One Shrek inspired recipe just isn’t enough. This week I fancied making cookies to celebrate our favourite ogre. My Shrek cookies are gooey, customisable and oh-so-sweet. Gloriously thick and indulgent numnums that are perfect for any Shrek party or movie night. Into the swamp we go!

Contents

• The Bake
• Top Tips
• The Recipe
• The Films
• Recipe Card

The Bake

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve made a batch of properly indulgent cookies, so it was time to get my hands muddy again. We all know that cookies hit different.

We love themed movie nights and parties here but what we don’t love is making them complicated. I aim to provide easy and creative recipes, so that’s exactly the mindset I adopted when concocting these magical Shrek inspired cookies.

My Percy Jackson and the Olympians blue cookies were a smash hit, so I simply adapted that recipe and created the ultimate batch of easy Shrek cookies.

These are proper NYC-style cookies.

Thick, indulgent ones with chocolate chunks. Like my Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse inspired cookies, my Shrek themed cookies are a double chocolate base.

Why? 

This ogre loves his mud. Plus, this baker is pretty much a chocoholic. We’re all friends here so I don’t mind admitting it.

I wanted to be clear on the type of cookie this recipe creates because I know some readers may be on the hunt for a different kind of cookie: one similar to a sugar cookie for my American friends, or biscuits for my fellow British folk.

Fear not, for I will be bringing you a specific recipe on how to create your own batch of Ginge (Gingerbread Man) biscuits/cookies soon enough!

For now, let’s stick with these chocolate chip cookies.

The cookie base is the mud, but the ears are what make these Shrek cookies even more irresistible.

Irresistible and entirely recognisable. Just what you want for a movie night or Shrek themed party.

It’s nice and easy to achieve too; I shaped the ears out of green fondant icing. If preferred you can just as easily do this with modelling chocolate. It’s a little more expensive and not quite as easy to get your hands on – especially some that is already green – but modelling chocolate tastes far nicer in my opinion.

However, it’s completely your choice as to which you use. 

You could even make your own modelling chocolate using a recipe like this one by Magdalena of Cocoa & Heart. She’s a chocolate pro and includes plenty of troubleshooting tips if needed, but the recipe is super simple and so much cheaper than buying ready made modelling chocolate.

Plus, you can definitely make it green!

These Shrek cookies are entirely customisable.

If you prefer a vanilla cookie base, go right ahead and use my Percy Jackson and the Olympians blue cookies recipe (linked above in the post) as your base. Simply swap out the blue food colouring for green.

I used dark chocolate chunks because they blend in with the mud vibe, but feel free to swap out or mix in your favourite chocolate variations. You could even swap them out for colourful chocolate candy like Smarties or M’n’Ms for a splash of fairytale magic!

Top Tips

• These delicious cookies are made with a chocolate cookie base, but you can make them vanilla by swapping out the cocoa powder for plain flour in equal parts and adding 1 tsp vanilla extract to the creamed butter and sugar.
• Do not use self-raising flour in place of the plain flour. This can drastically alter the look and texture of your cookies, making them cakier rather than gooey.
• The type of chocolate chunks or chips that you use is completely up to you. Go ahead and add colourful chocolate candy like my suggestions above to add some extra fun to your Shrek cookies.
• Do not skip the chilling stage! The thickness of these cookies is set up in the chilling process before baking. Otherwise you could end up with frisbee cookies. But, if that’s your goal, go for it.
• Avoid the temptation of baking your cookies for longer. This is equally as important because they will continue to bake on the trays as they cool. This creates the ultimate texture!
• You can double this recipe for a larger batch. See my post on scaling recipes for an easy method and further information on how to do this accurately.

These Shrek cookies really are the best kind of sweet snack for your Shrek movie night or themed party. Cookies are always a crowd pleaser, so you can’t go far wrong. Or Far, Far Away wrong for that matter. I hope you have as much fun as I did making ~ and eating ~ them. Enjoy!

Happy baking, happy eating!

The Recipe

Ingredients

Shrek cookies:

• 125g [4.5 oz] unsalted butter   room temperature
• 75g [¼ cup + 2 tbsp] caster sugar
• 70g [¼ cup + 2 tbsp] light brown sugar
• 30g [2 tbsp + 1 tsp] dark brown sugar
• 1 medium or large egg
• 250g [1½ cups + 1 tbsp] plain [all-purpose] flour
• 50g [¼ cup + 3 tbsp] cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp cornflour  optional
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda [baking soda]
• ½ tsp salt
• 200g [7 oz] chocolate chunks/chips of your choice

Decoration:

• 100g [around 3.5 oz] green modelling chocolate or green fondant icing

Serves: 10

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Chilling time: 1 hour

Baking time: 8 – 10 minutes

Cooling time: 30 minutes

Method

Shrek cookies:

1. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper/baking parchment and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and beat in. 
4. Sieve in the flour and cocoa powder, then spoon in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and the cornflour (if using) and mix in until a dough is achieved.
5. Press in the chocolate chunks/chips/candy. 
6. Shape your dough into 10 equal balls. Sit them on the trays with 5 on each tray, leaving a generous amount of space in between each ball.
7. Chill the cookie dough pieces in the fridge for at least 1 hour or in the freezer for 30 minutes. Do not skip this step!
8. While your cookies are chilling, shape 10 pairs of ears using your green fondant or modelling chocolate. To help with this, I used a chopstick to create the indent in the top of each ear (you could use the rounded end of a cutlery utensil or paintbrush). Set aside uncovered.
9. After about 50 minutes of chilling, preheat the oven to 200°C [390°F] or 180°C fan. 
10. When ready, bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until slightly dry looking on the top. They shouldn’t need pressing down before baking, but this is down to personal preference. Avoid baking for longer than the allotted time: they will continue baking on the trays after.
11. After the allotted time, take your cookies from the oven. Sit a pair of ears into the centre of each one while they are still warm, leaving a small gap between each ear. Allow the cookies to cool with the ears in them for at least 30 minutes before enjoying.

The Films

Seeing as I’ve already discussed the Shrek franchise in my Shrek mud bath tart recipe, there isn’t much point in repeating myself here.

Other than reiterating just how much I LOVE these movies.

Dreamworks did a wonder with the Shrek films and it still shows two decades later – people go back to them for a reason! Whenever these films are playing on my TV schedule, I put them on no matter what I’m doing.

Just the other day, I was working with Shrek 2 (2004) on in the background.

Now, normally I’m not an advocate for putting a film on in the background whilst focusing on something else. I’m sure a lot of fellow film fans out there will agree with me when I say that movies should be enjoyed with all the senses possible and with full attention granted. 

Not acting as a sound source to fill the silence. I never understood it when I was a student and people I knew would write essays with TV shows they hadn’t seen playing in the background.

However, I have relaxed my stance a little on this. Only to the extent that I can understand putting a film or TV show on that you’ve already seen and continue to love. Like perhaps doing the housework with The Office (US) on the TV, or folding the laundry with a Disney film on for a little sing-along action.

For me, it’s the sweet sound of Shrek 2 that helps to lift my spirits when I’m working hard.

Those sweet Scottish tones of our favourite protagonist, the witty quips of his donkey sidekick, the purr of his Spanish feline companion and the reassuringly gentle voice of his other half. 

Not to mention the banging soundtrack.

Who said the Shrek films were allowed to have soundtracks that SLAP?

The raspy iconic voice of Bonnie Tyler on the radio just this morning brought Shrek to the forefront of my mind. At this point, it simply can’t be helped.

Naturally, when you love a movie franchise this much, you hold themed movie nights and parties as a result. It’s not just me, right?

Recipe Card