What better way is there to start off dinosaur summer camp than with some yummy dinosaur footprint cookies? They are easy to make, fun to design, and delicious to eat.
A lot of young boys love dinosaurs. When my son was younger, he did not get the memo and I thought we just skipped the dinosaur phase. But thanks to a random discussion about how we could only guess what dinosaurs look like with their fossils, my son got obsessed!
Luckily, Heather from Mom of All Seasons had dinosaur week as part of her 8-week summer camp program. Using the fun and educational activities she suggested in the summer camp, I devised an entire week of dinosaur adventure with my kids. As a reader of Mombrite, you can get $7 off with the code BETTY123.
Time to make your house smell scrumptious!
How to Make Dinosaur Fossil Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- â…› cup maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Optional: 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
Instructions:
- In a large bowl or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until combined. Note: we do tend to go lower on the sugar to make the cookies healthier, but if you wish you can add ¼ cup more coconut sugar to make the cookies sweeter.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
- Shape the dough into a cylinder about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the cookie log in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Take out the dough from the fridge. Use a sharp knife and cut the dough into ¼- ½ inch thick slices.
- Place the circle slices on a baking sheet.
- Press a dinosaur’s feet into each cookie. Depending on the size of your dinosaur, you may be able to fit only one foot in.
- Optional: To make the footprints stand out more, brush the footprints with a thin layer of cocoa powder.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating baking sheet in the oven halfway through.
- Remove to a wire sheet to cool.
The recipe is basically a basic shortbread cookie with some modifications. I like to use coconut sugar instead of white sugar, and I cut the amount by ½. Moreover, I decreased the amount of flour because I found the dough way too crumbly. This helps the cookies not fall apart while my kids were stamping them!
The maple syrup is probably the weirdest ingredient in this cookie. I added it because I still felt like the dough was way too dry. I taste the batter and thought it could use a touch more sweetness. Therefore, maple syrup was used to solve both issues.
The kids had a blast stamping the dinosaur footprint cookies. You do have to instruct your kid not to press too hard, otherwise, the cookie will fall apart.
I do encourage you to use the cocoa powder on the imprints. It makes the footprints pop out so much more after you bake it.
Final Thoughts on the Dinosaur Footprint Cookies
I hope you and your kids enjoyed the yummy dinosaur fossil cookies! If you don’t have a dinosaur figurine at home, you can always use everyday items like dry spaghetti or even build your own with Legos.
The point of the dinosaur footprint cookies was to demonstrate that dinosaurs walked the earth a long time ago. We know this because of all the bones and footprints we found. The dinosaurs left footprints behind on the ground, and when subject to extreme heat, the dinosaur’s footprints got left behind as fossils.
I bet you that these will be the tastiest fossils you ever ate!
Make sure you check out edible dinosaur eggs for more dinosaur yumminess!
