By I drove to Grinnell Saturday. Roger was in the garden — the garden that is his whole world now, the 82-year-old man who tends six tomato plants and twelve sunflowers with the same care he once gave four hundred acres. He's slower but he's still Roger. He still watches the crop reports. He still calls Jack on Wednesdays.
I made chicken noodle soup this week — the spring version, the one that fills the kitchen with the smell that means this time of year, this stage of life, this specific Tuesday when the stove is warm and the family is fed and the feeding is the point. Kevin ate seconds. The man always eats seconds. The eating is the approval and the approval is the marriage.
Seed starting continues at the Holloway household — the windowsill green, the grow lights purple, the soil mix precise. The annual miracle of February and March: things grow even when everything says they shouldn't. The growing is the argument against everything.
After a Saturday in Grinnell watching Roger tend his six tomatoes like they were the whole world, and a week of soup and seconds and the quiet approval that holds a marriage together, I wanted to bake something small and sweet and a little over the top — something with that extra flourish, like a cinnamon roll that gets one more ladle of frosting just because it deserves it. These Chocolate Kiss Powder Puff Cookies are exactly that: soft and pillowy with a warm chocolate center pressed right in while they’re still catching their breath from the oven. I baked a batch for Kevin. He ate more than his share. That’s the approval.
Chocolate Kiss Powder Puff Cookies
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 32 min | Servings: 36 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for rolling
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 36 Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar. Beat softened butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar together with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes. Mix in vanilla extract.
- Add dry ingredients. Reduce mixer to low and gradually add flour and salt, mixing just until a soft dough forms. Do not overmix.
- Shape the dough. Scoop roughly 1 tablespoon of dough and roll into a smooth ball between your palms. Place on prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
- Bake. Bake 10–12 minutes, until cookies are set and just barely golden on the bottoms. They should look pale and pillowy — do not overbake.
- Press in the kisses. Remove from oven and immediately press one unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss firmly into the center of each cookie. The cookie may crack slightly around the edges — that’s perfect.
- Roll in powdered sugar. While still warm, roll each cookie gently in a bowl of powdered sugar to coat. Set on a wire rack to cool completely. Roll in powdered sugar a second time once fully cooled for a thicker, snowier coating.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 118 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 28mg