Dunkaroo Inspired Cookie Balls

Am I the only one with lots of nervous energy?  It's not anxiety, but more of need to do something mindless to zen me out.  Cooking is my therapy.  I guess baking and creating are too.  It is all related.  Cooking / baking is my time to be creative and focus my energy on creating something new while temporarily being able to put a pause button on life.  And then I have something, in this case beautiful and fun, to eat to comfort my feelings after I press the pause button back to play.  We are still in a global pandemic people!  It's stressful and I stress eat.

Dunkaroo Inspired Cookie Balls

Printable recipe

Yep, you read that right.  I was craving cake balls, but didn't have the energy to make cake.   I did, however, have a bag of Stauffer's Iced Animal Cookies that my husband bought for me at the start of the pandemic.  This giant size bag is under $3!  It's a steal.

For those who have never had these cookies, they are animal crackers with a light, sweet glaze.  Appropriately addicting for both children and adults alike.  As I sat in my kitchen eating these iced animal cookies dipped in rainbow chip frosting (hello DIY Dunakaroos) I decided to see if these two amazing ingredients could combine to create a perfect union.  FYI, they  do.

To make these cookie balls I crushed 2 cups worth of iced animal cookies in my Vitamix, but a food prossecor would work just fine as well.  You could also go old school and smash them in a zip lock bag with a meat pounder or wooden mallet, etc.  Get creative if you have to. 

Next I mixed the animal cookies with approximately 2/3 of a container of prepared rainbow chip frosting until combined.  The mixture will look like wet sand and hold its form.

I rolled the filling into equal balls, approximately 1.5 inch in diameter and then put then put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm up. 

You could alternatively place the cookie balls in the fridge, but I find that they keep better form after a few minutes in the freezer when dipped in chocolate.  While the cookie balls are firming I melted 1 cup of white chocolate chips and mixed in a little food coloring for fun (my son wanted "PURRRPLE".  The glaze should be thin enough to easily coat the balls.  If the chocolate is too thick, and sometimes that happens if you melt it at too hot of a temperature, thin it  out with 1/2-1 tablespoon of milk or cream to achieve the right consistency.

I topped off each glazed cake ball with a generous pinch of colorful sprinkles and allowed to firm up on parchment paper.

So pretty!  And the taste reminds me of Dunkaroos, a childhood favorite treat.  They are sweet, slightly crunchy, and I bet you can't eat just one.

These can be made in one shot or assembled in stages.  You can always leave the formed cookie balls in the freezer until ready to glaze.  If you do this, allow the frozen cake balls to begin to thaw in the fridge a few hours before you glaze them.  Once glazed, store the cookie balls in an airtight container on the counter for a few days or in the fridge for a week.

Enjoy!

Dunkaroo Inspired Cookie Balls

Printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups iced animal crackers, crushed

• 1 container rainbow chip frosting

• 1 cup white chocolate chips or melting chocolate

• Any color food coloring

• Milk as needed

• Sprinkles of your choosing

Directions:

1. Combine crushed animal crackers with 2/3 container of icing to form dough.  The dough should feel like wet  sand and hold its form

2. Role cookie mixture into equal balls, aroximately 1.5 inches in diameter.  Set on freezer safe baking sheet and allow to set for 15 minutes

3. Meanwhile melt 1 cup chocolate and add in a few drops of your favorite color of food coloring. Add milk if needed to thin out glaze

4. Dip each ball in melted chocolate. Top with sprinkles, and allow to sit on parchment paper until chocolate sets

Chocolate Covered Coco-Nut Stuffed Dates

I keep saying I’m going to blog more, but life...  Speaking of life, these last two weeks with my new son, Luke, have been amazing and so much easier than with Carter.  But Luke already has a very different temperament than Carter, who had bothersome reflux and colic from earlier on.  Also this isn’t my first rodeo.  Anything is easier when you know what to expect. Like lack of sleep, breast engorgement, nursing every one to three hours with cluster feeding, changing 13-15 diapers a day… But it is all worth it! 

To get this little one into the world I casually tried a few wives tales to help make my cervix favorable.  Like eating date after date after date.  Did it work?  No idea.  But in full disclosure I couldn’t eat dates every day, let alone 6 dates a day, which is the recommendation for softening the cervix.  It’s not that I don’t like dates, I love them, but they are crazy calorie dense and I tried to save my calories for my nightly slice of carrot cake.  Don’t you judge me!  The pregnancy cravings are real.  And flash forward to two weeks postpartum and I’m still craving sweets, specifically those that are both salty and sweet like these stuffed dates.  But it’s all good since breastfeeding burns tons of calories... right?  Treat. Yo. Self.  I always do.  So why don't you take a page from my book and treat yo self to these delicious chocolate covered coconut and nut stuffed dates.

Chocolate Covered Coco-Nut Stuffed Dates

Ingredients:

• 8 Medjool dates*
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used a mix of 1/8 cup walnuts and 1/8 cup pecans)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened flake coconut
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 50 grams semi sweet chocolate chips or melting chocolate
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• Optional: hemp seeds

Directions:

1. Remove pit by slicing the dates lengthwise with a sharp knife to expose pit.  Remove pits and discard.  Set pitted dates aside until step 3

2. In a small bowl combine nuts, honey, coconut, and salt

3. Stuff each date with the nut mixture ensuring to pack the nut mixture into the dates 

4. Pinch the cut edges of the date closed over the nut mixture

5. Place dates on parchment lined baking sheet and place in freezer while preparing the chocolate dipping sauce

6. Melt chocolate for dipping.  I use a double boiler method by bringing 1 inch of water in a small sauce pan to a boil. As water boils add chocolate and oil to a small glass bowl. Once boiling, place glass bowl over sauce pan (the glass bowl should sit above the boiling water, but not touch it)

8. Stir chocolate and oil frequently until melted and incorporated.  Remove melted chocolate from heat and immediately go to step 9

9. Remove dates from freezer and dip stuffed dates halfway into chocolate.  Place dates back on parchment lined baking sheet to harden

Optional: You can stop at step 9 before placing dipped dates in fridge to harden or you can add a few sprinkles of hemp seeds while chocolate is still warm for added crunch and contrast of color (aesthetics people)

10. Place finished dates in fridge until chocolate sets, approximately 10 minutes.  Leave in fridge until ready to serve

And enjoy!  Preferably with a glass of something bubbly and fabulous.  

I dare you to try to eat just one.

* This recipe is best with fresh dates, however, if your dates are starting to dry out you can add life to them again by soaking them in hot water for a minute.  Dry dates thoroughly before stuffing.