Another week, another cookie.  Can anyone really blame me, though?  I can’t think of anything more satisfying than a soft, sweet cookie (ok, maybe a warm slice of pie, but it’s a close competition).  For an added dose of fun, here’s a cookie that’s so full of cinnamon, butterscotch, and rainbows that it might as well be unicorn poop.

As I keep telling you, this Land o’ Lakes cookie recipe is endlessly adaptable.  I’ve turned it into Frankenstein’s Monster cookies and bad day cookies previously, and I don’t expect to stop at unicorn poop, either.  Basically, if you can conceive of a flavor combination, there’s a good chance this cookie can accommodate it.  For this particular recipe, I decided to add some of these rainbow chocolate chips and a bag of butterscotch chips I bought on an impulse (apparently I’m doing a lot of impulse grocery shopping lately), and to throw in a healthy dose of cinnamon for good measure.  I also used all brown sugar and no granulated to complement the butterscotch and cinnamon.  Finally, I used some homemade vanilla extract (tutorial coming soon).  This is totally optional, but I do think that the homemade stuff has a pleasant scent and flavor that lends itself really well to this particular cookie.

This goes counter to everything I believe about drop cookies, but these cookies ended up being better small and a few days old.  Normally, my preference is for cookies as big as your face right out of the oven, no contest whatsoever.  These cookies proved to me that there is, in fact, a place for little drop cookies, and that it is possible for a cookie to taste better when it’s had some time to sit.  (I think the flavor may blend together better with time, but I have no concrete evidence to support that conjecture.)  This makes them ideal for make-ahead party treats, or for mailing to distant relatives and friends.

As a final note, the unicorn in the photo was salvaged from a bag of broken unicorns given to me by my sister-in-law (she knows me well, apparently).  Now it’s found new life as a cookie model.  Let’s raise a cookie to unicorn rehab!

You will need the following ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 4½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2½ cups brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 package (12 oz.) butterscotch chips
• ½ cup rainbow chocolate chips

For baking ambiance:

• I made an ’80s pop station on Pandora seeded with the Bangles.  It was heavy on the bubbly, girly sounds of the decade-perfect for mixing up some rainbow unicorn poop.

Let’s get baking!

Preheat your oven to 375°F and line cookie sheets with foil or grease them.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon until uniform.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth (I usually do this with a spoon, but you can use an electric mixer if you prefer).

Add in the vanilla and eggs and stir or beat until fully-incorporated.

Approximately ⅓ at a time, stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until they are fully-incorporated.  I find it easier to do this part with my bare hands, as this dough is thick enough to break wooden spoons (I’ve lost two like this so far).

Stir in the butterscotch chips and rainbow chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon measuring spoon, form the dough into small balls.  Arrange them on the cookie sheets at least 1″ apart.

Bake the cookies for 10-14 minutes, turning the cookie sheets once after about 6 minutes, or until the edges just start to brown and the tops look dry.

Leave the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, then remove them to cooling racks to cool as long as you can hold out.

Enjoy!

You can download the printable PDF recipe here: Unicorn Poop Cookies