Cream together butter, shortening, and sugar with an electric mixer.
Add in eggs, vanilla, and instant pudding mix.
Continue mixing until thoroughly incorporated.
In a separate bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the four mixture to the butter mixture a little at a time mixing between additions until all the flour is incorporated.
Scoop out dough by the tablespoonful.
Make a ball with the dough and then press a Hershey Kiss into the center.
Pinch the dough up and around the kiss to create a cone shaped ball of dough.
Repeat until all dough is used.
Place the cookies in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
When ready to bake preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the chilled cookies on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until set and lightly golden brown around the edges.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes or until cool enough to handle but still warm.
Place the powdered sugar in a bowl.
Place the warm cookies in the bowl of powdered sugar and gently roll to coat.
Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Once the cookies are cooled completely roll them in the powdered sugar again to coat in another layer.
Notes
Chill: Make sure you chill your dough before baking so that the cookies keep their unique cone shape.
Don’t overbake: Hershey Kiss sugar cookies should be light and airy. Make sure you don’t overbake them, or else they will come out flat and brittle.
Candy Topping: To make this dessert a little more festive, replace the chocolate Hershey Kiss with a candy cane one! Or add some colorful sanding sugar.
Shortening: Adding shortening when making cookies ensures that the chewy cookies will be softer, more tender, and also ‘taller’ instead of flat.
Vanilla: Vanilla extract helps to enhance the flavors in baked goods like cookies. Without it, they could taste dull!
Vanilla Pudding: Pudding helps to add flavor to the recipe as well as softness to the cookies.