Extremely Chocolatey Beaver Huts

The Second Annual AirBake Extreme Cookie Challenge, sponsored by Wearever, was at FAO Schwarz in New York City last week, with a “Cookie-Off” hosted by Heroes actor Noah Gray-Cabey. The five finalists have been chosen and two of their recipes were sent to me to share with you!

Extremely Chocolatey Beaver Huts
by Jessie Grearson & Eleanor Sapat from Falmouth, ME

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup Quaker instant oats
1 Tbsp. cream or half and half
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup white chocolate chips
¾ cup dark chocolate chips
¼ cup chopped walnuts
One Hershey’s kiss
5-6 Tbsp. Nutella
1/6 bag thin stick pretzels, some broken, for decorating huts

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. In large bowl beat together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.

3. In another bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, oats, baking soda and salt; stir into the butter mixture and add cream slowly, just enough to form a stiff, but well-blended dough.

4. Fold in chocolate chips and chopped walnuts (we think of these as rocks and stones).

5. Roll by large tablespoons into rough balls, about the size of a ping-pong ball (these are your mud huts) then hide a chocolate kiss “beaver” inside one cookie.

6. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes on an ungreased AirBake cookie sheet in the preheated oven until set (watch carefully).

7. After cookies cool, spread a small amount of Nutella as muddy layer over each hut and have fun adding pretzel “sticks” to the outside of each beaver hut.

Makes 20-24 cookies.

[image and recipe used with permission from Wearever]