8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chopped (chocolate chips work well)
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick butter), softened
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
32 mint Hershey’s Kisses*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring. Set aside and let cool. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

2. Mix butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla, and then the melted chocolate. Reduce speed to low, mix in flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk. Divide the dough into 4 pieces (approximately 265 grams each). Wrap each in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

3. Divide each piece into 8 balls. Roll in granulated sugar to coat, then in powdered sugar to coat. (Rolling in granulated sugar first keeps the powdered sugar from being absorbed into the cookie, maintaining the snowy appearance) Space 2 inches apart on the baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

4. Bake until surfaces crack, about 14 minutes. Remove from oven and press a mint Hershey’s Kiss in the center of each cookie. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

*If you cannot find mint kisses you can buy mint chocolate bars, cut into squares and put in the middle of each cookie after baking. Sometimes the chocolate does not harden again fast enough for me and I put the tray in the refrigerator for a short time.