| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons (75 grams) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons (24 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup (128 grams) all-purpose flour, more for dusting
- 1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 5 ounces (about 3/4 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups (360 grams) heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- Two 11-ounce cans mandarin orange slices
- Sprinkles, for topping, optional
Instructions
- For the pudding: Combine the granulated sugar, flour and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the egg yolks and then the cream over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it’s thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Add the vanilla and almond extracts, pour into a heatsafe bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate until cooled, about 1 hour or overnight.
- For the cookies: Combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. With the mixer running on low, add the vanilla and almond extracts and then gradually add the butter. Mix until the mixture comes together into a dough, slowly increasing the speed once you’re confident that doing so won’t result in flour flying everywhere. Divide the dough in half, press into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. (If you’re impatient, fine, skip this step.)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/8 inch by 1/4 inch thick. Cut out 2-inch circles with a biscuit cutter and then use a big piping tip to cut out 1/2-inch holes from the center. (Re-roll scraps as needed.) Place the cookies on baking sheets 1 inch apart. Bake until they’re just starting to brown around the edges (start checking for doneness at 12 minutes). Let cool on the pans.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each. Let it cool slightly and then pour into a piping bag. Snip off the tip and then pipe 4 thick chocolate stripes on each cookie. Let the chocolate harden at room temp or in the fridge.
- For the assembly: In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream and confectioners’ sugar to stiff peaks.
- Fold together the whipped cream and pudding in a large bowl. Crush the cookies by hand or in a ziptop bag with a rolling pin or other blunt object (reserving 6 to 8 whole cookies for the topping) and fold them in. Drain and fold in the mandarin slices, reserving some for the topping too. Top with remaining cookies, mandarin slices and sprinkles. Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 718 |
| Total Fat | 52 g |
| Saturated Fat | 32 g |
| Carbohydrates | 61 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 43 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 222 mg |
| Sodium | 218 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 718 |
| Total Fat | 52 g |
| Saturated Fat | 32 g |
| Carbohydrates | 61 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 43 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 222 mg |
| Sodium | 218 mg |
Reviews
Growing up in North Dakota, cookie salad was a tradition for family gatherings. Our family’s traditional recipe uses Cool Whip topping, Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding, Keebler Fudge Striped cookies, Geisha canned mandarin oranges, and Dole canned crushed or chunked pineapple. No matter how remote and small-town the grocery store, you could find these affordable, “exotic” flavors and no matter how late winter lasted.
Molly’s recipe respects and elevates that traditional recipe. The touch of almond extract in the pudding will have your guests saying “wow!” (Don’t go overboard though!)
It’s a relatively simple and maybe kitschy dessert, but also satisfying and delightful.
I’ve made this salad since the 70’s with french vanilla pudding mix, whipping cream, fudge stripe cookies, mandarin oranges, green grapes and bananas. I got the recipe from a neighbor of my mother-in-law who was known for her great concoctions. Interesting to see it here made from scratch and without the extra fruit. Always called it cookie salad though.
When I heard about this “cookie salad” from Molly, I actually loved the idea of it and thought this had to be delicious. The cream part is essentially diplomat cream or bavarian cream, which I absolutely adore, and how can this not be delicious??? In this recipe, I love the addition of almond extract. It adds nice touch. I have never had cookie salad, but I am so interested in tasting the *real version* to compare with this one.
Instead of serving this WITH the hot dish, we just had the FABULOUS Sweet Cookie Salad for dinner. Sweet but not too sweet. Really good! Only shortcut I took was using the store’s fudge striped cookies. Thanks Molly!
I got a kick out of this salad. It’s delicious. But the very hard-working farm wife/mom (i.e. my mom) would use Jello-pudding, Cool Whip, and fudge-striped cookies from the store. It’s definitely a staple at potlucks and such. Fun and funny in a cool way. A delicious with the natural short-cuts, too.
I look forward to watching her shows. I love her recipes and her.
Molly is such a breath of fresh air from some of the other shows. Her energy is genuine and contagious. I made these as separate recipes using the cookies as dipping vessels for the pudding. I took the advice of another review and added cocoa for a chocolates version. Yum!
I made this for dessert for this evening, with the change of adding cocoa powder to the pudding and whipped cream because we love the chocolate/orange flavor combo. We snuck a little taste this morning, and it is delicious. Thank you to the absolutely adorable Molly for sharing this recipe. My hubby is from the Midwest, and now I’m able to learn about the food he grew up with. I look forward to trying more of your recipes.
Please keep her on the air!
She’s fantastic!
I just found her show last wee.
I love her shows. I especially love how she explains why certain ingredients are added & how at certain points in some of her recipes -> she tells you that you can add different other ingredients to adjust the recipe even more to your own liking, if you’d like to do that.
I had someone bring the cookie salad for Thanksgiving and we were appalled. Guess what got eaten to the bottom of the bowl. Have you eaten snicker salad yet? Thanks for your great show.