Some of you may remember my original sugar cookie taco post from last year, but those photos were no bueno. I decided to re-shoot them the other day because taco cookies are just too rad of a treat to not have good photos of, and while I was shooting them I had the idea “why not just turn this into a DIY for a taco bar…a COOKIE TACO BAR!” Clearly, I’m pretty excited about this! Follow along with the steps below to find out how to make your own taco cookies (taco-ookies?) and what you’ll need for the cookie taco bar. Now THIS is what you should do for your next fiesta! And if you don’t have a fiesta-themed party in the works, how about you immediately send out an email to some of your friends and plan one for Tuesday, because it just so happens to be Cinco de Mayo!

PART 1 – SUGAR COOKIE TACOS:

Materials Needed:

• Sugar cookie dough
• Plastic Bags
• Candy: Brownie bites (or chocolate cake crumbles), round red candies (m&m’s or sixlets), shredded coconut
• Food Coloring: Orange + Green
• Frosting
• Rolling pin

Directions:

Step #1 – Taco Toppings: Prepare the toppings for your tacos. Take 3 plastic bags and add 1 cup of shredded coconut to each bag. In one bag, add 2-3 drops of orange food coloring for the cheese (or rice) and in the other bag, add 2-3 drops of green food coloring (the lettuce). Shake each bag to evenly to coat the coconut with color.  Next, crumble brownie bites (or chocolate cake) into mini crumbles for the meat. For the tomatoes, you can use a range of items – basically any round red candy works (i.e. m&m’s, sixlets, red sours, etc.). Make sure to have your frosting prepped and ready to go as well. Set all toppings aside.
Step #2 – Taco Shell Cookies: Now for the cookies. Place dough in rounds on a baking sheet. Bake sugar cookie dough at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes (just before it turns slightly golden). Remove and let cookies sit for 1-2 minutes to ever-so-slightly cool and then immediately mold each cookie over a rolling pin (or any wax-covered tubular shape). If you’re finding that the cookies are falling apart when you go to mold them, decrease your baking time and/or resting time out of the oven. Wait until the cookie shells have completely cooled on mold before removing and decorating. To speed this up, you can place your mold directly into the fridge after the cookies have cooled for 10 minutes at room temperature.
Step #3: To decorate: add buttercream frosting (sour cream), coconut lettuce + cheese, brownie meat, and the chocolate tomatoes.

If you’re stuck or just want to watch how it’s done beforehand, you can check out the video tutorial I made (as part of my Craft On series) by heading over HERE.

PART 2 – COOKIE TACO BAR:

Materials Needed:

• Plates + bowls for cookie taco bar ingredients
• Sugar cookie taco shells
• Colored coconut: orange (cheese or rice), green (lettuce)
• Frosting (sour cream)
• Brownie bites or chocolate cake crumbles (taco meat)
• Red M&M’s or Sixlets (tomatoes)
• Spatula

Directions: Place each topping in a bowl, alongside a plate of your sugar cookie taco shells. Add a frosting spatula or spoon into the “sour cream” frosting. Place all the ingredients on a festive fiesta-decorated table. And then all you’ll need are some party guests and you’ll be ready to open up the cookie taco bar!

UPDATE: New video / post with additional tips HERE.

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