you try 🙂
Can you make without walnuts/nuts??
Great question! The answer is yes, but I haven’t done myself and plan to try it this weekend so that I can give an exact recipe adjustment… one person commented last year that they substituted 1/2 cup oat flour and that it worked perfectly. So if you can tolerate gluten-free oats, that’s an option. Alternatively, I think it will work using an additional 1/2 cup gluten-free all purpose flour. If you decide to try making them without the walnuts prior to my getting back to you, please let me know what adjustment you make and how it works out!
I made these tasty treats this afternoon and they came out so yummy. They were super easy and I will definitely be making them again. I made half with dark chocolate kisses and the other with milk chocolate kisses.
Yumm! I bet they tasted great with dark chocolate kisses! So happy you loved them! Thank you!
These were so easy to make and so good. I used hu gems instead of the Hershey kisses, still turned out great.
What a great swap! Thanks for sharing! And happy you loved them!
This is a super easy delicious and fun cookie recipe that I love making with my young daughters! Made them tonight.
These are the best!! My 5yr old and I made them for Christmas and now we can’t wait to make them again for Valentine’s Day! We did with the oats (nut allergy over here) as the other commenter posted and it worked great!
Yay! So happy you loved them too! And thanks for sharing your walnut substitution– I really appreciate it !
Can I use almond flour instead?
Great question! Unfortunately, almond flour is not interchangeable in this recipe.
My grandchildren and I made these cookies today and we substituted with 1/2 c oat flour instead of walnuts. Although, tasty, we found the cookies to be very dry. Not sure if we did something wrong or not. Plenty sweet and kids even said, “these are okay but not our best and kind of dry”. My husband and I found the sweetness and flavor was good but we too thought too dry.
Thanks for the feedback… I’ve never experienced that in all the years we’ve made them so I have 2 thoughts.. 1. I usually use walnuts which impacts the texture… so since using additional oat flour, it’s extra important to measure correctly by spooning flour into the measuring cup and leveling it… extra flour would definitely impact the texture and make them dry. 2. Could they have been overcooked by either the oven running hot or being in too long? Just a few thoughts…
I found mine to be dry, too. I followed the recipe as is (no substitutes). We used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure GF flour. When I added the flour to the mix it became crumbly. Any ideas what I could do next time so the batter is moister??
I just made these again and have two thoughts: 1. was the butter soft enough to really cream with the sugar? 2. Did you measure the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling? If you scooped the flour with the measuring cup, you could have to much flour which would impact the texture.