First of all – just want to acknowledge the fact that I constantly kept referring to these as ‘Genovia’ Cookies (when typing and thinking about them – I’ve managed not to actually say it yet).
Yup
As in “I-am-the-Princess-of-Genovia”-Genovia.
The made up land in the Princess Diaries.
Even now, when I think of the name without looking at the title of the post, I’m like “Okay, it’s not ‘Genovia’, what is it? Is it ‘Genova’? No that sounds wrong..” and I literally can’t remember that it’s ‘Geneva’ for a good 5 minutes.
These cookies must be messing with my mind – probably because they are SO INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS.
I can’t stop eating them.
Yesterday there were 50 cookies.
Today: 32.
and I don’t even know how it happened.
In the UK, you can’t find Pepperidge Farm Cookies – I know, it’s not like they’re the best cookies ever, but as far as packaged cookies go, Pepperidge Farm’s are pretty damn fine.
You can occasionally find a package of white chocolate chip ones in Whole Foods for like £3.50 (Errrm, no. Whole Foods – I love you, but I’m not going to pay that much for cookies), but it’s not like there are even any alternative British cookies that are remotely similar to things like Geneva cookies 
So what do you do when you can’t buy them?
Give up and be thankful that you’re not going to have another package of cookies taunting you in the cupboard?
HAH. no!
Ima make them 
It did occur to me that there could be a package of these cookies in one of the two huge boxes of goodies (this is one of them) that my awesome, amazing, super generous blogging friend Erica sent me for Christmas (OMG I’m so excited to open them, you cannot BELIEVE), but I knew I would have to wait for them, and I had some candy canes just begging to be crushed up.
So I made the cookies.
and then, I topped them with different things:
- chopped pecans (the classic)
- toasted, dessicated coconut
- and crushed candy canes with a drizzle of white chocolate…
Oh lordy,
I’m so incredibly glad I made them.
They are insanely good.
Even if you live in America with access to Geneva cookies, or have a package of Geneva cookies in your cupboard, you NEED to make these. They are 100 million times better:
- the cookie is buttery, crispy, light and crunchy. A bit like the Brussels Cookie in fact
- the chocolate (I used a mix of semi-sweet and 70%) was so much more chocolatey and smooth
- the toppings were fresh and mega flavourful
When you taste them, and realise how ridiculously good they are, you will laugh -
- at how you used to think that the packaged version was tasty.
Home made pretty much always wins.
Booyeah.
I devoured that hot chocolate – including ALL those mini marshmallows – just FYI.
Notes:
- I’ve subbed half the butter for 3.5 0z of coconut oil (i.e. used 3.5 oz of butter + 3.5 oz of coconut oil) and it works just as well!
- If you want an easy way to temper the chocolate, I’ve got an easy, step-by-step image guide here
- To save time:
- You seriously don’t need to make these oval shaped – it saves a lot of hassle if you just make the cookies round: just roll the dough into 1″ balls, place on the lined cookie sheet and flatten into 1/4″ thick circles; they’ll be just as good, and much quicker to make.
- instead of coating the bottom of the cookies w/ the chocolate, just dip one half of the cookie into the chocolate, then dip it into the toppings
- You can use any other toppings you want – don’t limit yourself to those three, go crazy! – chopped peanuts, hazelnuts, spread on some nutella, crushed pretzels, crushed potato chips, flaky sea salt, chopped toffee, chopped candy bars (rolo or snickers would be just…I can’t even…), dried fruit, freeze dried fruit, mini marshmallows… whatever!
- I also drizzled the peppermint Geneva Cookies with a but of melted white chocolate for some pizazz :O ahaha
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and vinegar/lemon juice together in a large bowl. Add in the next 4 ingredients and stir until just combined.
Divide the dough into 1" balls, roll the dough balls into 2 1/4" long sausage shapes, place onto a lined cookie sheet.
http://www.topwithcinnamon.com/2012/12/diy-geneva-cookies-pecan-candy-cane-coconut.html
Flatten the sausages of dough into oval shapes (see notes) – about 1/4 inch thick, spaced 1/2″ apart on the cookie sheet.
Bake for 17-20 minutes until they are a light golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Once cooled, spread about 1/2 tsp of melted (tempered if you can be bothered) chocolate onto the bottom of each cookie (you can use a pastry brush, pallette knife or butter knife), and sprinkle with your desired toppings. Let the chocolate set at room temperature. Store in an airtight container.
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
I love all these shots! They look so gorgeous. And those cookies…don’t even get me started!
thanks! It was pretty stressful having to shoot three sets of cookies in one go, I think I’ve run out of cookie compositions for a while now :/
Love, love, love. I’ve never heard of Geneva Cookies actually (you have me second-guessing the name too!) and I live in California haha. But I just looked them up, and yours look EXACTLY the same, except ten times better because they’re homemade. I so need to try these! And everything else you make.
Love the photos, too!
haha, well you don’t ever need to bother with them now
just make them, so so so much better! Making the cookies oval shaped to look like the originals was the bane of my life – that’s why I recommend just making them circular in the recipe notes ahah. Thank you!! 
I’ve never eaten these or anything like them so am totally intrigued to try them out. Particularly love the candy cane topped one – so bright and festive!
They are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made – everybody loved them! haha, yeah my mum was particularly addicted to the candy cane ones
Wonderful presentation, I bet they taste like heaven! I love this type of cookie with chocolate on top; thanks for the recipe!
thanks
my mum said they were one of the best cookies I’ve ever made!
Oh dear, I should not know how to make these. I will eat them all. That’s what happened when I found a recipe for homemade Milano cookies last year! And I’m pretty sure I’d like these even more. The whipped egg whites in the homemade Milanos made them a little airy, and the weren’t quite as similar to the real deal as I would have liked. (That still wasn’t enough to keep me from eating way too many, though.) I’m now trying to resist the urge to look up a recipe for homemade Brussels cookies, because those are my absolute favorite out of all the PF cookies. Crap, I did it. And there’s a Food52 recipe for them. Bye bye, waistline!
ahahah, I’ve seen a few recipes for milanos floating around the internet, so I thought I’d be indie and go for the ‘underdog’ Geneva cookies instead.
Jeez, brussels cookies + me = a disaster. I could eat a whole packet in one day. Ikea sells similar ones that come ‘ikea style’ i.e in a HUGE CRATE. That’s a few weeks where the baggy jumpers are worn every day.
really like you blog. your photography and plating is awesom.
thanks!
What a great homemade version of those Pepperidge Farm cookies!! They look just like them. I am going to try these. Love your “action” photos! So cute.
thank you!! omg, they are the best, I hope you like them
Thanks for the mention! These look absolutely beautiful (I was looking forward to this post after seeing your pics on Instagram). My favorite Tollhouse cookies are Milanos… or even better, mint Milanos! My dad used to pack them in my lunchbox all the time and I absolutely adore them!
I just made the fitst batch of these cookies and wanted to add a note: this dough was very dry and i found muself having to kneed the dough to combine it–when i first added the dry ingredients the mixture resembled crumbs. The dough was still crumbly when i formed them on the baking sheet but the finished cookies did taste good. I’ll be adding the chocolate and toppings later. Thanks for the recipe!!
Thanks Sarah, I’ll retry the dough and see if I can find a solution! Glad you like them
Oops I was a bit of an idiot, just double checked, there’s supposed to be 2 more tablespoons of butter
These look exactly like the originals…I made a copycat version of their Brussels cookies and loved them, so I can’t wait to try these. I love being able to re create these cookies and never be at the mercy of those expensive little packages of Pepperidge Farm again!!!
wow!! am going to veganize these and make them! first site i’ve come upon with embedded videos that just…happen.thanks! (i linked from eat your books)
I’ve made them with half butter and half coconut oil, and they taste closer to the original version than the all butter ones!! Let me know how yours turn out
AHAHA, well, that’s just how my life goes I guess :’)
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