Fudgy Bonbons

These are the cookies that made Mary Anne Tyndall famous when she won the 1994 Pillsbury Bake-Off with them. The genius is in the hidden Hershey’s Kiss at the center of each cookie. The surrounding dough (a fudgy chocolate-truffle mix made with melted chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter) bakes around the Kiss, and the Kiss softens into a molten chocolate heart when you bite into the still-warm cookie.

The dough is easy to work with because the sweetened condensed milk binds everything into a smooth, Play-Doh-like consistency. A tablespoon of dough flattens in your palm, a Kiss centers on top, and the dough wraps around it to fully cover.

Short baking is critical. Six to eight minutes at 350°F (175°C). The cookies look wet and shiny when you pull them out, but they firm up as they cool. Overbake by a minute and the truffle quality turns to rock.

A drizzle of melted white chocolate across the tops gives these cookies their signature look and adds sweet contrast to the dark cookie base.

Pro Tips

• Unwrap all Kisses before starting; stopping to unwrap slows the assembly way down.
• Use a measuring tablespoon for consistent portions so all cookies bake at the same rate.
• Cover the Kisses completely with dough, or they’ll ooze out the side and burn.
• Cool the first batch before drizzling white chocolate; warm cookies melt it into a mess.

Variations

• Substitute Rolo caramels or peanut butter cups for the Kisses.
• Use chopped pecans or walnuts in the dough; skip for a nut-free version.
• Roll unbaked dough balls in powdered sugar for a crinkle-top effect.