Joey puts up with a lot of weird stuff when it comes to this column.
The poor guy watches me put random ingredients in our shopping cart all the time and never knows what I’m going to come up with next.
With that said, he’s a terrific sport. He tries all my experiments and gives his honest opinion—sometimes helping me raid the spice cabinet to try to improve upon a first attempt.
That was not the case with this week’s recipe.
In this case, he refused—point blank—to try it.
In Joey’s defense, I probably went off the deep end a bit with this one: Cheetos cookies.
This comes from the blog “The Spiffy Cookie.” You can find the original post at https://www.thespiffycookie.com/2018/03/05/cheetos-cookies/. I didn’t change the recipe, because, honestly, I had no idea how this was going to turn out.
Cheetos Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 cups Cheetos puffs divided (I used a 7-ounce bag)
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- a few dashes orange food coloring
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Crush all of the Cheetos until they are fine by either smashing them in a Ziplock bag or by running them through a food processor.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, shortening and sugar for a couple minutes until it is a light yellow.
- Beat in the egg and food coloring. (You don’t have to use the food coloring, but it does make for a striking vision to have these a super bright orange.)
- Beat in half of the crushed Cheetos, the flour, cream of tartar baking soda and salt. Once everything is well combined, scoop the dough out in about one-inch balls.
- Put the rest of the Cheetos dust into a bowl, and roll the balls in the crumbs to coat them. Put the balls on a plate, cover it, and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper, and place the chilled dough about two inches apart on the sheets.
- Bake for eight to 10 minutes or until the cookies are set up and just starting to brown on the sides.
- Let them cool, and then transfer them into an airtight container.
These smelled really nice while they baked. It reminded me of warm, cheesy popcorn. For the flavor, they weren’t as cheesy as I thought. They were more of a corn-chip forward sugar cookie.
I actually made these a few weeks ago, and several readers helped sample them in Joey’s stead. The reaction was mixed, but most thought they were an OK little cookie. Really, these are more about what they are than how they taste. They are definitely a conversation starter.
That being said, this is probably a one-and-done recipe for me, and not just because I would have to eat another batch totally by myself. Joey can only take so much.
This piece first appeared in print Feb. 6, 2025.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
