Noncomped Journal
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Living With the Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolate, 6 lb
Six pounds of classic Hershey's Kisses is the kind of bulk buy that quietly unlocks a dozen weekend baking projects — from peanut butter blossoms to hot cocoa garnishes.
If you search 'Hershey Kisses' with any kind of baking project in mind, you're probably already halfway to a plan — and that's kind of the magic of this particular candy. It's one of those ingredients that functions as both a finished product and a building block, which puts it in a surprisingly rare category of pantry items.
The most obvious project is the peanut butter blossom, and honestly, it deserves its reputation. The ratio of salty-sweet peanut butter cookie to that single pressed Kiss on top is close to perfect, and making them in bulk is one of the more satisfying weekend baking sessions you can have. With a six-pound bag on hand, you're not rationing — you're just baking.
But I've been experimenting with Kisses in a few less obvious directions lately. Chopped roughly and folded into a brown butter blondie batter, they create these little chocolate pockets that melt slightly during baking and firm back up into fudgy chunks. It's a different texture than a standard chip, and I think it's actually better. The taper shape means uneven distribution in the best possible way.
On the beverage side — because I always end up there — a few Kisses dropped into a mug of hot steamed milk makes a genuinely good quick hot chocolate. It's not as nuanced as a proper drinking chocolate made with high-percentage cacao, but for a Tuesday night project it's fast, consistent, and deeply comforting. I've also tried a couple dissolved into a warm bourbon-based cocktail as a riff on a spiked cocoa, and the sweetness actually balances the spirit nicely.
The storage question is real and worth planning around before you order. I keep mine in a large airtight container in a cabinet away from the stove — chocolate bloom is a real risk if temperatures fluctuate, and while bloomed chocolate is still perfectly edible, it loses that satisfying snap. Get your storage situation sorted before the bag arrives and this bulk format becomes a genuinely useful staple rather than a logistical puzzle.