We have staff meetings at work about once a month. Each month it is assigned to one person to provide a safety tip and (in the past) provide a treat. Months ago, we all agreed that the treat was not necessary and that "we won't be doing that anymore." Well each month the treat (NO TREAT) person STILL brings a treat. Not required of course, but "hey, I did anyway..." Well, September rolls around and it's my month. Or I think it is. I don't remember if I am September-person or October-person but someone comes to me the night before and says "oh hey, you're safety tip tomorrow...so bring a treat." And we all kinda' laugh and I say "but we're not doing that anymore...?" And everyone AGREES, we are NOT...but ya know...if you wanted to...
So that night I decide there is no way I'm going to be the person who doesn't bring a treat even though we ALL AGREE we are not doing that. Not me, no way, not on my watch. A quick scan through my pantry reveals an assortment of partially filled (but not completely gone) things. Half a package of still-moist, dried apricots. About one-third of a package each of unsweetened and regular sweetened shredded coconuts. Some walnuts. Three-fourths of a pack of white-chocolate chips. Two almost gone boxes of cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats and Rice Krispies.) A box of Chai Spice tea. And my saving grace, a new box of Spice Cake mix.
I can work with this. Those can all go together and spice is perfect for September/October. Now, I'm not even sure if it's really MY TURN to be the safety tip/treat (no treat!) person ANYWAY, but I've been tapped to provide/not provide a treat, so spicey it is. I'm calling these "Apricot Exotic Chai Spice cookies" because "Apricot Exotic Chai Spice Coconut Walnut Honey Bunches of Oats Rice Krispies White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies" is a tad long-winded.
So here we go:
- 1 regular package spice cake mix
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup strong brewed Chai tea (I used 3 tea bags)
- 1/2 cup crushed Honey Bunches of Oats cereal
- 1/2 cup Rice Krispies cereal
- 1 cup quick or rolled oats
- 1 cup shredded coconut (I mixed sweetened and unsweetened)
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 3/4 cup chopped dried apricots (the moist kind)
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons sugar (I used chunky Demerrera, again because it was in the cupboard and almost gone)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, butter, brewed Chai tea and eggs; mix well. I used a hand mixer. The mixture is thick.
- Add cereals, oats, coconut, walnuts, white chocolate chips and dried apricots; mix well. Now it is really thick. I used the hand mixer and then my muscles to try and get all the add-ins distributed as evenly as I could.
- Use a big cookie scoop (mine was a 3 TBS scoop) to scoop and drop dough 2 inches apart onto parchement-lined cookie sheets.
- Take a flat-bottom glass, rub a bit of butter on the bottom and dip in the sugar. Use this to flatten the cookies. (repeating the sugar-dip between each one and re-butter as necessary to keep the glass from sticking to the cookie.)
- Bake about 14 minutes, or until set. Let cool 5 minutes then move to wire racks and let cool completely. Well, eat one first while it's still warm. Then let the rest cool.
This made about 20 large cookies.
