Favorite store-bought treats: cookies, wafers, chocolates, candies...

I’ve recently found myself falling head over heels for cookies all over again. Nothing fancy—just those classic tea biscuits. Think Petit B. or perhaps some good old Speculaas... absolutely delicious... paired with a cup of tea, naturally. It even strikes me that they aren't particularly heavy on the calories; half a box of Speculaas seems to clock in at under 200 calories.
Of course, there are also the indulgent ones with chocolate chips, wafer cookies, or something like a Jaffa cake🙂 but I suspect those are a bit more of a "heavy hitter" when it comes to treats compared to the simple tea varieties.😬
Anyway, what are your favorites? Also, does anyone here actually bake their own cookies from scratch? If so, I'd love to grab a recipe if you're willing to share.😁 One more thing: how long do homemade cookies typically stay fresh? For instance, if I were to store them in one of those classic tin boxes?

Yeah, Speculaas are the law. Honestly, for the last few months, I've been strictly on that crumbly chocolate biscuit diet... mostly Koestlin's Gingerbread Man because they're better than the rest with that orange peel bit.

For quite some time now, I’ve been on a bit of a quest to find those specific cookies I once enjoyed with my coffee at a small local cafe. They were those little individually wrapped ones—you know the type—where the packaging might list some far-off country or a random corporation as the manufacturer, but the flavor is just incredibly delicious. The only real clue on the wrapper was a mention of caramel or some similar flavor profile. Despite my searching, I haven't been able to find anything even remotely close to them in any local grocery stores.😢

😵 Honestly, those Hershey's bites with the little chocolate chunks inside are absolutely legendary... I would give anything just to get my hands on their secret recipe...

I’m obsessed with Speculaas... I think one of the forum mods posted an awesome recipe for them a while back (tried it twice already), but I ended up cranking up the spices—like, four times the amount😲—just to actually get that flavor profile I was looking for...

Here is my tried-and-true recipe for the kind of cookies everyone goes crazy for. Honestly, they're better than anything you'll find at Hershey's. 😉

What you'll need:
Use a standard cup for measurements (approx. 1 cup = 2.5 dl)

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter (250 g)
A pinch of salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 packet baking powder
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts
Cream the butter with both sugars, then mix in the eggs, flour, and everything else. Scoop out walnut-sized portions using a teaspoon and place them on a baking sheet. Make sure to leave enough space between them so they don't merge into one giant cookie. Bake for 10 minutes at 350°F.

David Flores9, tell me honestly, do those little chocolate chunks actually stay intact inside the cookies once they've been through the oven?😍

Aha, just make sure you don't chop the chocolate too finely. It usually works out better if you just grab those pre-made chocolate chunks from the store. Instead of walnuts, you could toss in some hazelnuts or raisins, and if you want to switch things up, try swapping out part of the flour for some rolled oats.

I absolutely love eating little biscuits dipped in warm milk😳, honestly, I'm not really a huge fan of dry cookies.

David Flores9 said:Oh, but you shouldn't chop the chocolate too finely. It’s actually way better if you just grab some of those pre-made chocolate chunks. Instead of walnuts, you could toss in some hazelnuts or even raisins, and if you want to swap out some of the flour, oats work great too.

Thanks for the recipe, I'm definitely going to give this a shot.

(I haven't seen any of those ready-to-go chocolate chunks around here lately...
where on earth am I supposed to find them?)

Loacker wafers🙂

I guess my favorite chocolate crumbs are those ones from Grisson, if that’s even the right name... I think they have them at the gas station on Fifth Avenue.😳

electrictinker18 said:thanks for the recipe, I'll definitely give it a shot

(I haven't seen any ready-made chocolate pieces for sale here.
where on earth can you find them?)

I spotted them at Walmart, and I saw them in the Metro catalog too.

Hershey's housewives, Hershey's treats, Hershey's sweets, and all that good stuff...
as long as it’s sweet and makes me gain a few pounds, I'm happy😁

Loacker wafers (especially those with that specific chocolate), Hershey's breakfast wafers, Hershey's nougat wafers, some Turkish delight, tea biscuits, and maybe even those Leibniz Petit Beurre with chocolate.

Hershey's definitely has the best cookies in my book—it’s such a shame they don’t offer a Speculaas version; those are absolutely top-tier. Don't get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of their chocolate bites and little treats, but their Lada biscuits are my absolute favorite. Lately, though, I haven't been able to find them in any stores... Petit is also pretty solid if you're looking for something decent... cerek:
Ah, now I'm starving...

...my homemade chocolate cookies, loaded with everything and anything 😍 (I'd drop the recipe right here if I actually had it on me... but I don't)... man...
...and besides that... Stroopwafels... something that delicious is seriously hard to find 😍

Robin Diaz4 said:Hershey's definitely has the best cookies—shame they don't make a Speculaas, those are my absolute favorite—but their chocolate bites are top-tier.

Here’s a recipe—it’s quite similar to those Hershey's bites... and honestly, it isn't hard to pull off.

1 packet baking powder
100 g ground hazelnuts
70 g powdered sugar
1 egg
150 g butter
200 g flour

Nutella

Mix the dough, roll it out thin, and cut into cookie shapes—make sure half have a little hole in the center. Bake at 350°F for about 10-12 minutes. Dust the top cookies with powdered sugar, then sandwich them together using warmed Nutella.

So, here’s a recipe for some really fancy cookies; my old lady pulled this out of an American magazine ages ago;

Dream Cookies

- 2 1/4 cups flour (all-purpose and cake flour mix),
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda,
- A pinch of salt,
- 1 cup melted margarine,
- 1 cup sugar,
- 1 egg,
- Orange zest (from 1-2 oranges)
- White and dark chocolate for decorating,
First, mix the flour with the soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the margarine and sugar, then beat in the egg and the zest. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Let the dough rest for a bit, then roll it into small balls (about 1/2 to 5/8 inch) and place them on parchment paper in a baking sheet. Bake at 340°F for about 10 minutes. These things spread out quite a bit, so I guess you should space them out more than you think when putting them on the tray. While they cool, melt the white and dark chocolate. Put each one into a piping bag—or just a small plastic bag with a tiny corner snipped off with scissors so you can write with it easily. First, use the dark chocolate to draw vertical zig-zag lines over the cookies, then use the white chocolate to do the same thing horizontally, so they "cross" the black ones. You'll end up with a little grid pattern.

I hope you get what I mean? Anyway, these cookies are delicious and look pretty great. I usually bake them right before the Christmas holidays and then sprinkle them with those silver decorative sprinkles. They look super festive that way...😍

Larry Martin11 said:Stroopwafels... you know, those really fine ones that are super hard to find around here.😍

Man... you totally caught me off guard there.🙂 😵

I don't think I've ever tried anything more perfect than that.

[...and besides... Stroopwafel... something that nice is actually quite hard to find 😍
Yum, that sounds absolutely delicious, though I have a weakness (when I let myself) for Hershey's chocolate
wafer sandwiches and Housewife cookies with cold milk.
Off to the pantry now!