Carol’s Walking Dead “Hush” Cookies

First, minor spoilers if you’re not caught up through season 5 (episode “Forget”) of The Walking Dead.

I’ve got a random (more on this in a second) but fun post today! Make your very own Alexandria’s best cookies using Carol Peletier’s safe zone chocolate cookie mix. If you need a quick and easy Walking Dead dessert, and/or if you’re simply a fan of chocolate cookies like me, then consider this a great go-to option.

Personally, I’d recommend not following Carol unless invited to do so. If you find yourself in a sugar-craving situation and make the mistake though, definitely take the cookie option! 😉

So, how did Alexandria’s Best Cookies come to be? It all relates back to the Christmas tradition of the “Pikachu bag.” The Pikachu bag is a giant Christmas themed gift bag (see below; bookshelf for scale) that my parents have incorporated into Christmas for as long as I can remember. Each year, my brother and I would open up the Pikachu bag as our last gift.

Pikachu would hold a number of smaller gifts. Some of these gifts we’re yearly traditions in themselves (a wall calendar for each of us, jelly filled chocolates from Alaska Wild Berry Products, etc.).  Other gifts were always unusual and oddball finds that my mother would stumble across while shopping (maybe a silly movie from the $5 bin at Walmart or some offbeat family game). But it’s both these expected and unexpected items that make the Pikachu bag what it is; a fun tradition.

This year I was able to celebrate Christmas with my family in-person for the first time in a few years. Lo-and-behold, the Pikachu bag made a comeback; this time including my husband and step kids in the fun (along with my brother). We of course yielded our new wall calendar (Magic the Gathering was the theme this year) as well as tasty chocolates. One of the ‘unexpected’ items of the bag turned out to be the Walking Dead chocolate cookie mix. So here I am now, sharing this small joy with you all. 🙂

1. Alexandria’s Best Cookies: Safe zone chocolate cookie mix
   • dry ingredient pouch
   • chocolate chunk pouch
2. Smooth applesauce
3. Vegetable shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)
4. (Optional) Chopped acorns or pecans (In my opinion, nuts do NOT belong in cookies! But, if you want to be more accurate to Carol’s cookies, feel to include…if you must…I guess 😉 )

Follow the box on this one; it doesn’t get much simpler.

1. Mix 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup vegetable shortening with the dry ingredient pouch.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chunks with 1 teaspoon of vegetable shortening for 1 minute. Be sure to stop and stir every 20 seconds.
3. Combine the chocolate with the cookie dough.
4. Place golf ball sized globs onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

My thoughts:

• My cookies came out pretty flat. I would bet that refrigerating the dough for 30 minutes prior to baking would help with this.
• It was tough for me to tell when these cookies were done. I ended up baking them for longer than specified (but my oven’s old and the temperature gauge isn’t very accurate). I baked them until the edges of the cookies started to crisp.

Taste: For a boxed cookie, I thought these turned out decent. I was expecting more of a chocolate flavor, but I suppose if I’m in the zombie apocalypse then I should be happy for any chocolate I can get. As my husband put it, they were “zombie apocalypse chocolaty.” 3/5

Ease: It really doesn’t get any easier than baking these cookies. While melting the chocolate chunks could be considered a little finicky (as opposed to, say, cocoa powder) I do think they were more of a nod to Carol’s original recipe. 4/5

Texture: As mentioned above, my cookies came out a little flat, but I think refrigerating the dough could help with that problem. My final cookies had crispy edges and soft, chewy centers (thanks to the use of shortening over butter) -the best kind of cookie texture. 4/5

Package: I love good packaging and this box does not disappoint. It’s full of quips and funny tie-ins to the show. (According to the box, “They’re to die for!” 😉 ) 5/5

Overall: I’d give these cookies a solid 3.5-4/5, knowing that they come from the boxed cookie mix category (and not a fancy bakery).

Has anyone tried a homemade recipe for Carol’s cookies that actually includes beets and acorns? Let me know in the comments below.