Friday, 16 March 2012

• Why I Might Never Bake Cookies From Scratch Again

  Okay, that's an awfully bold statement.  Let me explain:

  

  I have made dozens of cookie recipes over the past few years.  Although my favorite is still the classic chocolate chip cookie (crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside), I've sampled recipes for oatmeal raisin cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, etc etc.  I'll bake cookies for occasions, for whenever I stay at someone's house, or whenever the mood hits me. And unless the recipe was truly difficult or time consuming, I've always reached the same result: nodding my head thoughtfully and muttering "Hmm...not bad!" under my breath.

  For me, the problem has always been the work-to-deliciousness ratio.  This ratio, quite plainly, is the relationship between how long I spend assembling the ingredients and how badly the end result makes me want to just dive into the cookie right then and there because it's just oh, so good.  I'm positive you know what I'm talking about.  I'm sure there are plenty of easy, delicious recipes out there, but what I was looking for was a recipe that called for few ingredients, required little to no carefully measured powders or liquids, and produced very limited mess. That way, I could make cookies whenever I wanted without worrying about whether or not I had the ingredients, time, and willpower to do so.  And I had never found said recipe.

  Until now.  A friend let me in on her secret, and since then, I've never made another cookie from scratch. 

  CAKE MIX.

  

  Try it.  (You can find other great cake mix recipes here).

  Here are the benefits to making cake mix cookies:

  1. You drastically cut down on the amount of ingredients
  2. These cookies stay soft for much longer than many of the recipes I've tried.  Remember earlier, when I said my favorite cookies were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside? These cookies CREATED that concept.  And they stay soft for several days!
  3. I've been able to use essentially the same recipe to make several different versions. 

  What You Need:

  -1 box of cake mix
  -2 eggs
  -1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of oil (I usually start with 1/3 cup and add a little more if it's too dry)
  -whatever toppings you want!

  Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.

  

  I highly recommend making snickerdoodles (they look just like these homemade ones!).  I make them by using a box of yellow or white cake mix and rolling the dough in sugar and cinnamon (I use about 1/2 cup of sugar and 1.5 tablespoons of cinnamon, but feel free to adjust).

  My most well-received combination (my friends kindly volunteer to be taste testers) was chocolate cake mix with peanut butter chips mixed in.  I'm drooling just thinking about them...maybe I should make more now?

  Anyways, as you can see, not only is this recipe super simple, but the fact that it only requires three ingredients (and whatever you have on hand) means I bake cookies way more frequently than before.  There's almost no mess to clean up, and the possibilities are endless!

  And that, my friends, is why I might never make a regular cookie from scratch again.
  
  Have you ever made cookies with a box of cake mix?  Or do you have a standby recipe that is easy and delicious?

  • 6:45 PM
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