Recipe Tuesday - Cake Mix Cookies

Well since I am once more a fulltime stay-at-home mom, I figured it was time to bring back Recipe Tuesdays.  Especially since I am feeling much more motivated lately to try new things as I am no longer rushing off to work as soon as hubs gets home. Basically,  I will choose one recipe a week that I have tried and that has been kid approved. 

While my kids are pretty good at eating their fruits and vegetables, it can be a challenge to get them to try things cooked a different way.  Yet, even they get tired of having the same old grub day after day. 

I typically get most of my recipes from All Recipes.com and I will try my best to give credit where credit is due.

Today's Recipe - Cake Mix Cookies

Did you know that you can make cookies using Cake Mixes?  I didn't until recently I came across a plethora of recipe ideas across the internet.  There are all sorts of things you can make with Cake Mixes other than cakes.  Apparently you can use them as a base for a variety of bars.  From complex to simple, you decide.

(Image from Kids Cooking About.com)

I really loved the idea.  One of the things that turns me off of baking is the mess.  With one box, one bowl, one spoon and one measuring cup the clean up is easy. 

While there are a ton of recipes out there, the one I tried was from Stephanie Gallagher at About.Com.

For more instructions and other Kid Cooking ideas,visit Cake Mix Cookies.

• 
  
  1 18.25 oz. devil's food cake mix
• 
  
  2 large eggs
• 
  
  1/4 cup oil
• 
  
  1/4 cup water
• 
  
  1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 
  
  3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2.With an electric mixer, beat cake mix, eggs, oil and water until smooth.
3.Stir in macadamia nuts and chocolate chips.
4.Drop by rounded tablespoonsful onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 5 minutes. Switch cookie sheets (move the one on the top rack to the lower rack and the one on the lower rack to the top rack). Bake another 5-7 minutes until cookies are set.

I didn't have macadamia nuts hanging around and I don't typically put two cookies sheets in the oven at the same time so I just put one sheet of cookies in for 12 minutes.  I found it needed the full 12 but that's my oven.  I always recommend keeping a close watch on the first batch until you get an rough idea of how fast or slow they cook in your oven.  I figured the cookies were set when they didn't press down when you touched it and bounced back up.  One box of cake mix yielded around 36 cookies.

The Verdict?

Delicious! Obviously the kids were going to love them.  Unless they absolutely tasted like dried up burnt husks, there would be no complaints from the kids.  The real test is us adults.  I tend to be picky when it comes to taste, I can generally spot preservatives and odd tastes from a mile away.  Hence why I can't stand canned soup.   These cookies were very good.  So good, in fact, that two days later I was making another batch, this time for my mother for Mother's Day.  The double chocolate was the exact perfect chocolate fix.

I can't wait to try this out with a different cake mix. You can google all sorts of recipe ideas or just get creative on your own.  Apparently if you eliminate the water altogether the mix becomes more doughy and you can press it into the bottom of a cake pan and use it as a base for a bar. 

*not a sponsored post.  Purely my own creation and ideas.