Taco Cookies for Cinco de Mayo

Taco Cookies are the most fun and festive food out there, so why not spice it up for Cinco de Mayo!

This recipe is easy, delicious, and packs a little heat too! Cinco de mayo cookies are all the buzz!

A side-step from traditional Mexican dessert recipes for Cindo De Mayo, we’re creating crazy spicy taco cookies filled with red M&M’s candies! 

No matter what your favorite Cinco de Mayo food is, you’ll always want to cap off the day with a delicious dessert, and today we’re making easy and amazing spicy taco cookie desserts!

Cinco de Mayo Party Cookies

Usually, we head to our local Mexican restaurant for Cinco de Mayo dinner, but this year we’re going to make our own dinner and dessert.

We even decided to do a fun DIY and make festive terra cotta pot sombreros. The sombreros will be a nice addition to our dinner table, but perhaps these taco cookies will be the star of the show!

Spicy Cinco de Mayo Dessert Tacos

To make our dessert tacos, we’ll begin by gathering and preparing our ingredients.

Figure out how many guests you’ll have over for your celebrations, or how many cookie tacos you want to bring to the office and plan accordingly.

You can get about 10 to 12 cookie tacos out of the recipe we’re using today. Oh, and don’t forget your festive t-shirts 🙂

Cinco de Mayo Taco Cookies

Gather your ingredients and let’s get started!

For our dessert recipe, we’ll be baking sugar cookies and forming them into taco shells.

Ingredients

We’ll be using coconut shreds (with food coloring) to create lettuce and cheese, dark red M&M’s pieces as the ‘meat’, white frosting as the ‘sour cream’, and of course M&M’s candies to kick it up a notch – these will be the ‘tomatoes’.

Instructions

Put the cookie dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

I love to use the baking sheet parchment papers, they never roll up on you like regular parchment!

Sprinkle cayenne pepper on the cookie dough and bake them until they’re just cooked – the lower time indicated on the package should do.

Don’t cook them until they’re golden brown or they may be too fragile to fold like a taco shell.

Be careful with the cayenne pepper – a little goes a long way!

The amount I added in the cookies in the picture below makes them extra, extra spicy – too spicy for some people!

Remove the cookies from the oven, let them sit on the baking sheet for 45 seconds (timing is crucial!).

Scoop them up with a spatula and gently lay them over a round tube. Empty paper towel roll or wrapping paper roll.

Do this with all the cookies as they come out of the oven to create cookie taco shells. Use your hands to help mold them over the tube, pinch any big cracks together with your fingers.

Cookie Baking Tip:

Make small batches to assure you can form them all before they cool too much.

I’m making 3 cookies at a time since I only have 1 paper towel cardboard tube, and that’s how many will fit on it.

If a cookie breaks, it’s no big deal. After all, someone needs to taste test them, right? 😉 

While the cookie taco shells are cooling, prepare your other ingredients…

• Pick out some brown M&M’s and crush them with a mallet or rolling pin, these will act as the taco meat
• Carefully cut a few red M&M’s in half, these will act as tomatoes
• In zipper bags, shake food coloring and coconut shreds. Use 6 drops of food coloring per 1 cup of shredded coconut. I’m making 1 cup of green and 1/2 cup of orange to represent lettuce and cheese.
• A can of your favorite vanilla or white frosting

TIP: Make coconut shreds with cheese. Shake coconut shavings in a bag w/3 drops of red & 4 drops of yellow food coloring.

Taco Cookies Filling

Once the cookies have cooled, you can begin stuffing them!

Fill your cookie taco shells with crushed brown M&M’s bits, shredded coconut, then top with a dab of frosting, and red M&M’s candy halves for the tomatoes!

Find the printable recipe below.

Taco Cookie Recipe

This is a fun and festive recipe filled with sweets and candies. It’s a dessert that will be the buzz of your Cinco de Mayo party! Don’t be surprised if people ask you to make these cookie tacos next year, too!

You might also like:

• DIY Terra Cotta Pot Sombreros, Clay Pot Cinco de Mayo Crafts
• Taco Cup Appetizers
• Mexican Street Corn – Grilled
• Crunchy Chicken Tostadas
• Layered Crunchy Shrimp Tostadas Recipe

5 from 8 votes

Taco Cookies for Cinco de Mayo

Taco cookie recipe for Cinco de Mayo Mexican party.

Servings 12 people

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Total Time 50 mins

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 Package sugar cookies

Taco Cookie Filling

• 2 tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 cup Shredded coconut
• 5 drops Food coloring Green, red and yellow; color to your liking
• 1 tub White frosting
• 1/4 cup Red M&M's
• 1/4 cup Brown M&M's

Instructions

Cookies

• Preheat oven and shape cookies as indicated on the package
• Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with cayenne pepper (careful, cayenne pepper makes them SPICY!)
• Bake cookies until they're just done (low time on the cookie package should do), don't over-bake them or they'll become fragile! Remember, we want them cooked but not golden brown when we remove them from the oven
• Remove from oven, wait 45 seconds (timing is important!) scoop them up with a spatula and gently lay them on a cylindrical surface (empty paper towel roll, or empty wrapping paper roll is perfect). Repeat until all of your cookies are baked and folded into taco shell shapes
• Once cooled, remove them and set them aside while you're baking the next batch

Filling

• Shake shredded coconut in zipper bags with food coloring (see notes)
• Crush some brown M&M's candy
• Cut some red M&M's candies in half
• Stuff your tacos, brown M&M's chunks on the bottom, green coconut shavings, a little orange coconut shavings, a strip of vanilla or white frosting, and finally halved red M&M's candies.

Video

Notes

Use a couple of drops of food coloring and coconut to create green shavings for lettuce, then use another bag to create orange coconut shavings for the cheese.

Author: Scrappy Geek

Cost: $5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Mexican