We Invented Another Cookie, And It's Called "Theater Floor"

The concept for these cookies is fairly simple, they represent everything you find on a theatre floor. I know this means that this cookie is not very creatively named, but I figure that the concept is the main selling feature. The main reason one would want to make these cookies is if you had a movie night at your house and you had a lot of leftovers, most notably popcorn. This recipe works particularly well if you happen to have another event, say a games night, at your house the day after a movie night. This would mean that you have used the leftover snacks from the movie night to feed the people at your games night.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 Cups all purpose flour

Baking Soda 1 teaspoon

Salt 1 teaspoon

1 cup of salted butter (soft and warm)

Crystal Sugar 3/4 cup

Molasses 1/2 cup

Vanilla 1 teaspoon

2 Large Eggs

Chocolate Chips 1/2 cup

Peanuts 1/2 cup

Things you might find on a theatre floor including:

Popcorn

Peanut M&Ms

Regular M&Ms

Gummies

Skittles

You'll also need an average sized bowl, one mixing bowl, a mixer, a cookie sheet, several things to stir with, measuring cups, and tinfoil or a silicon baking mat. There may be a few other things you'll need, but I'll cover those below.

How to make them:

In one of the small bowl mix the flour with the salt and baking soda. This is simple enough and requires a quick stir and nothing else. Set that bowl aside.

Next, take out your mixer, and on a low setting and add the soft butter, start whipping it a little and slowly add the crystal sugar. You want to keep mixing until the butter is whipped and the sugar is fairly well dispersed throughout, it won't ever blend in perfectly and it should leave your butter feeling a little gritty. Keep in mind that when you bake these cookies, that grit does not go away, the point is that, much like a theatre floor, these cookies are oddly gritty. Then add the molasses, keep mixing with your mixer until the molasses is mixed in, then add your vanilla. I like to use molasses because it makes the cookies dark brown, and a little sticky, just like a theatre floor.

Once this is nicely combined add one egg at a time, keeping the mixer at a fairly low speed. Once it has become one mass as opposed to being made up of ingredients, start adding the flour mixture slowly. Keep mixing until all of the flour has been added and is mixed in well. You'll probably need a spatula to work the sides of the bowl, unless you have a better mixer than I own (hint, hint for my birthday).

Once it's all one glob of cookie greatness we'll no longer need the mixer. Remove the mixer from the equation and slowly stir in the peanuts and chocolate chips. Simply stir in these the additional ingredients using the spatula you used to clean the sides of the bowl while you were mixing. If you have a really awesome mixer you'll have to dirty a spatula. After the peanuts and chocolate chips are mixed in, starting adding your other ingredients. Many of these ingredients can be very delicate, like the gummies and the popcorn, so you'll want to mix in the hardier ingredients first, then add the more delicate ingredients.

As far as what to add to your cookies, it really depends on what you have left over from movie night, and what you like to eat at the movies. Popcorn is the one ingredient I highly recommend, it sells the idea that these are theatre floor cookies. With fruit flavoured ingredients, like Skittles or gummies, I like to add fewer of these. I like the idea that every so often you might randomly bite into a a chewy fruity candy in cookies that are mainly chocolate and nut based, it's a "nice surprise".

Once all of your movie themed treats are mixed with your dough, you'll need a really small spoon. I recommend something smaller than a teaspoon, but bigger than one of those coffee spoons they used to give you at McDonald's in the 80's. For my cookies I use an egg spoon, and it works perfectly.

Now spoon the mixture onto your tinfoil or silicon baking mat while it's on your baking sheet. Keep the cookies small, because lots of little cookies are awesome. Bake each batch of cookies at 375 degrees for about 7 minutes.

Once the cookies are done, let them cool on the rack for a few minutes, and if possible serve immediately. They will last a few days, but they'll taste best right out of the oven.

CC