The Dollar Tree Cookie You Should Be Dunking In Your Coffee Right Now

While Dollar Tree might be considered a bargain store, don't discount (pun intended) the treasures you can find in its aisles. In our time going through the chain's food section, we've found such intriguing things as gourmet goods and product dupes that are better than the originals. We recently explored its packaged dessert section, and after eating our way through cookies, rolls, cakes, and wafers, we found six desserts you should buy (and six to skip. From that list, we also discovered a coconut-flavored treat that we think would pair perfectly with your mid-afternoon coffee break.

That would be Lil' Dutch Maid Coconut Bar Cookies, which cost a mere $1.25 for a 10-ounce package. We loved them for their snappy texture, along with that unmistakable tropical aroma of coconut. For those of you who aren't fans of coconut's waxiness, don't count them out just yet, because there's no actual coconut shreds in them. Our writer particularly enjoyed one nostalgic aspect to these cookies, observing, "I immediately noticed the rich aroma that reminded me of coconut extract. It's as if I had just opened a bottle of old tanning oil." (You know exactly which scent we're talking about, right?)

These Lil' Dutch Maid Coconut Bar Cookies are great as a snack, but one creative idea came to mind while we were trying them: They'd be great as the base for a cookie crust. If you blitz them up, mix them with butter and corn syrup, and press them into a crust, you'd have an extremely flavorful base for things like a cheesecake, bar desserts, or a pie. (Piña colada inspired-pie, anyone?) The added flavor of these cookies go further than your typical graham crackers; it's also a fun twist on the norm for homemade pastries.

The company that owns the Lil' Dutch Maid brand, AbiMar, also produces other cookies under the Lil' Dutch name, like vanilla creme, chocolate chip, and those classic almond windmill cookies. You can also purchase those at Dollar Tree, and all of them cost that easygoing $1.25. But the Coconut Bar Cookies by themselves are a cheerful snack that's worth a buy, and the price alone should be enough to pique anyone's curiosity. And if you don't care for chocolate, we also found a Keebler Dollar Tree knockoff that chocolate lovers should enjoy for the very same price.