cookies

Erica Sather
Sep 5, 2018 · 5 min read

Final Idea & Recipe

The Captain Confetti Sandwich

Though I saw many cookie recipes out there using cereal, very few included Cap’n Crunch, and I saw no recipes for sandwich cookies using Cap’n Crunch — let alone, using it in both the cookie and the filling.

Ingredients

  • 1 container of Cap’n Crunch Berries (or similar cereal of a different brand)
  • 1 bar of white chocolate or 1 bag of white chocolate chips
  • 1 can of vanilla frosting
  • 1 roll of sugar cookie dough

Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to the temperature specified on the sugar cookie dough package.

2. Cut the roll of sugar cookie dough into slices just under 1/2 an inch thick. You will need 24 to make a dozen sandwiches.

3. Fill a regular bowl about halfway with cereal and crush into small crumbs. This can be done using the bottom of a drinking glass. (You will likely need to create more crumbs as the recipe goes on.) If your white chocolate is in the form of a bar, cut it into chocolate-chip-sized pieces.

4. Knead an individual dough slice into a ball shape, roll it in the cereal crumbs, and knead the crumbs into the dough ball. Repeat until the dough ball is speckled evenly with the crumbs. Do this with all dough slices.

5. Space the dough balls evenly on a baking sheet. Press a few pieces of white chocolate into every dough ball.

6. Now, press “berry” pieces of cereal into half of the dough balls. (These will make the top of the sandwich.) Three pieces is a good amount for one cookie.

7. Bake the cookies in the oven for the amount of time specified by the cookie dough package. When finished, let them cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes.

Frosting

8. Empty the can of frosting into a mixing bowl using a rubber spatula.

9. Add about 1/4 cup of the cereal crumbs made before and mix thoroughly.

Cookie Sandwich

10. Take one cookie with the cereal ‘berries’ (for the top) and one without (for the bottom) and place them upside down.

11. Apply a thick layer of frosting mix to the bottoms of both cookies. You can spread the frosting with a utensil or use a piping bag.

12. On one of the cookies, press a few pieces of cereal into the frosting and put the two cookies together to sandwich the frosting in the middle.

13. Holding the cookies, roll the sides of the sandwich in the bowl of crumbs, causing them to stick to the edges of the frosting.

14. Repeat steps 10–13 with every pair of cookies to create 12 sandwich cookies.

Idea Generation

My idea generation started out as random flavors I had never heard of being used in cookies. Then I started to think more about presentation and structure of the cookie and how it could be challenged. What could be built out of cookies? What other food could be imitated by a cookie? I started making lists, and as I went on, one idea would lead to another. I would gain inspiration thinking about the food I currently had at my disposal and how I could possibly incorporate it into a recipe.

Idea Test 1

My first attempt at a recipe involved baking cinnamon sugar cookies onto a baked cinnamon apple ring. I liked the idea because I’d never seen an apple used as a base for a cookie and I thought it would be more interesting to incorporate solid fruit in a cookie recipe.

The cookie tasted pretty mediocre and fell apart from the apple. I tried again — this time sandwiching the apple between two cookies. After that I tried adding peanut butter and melted chocolate as fillings. Overall, the cookie still just tasted OK, so I decided to move on and see if the next recipe was any better.

Idea Test 2

After coming home from a grocery trip with a giant bag of off-brand Cap’N Crunch Berries, I realized it could be an excellent cookie ingredient. I started to write and draw possible cookie recipes using the cereal. I came up with a few variations, so I decided to just try them all out at once.

I used a base of sugar cookie dough and bought some white chocolate and vanilla frosting to test out the ideas. I put cereal chunks into cookies, I smashed crumbs into dough, tried with and without white chocolate, with and without frosting. After forcing my roommates to taste test, I asked for their likes and dislikes in order to evolve the recipe.

Iteration

After discussing with my taste-testers, I decided on what was best for flavor, visual interest, and practicality.

I would incorporate the cereal crumbs in the cookie dough, frosting, and on the outside as a sort of garnish.

Full cereal pieces would be put into the top cookie and inside the frosting center. I found that this keeps the sandwich from collapsing and squishing the frosting out the sides.

White chocolate was to be included in both cookies for extra flavor and to give the recipe some more unique edge.

Timeline

    Erica Sather

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