Bon Bon Cookies

I love everything about vintage cookbooks. From the old-fashioned recipes that represent a simpler time and more carefree cooking to the helpful (albeit sometimes outdated) advice for homemaking and entertaining that is often sprinkled throughout many of these books.

I especially love looking at pictures of elaborate table settings of yesteryear, gorgeous serving dishes and cookware and, most of all, glorious desserts like this showstopper below!

These Bon Bon Cookies caught my attention for a couple of reasons. First, I have the exact same vintage, milk glass dessert stand and dreamed of using it to display these charming cookies rather than its current use which is holding bananas on my counter. Second, I was intrigued by the recipe description: “Bake them like cookies, eat them like candies. Created by a true westerner, Mrs. Joseph J. Wallace, high in her Rocky Mountain home near Whitehall, Montana.” Doesn’t that sound lovely?

This got me thinking, wouldn’t it be fun to try to make some of these vintage recipes and share them on my blog?

My First Recipe Redux: Bon Bon Cookies

Before I embarked into my own bon bon wonderland, I did a quick Google search, “what is a bon bon?” Merriam-Webster defines a bonbon as “a candy with chocolate or fondant coating that sometimes contains fruits and nuts.” They are are also described as “something that is pleasing in a frivolous way.”

These colorful, little cookies turned out to be just the delightful, frivolous distraction I needed during a particularly drab week here in Minnesota. When the weather is crap and the news is too much to stomach, there’s no place I’d rather than be than in the comfort of my cozy kitchen baking up some sweet treats. So that’s exactly what I did!

I set out to make Mrs. Wallace’s cookies to a tee, using the same frosting colors and embellishments like coconut, chocolate sprinkles and pecans.

The original recipe appears in the first edition of Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cookbook; however, the recipe for Frosted Bonbons on the Betty Crocker website is pretty close— minus the almond paste. Also, it should be noted that the online recipe is for a cookie exchange quantity (72 cookies). With cookies, more is better, right?!

Recipe Takeaways

• The cookies are so easy to make, I made them twice. This was in in part because I wanted both vanilla and chocolate cookies! However, if using the current, larger recipe on the Betty Crocker website, you could just split your dough in half and add in 1 square (1 oz.) of unsweetened, melted chocolate for the chocolate batch.
• After baking the cookies, the real fun begins: decorating! I divided the frosting recipe and split it four ways so I could make pink, green, white and chocolate cookies. I tried to use similar toppings (chocolate sprinkles, coconut, pecans, red sugar) to match those used in the picture but you use whatever you have on hand. Colorful sprinkles would be so adorable or different toppings to match the season. I can’t wait to make these for Christmas with my festive holiday sprinkles and sugars.
• One mistake I made: I misread the original recipe where it says to “wrap level tablespoon dough around filling (a candied or well drained maraschino cherry, pitted date, nut or chocolate piece). I didn’t do this! I envisioned these items on top, but I believe they are meant to be baked inside. Oopsie daisy. I personally liked the cookies without anything inside.

Bon Bon Cookies: Yay or Nay?

In the end, I loved this recipe and will definitely make these cookies again. They have a great texture and are just the right size to sneak a little sweet treat to go with my morning or afternoon coffee. Plus, with all the options for decorating, these cookies would also be perfect for wedding or baby showers, holiday treat trays—they are so darn cute—or anytime one needs a frivolous distraction in their life!