12 Amazing Cookies Recipes To Send Your Kids to School With This Fall

Fall is upon us, which means pack your kid’s lunch is in full swing. I like to tuck a little homemade love into the lunchbox along with the sandwiches and juice boxes and these kid-approved cookies are an excellent way to do just that. With easy recipes, comforting and classic flavors, and cute presentations that are bound to put a smile on the faces of your little ones, these twelve recipes are a few of my all-time faves. 

1. Sugar Sprinkle Cookies

The dynamic duo of soft sugar cookies and bright rainbow sprinkles will sweep away your child’s lunchtime blues. Plus, you can make them from start to finish in less than half an hour. I like to use a mixture of tiny sprinkles and larger ones to infuse the batter with bright colors and textural interest and then crown the whole thing with a brilliant rainbow. Since this recipe is simple, real vanilla extract makes all the difference and lends your cookies that fresh-from-the-bakery taste. 

2. Copycat Girl Scout Samoas Cookies

You don’t have to wait until the official Girl Scout cookie season to enjoy classic coconut Samoas any time of the year. This dupe is one of my favorites of all time, and you only need a handful of ingredients to put it all together. Butter, sugar, flour, egg, vanilla extract, milk, and a pinch of salt make up the base. Then, each cookie gets its bottom dipped in melted milk chocolate and a sprinkle of caramel and coconut on top. Finish off with a drizzle of more chocolate, and you will have yourself the perfect copycat. 

3. Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

For me, the taste of creamy peanut butter and rich brown sugar always puts me at ease and makes me feel at home, which is why I love these soft and chewy peanut butter cookies. They’re ideal for school lunches, too, because they’re portable and easy to batch out for the whole week. Since they contain peanut butter, it’s a good idea to ensure that your child’s classroom isn’t a nut-free zone at the beginning of the year and save these tasty treats for an after-school snack if they’re not allowed. 

4. M&M Cookies

With all of the classic chocolate chip cookie flavors but the added yummy element of candy-coated M&Ms, these cookies are all-star kid favorites and will put a big grin on their faces when they open their lunchbox. Plus, they take less than half an hour to prepare from start to finish. The base is infused with delicious ingredients like warm brown sugar, a generous dollop of vanilla extract, and plenty of authentic butter. Swirl regular M&Ms into the batter, and top with miniature M&Ms for a fabulous presentation and plenty of chocolate flavor.

5. Oatmeal Cream Pie Cookies

Homemade oatmeal cream pie cookies are simple to make and taste light-years better than anything you’ll find on your grocery store shelves. I like to use quick oats to save a bit of time and still keep that classic consistency. Each oatmeal cookie is full of brown sugar, vanilla extract, and warm spices like cinnamon for a decadent fall-time treat. The filling is a homemade buttercream spiked with vanilla extract and full of unsalted butter, sugar, and a splash of milk.

6. Monster Cookie Bars

Everything about these cookie bars, from the name to the many kid-approved ingredients you’ll find inside, was made to please your little ones. Start with a peanut butter and sugar cookie base, then add quick oats for texture, M&Ms, and chocolate chips. You can even experiment with other ingredients, like bits of toffee or caramel. I like to raid my Halloween candy stash and pop in whatever looks good. The result will keep kids with monster appetites full and happy until it’s time to come home from school.

7. Copycat Crumbl Cookie Dough Recipe

Crumbl Cookies hit dessert gold when they came up with the inspired idea to combine cookie dough and baked cookies into one whimsical and tasty treat. This delicious dupe recipe takes just half an hour and features both ingredients for a cookie that’s bound to satisfy your kiddo’s sweet tooth. The cookie base is flour, butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt, and the edible balls of cookie dough are butter, heavy cream, miniature chocolate chips, brown sugar, and flour. Ice each cookie with vanilla-laced buttercream and top with balls of cookie dough. It’s cute and scrumptious beyond words.

8. Macadamia Coconut Bear Paw Cookies

These cookies smash it on presentation and are deceptively simple to make, coming together in less than half an hour. The secret ingredient is white cake mix, which cuts way back on your preparation time and provides a yummy cookie base. Stir in butter, eggs, baking powder, and chopped macadamia nuts. Top with vanilla and coconut buttercream, then decorate with bear claw chocolate shapes and dried coconut. 

9. Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookie Bars

This classic combination doesn’t need to stop with sandwiches; these peanut butter and jelly cookie bars are an amazing dessert that riffs on PB&J flavors with an added dose of brown sugar and vanilla. Just check with your child’s teacher and make sure that it’s okay to bring peanut butter into the classroom; otherwise, these bars are fabulous treats for that after-school decompression and cartoon time. You’ll just need peanut butter, regular butter, brown and white sugar, flour, vanilla extra, a pinch of salt, baking powder, eggs, and whatever type of jelly you prefer to whip up a batch of these beautiful bars.

10. S’Mores Stuffed Cookies

Summer might be over, but you can still bring the taste of a late-August family camping trip to your child’s school with these excellent cookies. Miniature marshmallows, a chocolate bar, a sprinkle of chocolate chips, and a graham cracker are all nestled in a brown sugar and butter cookie base, ready to surprise and delight your child as they bite into the snack.

11. Sheet Pan Sugar Cookie Bars

I love these sugar cookie bars for many reasons, but two of the biggest have to be how portable they are and how quickly I can make and batch them for homemade goodness in my kids’ lunches all week long. The recipe is simple and a total crowd-pleaser with butter, vanilla, flour, sugar, baking soda, and sea salt for a bit of taste contrast. Add in a little sunshine with rainbow sprinkles, and you will have a dessert to celebrate. 

12. Butterfingers Cake Mix Cookies

One of my favorite cookie hacks is using candy bars to add tons of flavor to an otherwise simple recipe. These cookies take less than 30 minutes and will have your kids swooning. All you need is a store-bought yellow butter cake mix, some eggs, a bit of butter, and some crushed Butterfingers. Each bite is decadent, buttery, and studded with pieces of Butterfinger for a delightful finish to any school lunch.

Send your kids a little extra joy in their lunchboxes with these kid-approved recipes. They’re simple to make and also adult-approved, so you can snack on some, too, after they’ve caught the bus.