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How do you improve everyone’s favorite cookie, the chocolate chip cookie? There are the classic recipes, like the Nestlé Toll House one on the back of a chocolate chip bag or the famous Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies sold at the store. There are celebrity versions like the ones Courteney Cox calls the “best damn cookie I’ve ever had” or the ones Mama Kelce makes for her famous football-playing sons, Travis and Jason. It seems everyone has a recipe for the cookie made for dunking in milk, and they think their recipe is the best.
Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, has a favorite chocolate chip cookie that results in big cookies. Each one is made from a half-cup scoop of dough, and their generous size makes them perfect for customizing based on your personal preferences, or more specifically, the personal preferences of someone you want to celebrate.
What else makes these cookies so special? Well, for starters, the Food Network star took the chocolate chips out of her cookies, which at first thought might seem like an obscure move. However, when you see what she replaced them with, you’ll realize just how genius her idea is.
Ree Drummond’s ‘Graduation Cookies’
Calling her innovation “graduation cookies,” Drummond takes her chocolate chip cookie recipe (minus the chocolate chips) and adds cereal, candy, and frosting. But it’s not just any cereal, candy, and frosting. She adds the favorites of whoever she’s making the cookies for, making these the perfect treat to celebrate someone near and dear to your heart, whether it’s a graduation or a birthday.
“Take your kid’s favorite cereal and candy, stir it into your regular chocolate chip cookie dough (instead of chocolate chips), then let them cool. Ice them with chocolate or vanilla frosting (whatever your graduate likes), then sprinkle more of everything on top. Might as well send ‘em into their future happy!!” Drummond says in the caption of her post.
“Those look so yummy! Over the top but I love it,” one of her followers commented, referring to the cookies, which look like they included Cap’n Crunch, M&M’s, crushed pretzels, mini peanut butter cups, and chunks of chocolate.
To make these cookies, you’ll need a tried-and-true chocolate chip cookie recipe like the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe on our site that has a 4.5-star rating from over 19,000 people. You’ll also need a frosting recipe. While Drummond made a chocolate one, feel free to go wild and use vanilla, cream cheese, or salted caramel. Then gather the favorite candy and snacks of the person you’re making the cookies for. Or, choose your own favorites and celebrate yourself!
Tips for Making the Pioneer Woman’s Cookies
Because these cookies are so big, you’ll want to do things a little differently than when making regular chocolate chip cookies. Here are some tips.
- Don’t overcrowd the baking sheet. Because you’re using a half-cup scoop for each cookie, you’ll want enough space in between the cookies to account for spreading.
- Bake the cookies a few minutes longer than you would with standard-sized cookies. Check them at 12 minutes, but you may need to go to 14 or 15 minutes to get them cooked through.
- Make sure the cookies cool before frosting them, or the frosting will melt.
What you’ll end up with is a batch of delicious, personalized, celebratory cookies that rival what you can get at a bakery. As one commenter said, “Crumbl Cookies got nothing on the Pioneer Woman.” We agree. These cookies are something extra special.
