Late Night Snack Cookies by Tanya Kreter

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® chocolate chip cookie mix

1/2

cup butter, softened

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1

egg

1 cup mix of favorite candy I used Milk Duds

2 cups mix of your favorite snack foods-- potato chips, coarsely crushed waffle cone, pretzels

and mini peanut butter cups

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick cookie sheet). Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
2. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms. Add caramels, potato chips and waffle cones; stir until well-mixed (dough will be thick). Onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls about 2 inches apart; flatten to about 1/2 inch thickness.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks to cool completely. Store covered at room temperature.

Makes 12 cookies

Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut by Kat O'Brien

Ingredients

• Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 3/4 cup Crisco® Butter Shortening OR 3/4 Crisco® Butter Shortening Sticks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. HEAT oven to 350 degrees F. Coat baking sheets with no-stick cooking spray.

2. BEAT shortening, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl at medium speed of electric mixer until blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. Beat into shortening mixture until smooth. Stir in oats, dried cranberries and walnuts. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2-inches apart on prepared baking sheets.

3. BAKE 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown. Cool on baking sheets 2 minutes. Place on cooling rackto cool completely.

Homemade Samoas by Kim Fernandez

Cookie base:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup room-temperature butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

Mix together your butter and sugar until they’re creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla, and then mix in the dry goods. The dough will be crumbly–don’t worry. Dump it into your parchment-lined pan and use a piece of wax paper to spread it into a single layer (the wax paper will keep it from sticking to your hands). Bake for 20 minutes, or until its edges start to brown. Take it out of the oven and cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Base

1 1/2 cup dark chocolate candy discs (I got them at the craft store) or chocolate chips.

When the shortbread is totally cool, melt the chocolate in the microwave and spread it over the cookie base. I used candy discs because they don’t melt at room temperature like chocolate chips do, so it’s easier to eat the finished cookies.

Let that come to room temperature or put it in the refrigerator until it’s cold and totally hardened up. Once that happens, use the parchment paper to carefully lift your cookie out of the pan in one piece. Line the now-empty pan with wax paper, and very carefully peel the parchment off the cookie, turn it chocolate-side down, and place it back in the pan (this sounds harder than it is, but take your time). You now have chocolate on the bottom and cookie on top.

Topping

3 cups shredded sweetened coconut

12 oz caramel candies

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp milk

Line a cookie sheet (with a rim) with parchment paper. Spread the coconut onto it in an even layer and bake it at 350 degrees, stirring it every five minutes or so, until it’s toasted and brown and crunchy. Watch it carefully, gang–it burns in a heartbeat.

Once that’s done, put your unwrapped caramels, milk, and salt into a large Pyrex bowl. Microwave it in one-minute increments, stirring in between (with a spoon at first and then with a whisk as it melts) until it’s all liquid–two minutes was plenty in my microwave. Working quickly, stir in your coconut.

Spread this mixture on top of the cookie base with the back of a spoon. You want to do this while the coconut mixture is still pretty warm–once it hardens, there’s no spreading it. It’ll want to separate from the cookie at first, but have patience–it’ll work out in a few minutes.

Once that’s done, let it harden up. And when that’s done, melt another half-cup of chocolate and use a spoon to drizzle it over the top. Cool completely and slice your cookies with a large, heavy knife. A pan makes about four dozen Samoas.