These Levain Bakery-Style Dunkaroo Cookies are extra thick, soft and chewy and PACKED with Dunkaroo goodness. If you’re a 90s kid, you will LOVE these cookies!
As a child of the 90s, I still have a fondness and extreme sense of nostalgia over 90s and Y2K foods I enjoyed way back when. Sometimes, I’ll try them as an adult and be understandably underwhelmed (maybe it is a good things taste buds change…) but other times I’ll give them a try as an adult and realize they still satisfy that same craving they did back in the 90s. Love when that happens!
That can definitely be said about Dunkaroos! If you’re an American child of the 90s, you know what I’m talking about. They were those little snack packs with addictive sugar cookies and a little well of sprinkle-filled vanilla frosting to dip them into. Talk about DROOLWORTHY. I was obsessed! So when they discontinued them for decades, only to bring them back recently, I was skeptical I would still enjoy them.
Needless to say, I enjoyed them! So much so that I threw them into a cookie. I know you’re going to love them, too!
There’s a few key components to making my signature Bakery-Style cookies, and those are…
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch is a key ingredient in ALL of my cookie recipes. Why? Time and time again, it yields soft and tender cookies with a light crumb.
- Cake flour: Levain Bakery uses cake flour in their recipe, so I do, too. Cake flour lightens up the cookie dough so it isn’t as dense, and provides a lighter and more tender crumb. If all all-purpose flour were to be used in these cookies, they would turn out more dense and scone-like. Cake flour literally lightens things up!
- Extra mix-ins: You’ll notice the amount of mix-ins in my Levain recipes are high and there’s a reason. One, for flavor (obviously) – but two is for structure. This specific amount of mix-ins helps maintain the structure of the cookie and prevent it from spreading too much in the oven.
- Brief chill-time: Like most cookies, these do need to chill, but only briefly – for about 30 minutes. This helps the flavors meld together and also helps prevent spreading in the oven. Since we’ll only bake one sheet of cookies at a time, keep the remaining unused dough refrigerated while the sheet bakes!
And for optimal, bakery-style results, try these tips:
- Shape: I like to shape these dough balls very rough and loose. I know we’re used to using cookie dough scoops which give tightly rolled, compacted and smooth dough balls, but for this recipe we’re looking for a rougher, more craggy exterior and a looser pack. This gives it texture!
- Size: Levain’s cookies are 6 oz each, and mine are no exception! For accuracy, I recommend using a digital kitchen scale to weigh out exactly 6 ounces of dough. Since the cookies are MASSIVE, I recommend only baking 4 cookies per sheet and staggering the dough balls at least 3″ apart on the sheets to prevent spreading and to keep baking time consistent.
- Do not over-bake!: For best results, we want to slightly underbake these cookies per Levain’s signature style. Since everyone’s oven is different, try baking one cookie off by itself first to gauge what your ideal and perfect baking time is for your cookies. Mine were perfectly done at 12:30, but yours may be different. They should be slightly underdone in the centers with dull, dry exteriors and look set on the outside.
- One at a time: Remember, we’re baking one sheet of cookies in the center rack of the oven, one at a time.
And that’s it! Bite into these cookies, packed with Dunkaroos and slathered with that signature sweet vanilla icing, and I swear you’ll be instantly transported back to your childhood!
Levain Bakery-Style Dunkaroo Cookies
These Bakery-Style Dunkaroo Cookies are 6 oz of pure, soft and chewy perfection and are stuffed to the brim with 90s nostalgia via Dunkaroos cookies and icing! So delicious!
Servings: 8 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp) COLD unsalted butter, cubed
- 1½ cups granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1½ cups cake flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (roughly) Dunkaroos cookies (approx. 8 packages – save the frosting!)
- 1¾ cups white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles (such as rainbow jimmies)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 410° degrees F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the cold, cubed butter and the granulated sugar with the paddle attachment on low speed for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and continue beating for another 30 seconds. Lastly, increase the speed to medium high and continue beating for a final 30 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the vanilla extract. Add in the cornstarch, baking soda, salt, cake flour, and AP flour and mix on low speed until just combined. Lastly, add in the Dunkaroos cookies, white chocolate chips and sprinkles and mix on low speed until just barely combined.
Refrigerate dough for approximately 30 minutes.
Using a digital cooking scale, measure out 6 oz of dough in a tall, loosely packed ball of dough. Place 4 dough balls approximately 3″ apart on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet in a staggered pattern. Place no more than 4 balls of dough on a sheet – this is to prevent spreading since they’re large cookies.
Bake one sheet of cookies at a time in the center rack of the oven for approximately 11-13 minutes or until the cookies appear set, have a dull and dry exterior and are slightly underdone in the centers. Remember, they’ll continue to set up more as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for at least 30 minutes before moving them to wire racks.
While cookies are warm, but not hot, take remaining Dunkaroos frosting and frost the tops of the cookies. Garnish with additional sprinkles, if you’d like.
Notes
I used 8 packages of Dunkaroos cookies. From those 8 packages, you’ll get almost a full cup’s worth of cookies. This is perfect! And remember to save the frosting as you’ll use it to frost the baked cookies!
Sweet, nostalgic, cookie-packed cookies you’re going to LOVE. I know I did!
Want more 90s nostalgia? Try these…
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
