Rolo Cookies

So every year my husband and I buy Halloween candy in the hopes that we will have trick-or-treaters come to the door. We live in a townhouse complex and you would think that we would be an easy target: lots of homes in close proximity. When I was a kid, I went trick or treating around the neighborhood, and the houses were not close together at all!

We didn’t have any trick-or-treaters, so we had quite a bit of candy left over. We had some Rolos in our Halloween stash, so I decided to make these cookies. Chocolate cookie dough wrapped around the Rolos; the Rolos melt down and make a great caramel filling. (They are especially good when they are warm.)

I didn’t end up having enough Rolos for all of the dough, so some of the cookies had other fillings: Milk Duds, Nutrageous and Take 5. The ones with the Take 5 were really good. The salty crunch was really nice. The Nutrageous ones were good, too. The Milk Duds didn’t have enough flavor to work, but they were still ok. They just tasted like a nice chewy chocolate cookie.

2-1/2 cups flour

¾ cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

½ cup chopped pecans

48 Rolos

1 tablespoon sugar

Mix the flour, cocoa and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

Cream the sugar, brown sugar and butter in a large bowl with a stand mixer. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, stir until completely combined. Stir in the flour mixture and mix until completely combined. Stir in the pecans. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes for easier handling. (Don’t skip this step, trust me.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Shape 1 tablespoon dough around each Rolo. Mold the dough around the Rolo and make sure that it is completely sealed in with the dough. Dip the tops of the cookies in sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes until set. Don’t worry if there are some cracks, they are normal. Let cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Jean Olson, 1990 Pillsbury BakeOff, Pillsbury Best of the Bakeoff