Elf Cookies are a festive no bake cookie recipe! Buddy the Elf made his own spaghetti breakfast, and I wanted to make a cookie recipe with (almost) all of the elements of his crazy breakfast!
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Have you ever seen the mega popular holiday hit, Elf starring Will Ferrel? Of course you have! And if (gasp!) you haven’t, stop what you are doing right now and watch it!
Buddy tells us that elves try and stick to the four main food groups:
- Candy
- Candy Canes
- Candy Corns
- Syrup
And these cookies are based upon Buddy’s favorite breakfast! So hang onto your sweet tooth, curl up on the sofa, light a fire, and put on Elf with a plate of these cookies nearby and you have the perfect Holiday Movie Night!
Buddy’s signature breakfast is:
- Spaghetti
- Red and Green M&Ms
- Sprinkles
- Marshmallows
- Chocolate Syrup
- Maple Syrup
- Chocolate Pop Tarts
Yes, that’s a lot of sugar, and yes that’s the point.
So I decided to turn his crazy breakfast into no bake cookies. Of course I didn’t actually include spaghetti, but I came up with a really fun way to mimic the look of the spaghetti with Chow Mein Noodles. You could also use pretzel sticks.
Haystacks are a simple no bake cookie recipe made with Chow Mein noodles, butterscotch chips, peanut butter, peanuts, and sometimes marshmallows depending on the recipe you use. I just switched that recipe up slightly to try and mimic the look of a pile of spaghetti!
Here’s What You’ll Need:
- Get all your supplies ready ahead of time because once you melt the chocolate you will need to work quickly so the chocolate doesn’t set up.
- Get your kids involved! This is a fun recipe for the whole family, ESPECIALLY kids, so absolutely let them help you do the cookie “toppings”!
- Make the cookies as flat as you can while still achieving the “pile of spaghetti” look. It will make them easier to eat!
- You can make these as big or as small as you would like. Of course the bigger they are the more they look like spaghetti, but that makes them a lot to eat. If you make them too small you lose the vibe a little bit, so a happy medium is where you should aim.
- I used a 2- tablespoon cookie scoop to portion out the noodles. It helps keep your hands clean and makes sure all the cookies are the same size.
- Place the cookies on a large, parchment lined baking sheets with sides. This will help contain the mess with you start sprinkling the cookies and drizzling them with syrup.
You used Maple Extract Instead of Maple Syrup…
Yes, that’s true. I didn’t want these to be SO messy to eat, and maple syrup and chocolate syrup drizzled on top could easily get sticky! I just added a small amount of extract into the melted chocolate to get a subtle maple flavor!
I think these would the best cookies to leave Santa on Christmas Eve to take back to his elves who did all the hard work!
Looking for More Treat Ideas For Santa? Here Are a Few You Might Like:
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- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 15 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: No Bake
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
These fun cookies are based on the crazy spaghetti breakfast from Buddy the Elf!
Ingredients
- 1 (5- ounce) container Chow Mein Noodles
- 10 ounces white chocolate
- 1 tablespoon shortening
- 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
- 1/4 cup dehydrated marshmallows
- 2 tablespoons rainbow nonpareil sprinkles
- 1/4 cup red and green M&Ms (less if you use mini M&Ms)
- 1/4 cup (or less) chocolate syrup to drizzle
- 1 chocolate pop tart, cut into small piece
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with sides with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Place the chow mein noodles in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Fill a medium sauce pot with 1- inch of water. Bring the water to a simmer.
- Place the white chocolate and shortening in a heat safe bowl and place the bowl on top of the simmering pot. Stirring constantly, melt the white chocolate. As soon as it’s melted add in the maple extract and stir until smooth. Remove from heat.
- Pour the melted chocolate onto the noodles and stir to coat.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, portion out the noodles and drop onto the lined baking sheet.
- Immediately coat the noodles with sprinkles, marshmallows, and M&Ms. Place a Pop Tart piece on each.
- Drizzle sparingly with Hershey’s Syrup. You don’t want too much!
- Allow chocolate to set.
Notes
You can melt the white chocolate in the microwave in 20- second increments, stirring in between each until melted. I prefer to do the “double boiler” method as white chocolate can seize up or burn very easily and I find that the double boiler is more fool proof.
Store airtight at room temperature for up to 7 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 139
- Sugar: 13.6 g
- Sodium: 67.1 mg
- Fat: 6.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 17.8 g
- Protein: 1.6 g
- Cholesterol: 3.6 mg
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I just wasted almost $15 of white chocolate, because when I added the extract to the melted chocolate it turned into a lump. I googled it and any water based liquid will do that to chocolate. So how did you “add the maple extract & stir until smooth”?
Did you add in the shortening? That will prevent the white chocolate from seizing up!
I have made a version of this for years called butterscotch haystacks with peanut butter and peanuts in it… I use a fondue pot to keep the butterscotch/Chocolate/etc from setting.
Can these be froze?
Yes, they can!
I made these for four different occasions and they were a big hit, especially with my grandkids! We are huge Buddy fans!
Instead of putting the cookies on the parchment lined cookie sheet, I put them into white paper cupcake/muffin cups. They caught some of the fallout as they were eaten.
Great idea!! So glad you liked them!!
Thanks for that helpful tip! I have made these and they are a hit with ‘fun people’ of all ages!