Tag Archives: 101 things to do with cake mix

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut

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“Pride and Prejudice.”

A cup of hot cocoa.

Chocolate chip cookies.

Pink plaid, fur-lined moccasins.

Some days you just want the classics.

It’s going be one of those weeks, and coupled with the fact  it’s cold outside (oh, the fickle heart of April), it’s time to heat up the oven. After rummaging through my cabinets and examining my taste buds, it all came down to the leftovers – milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips, and of course, coconut. These cookies have a slightly soft center with crunchy and chewy edges.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut

(Original recipe from 101 Things to do with a Cake Mix)

Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1/2 C butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 C milk chocolate chips
1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 C flaked coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the eggs, vanilla and butter. Add in half of the cake mix.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips and coconut, making sure that all areas of the batter are reached.
4. Add in the rest of the cake mix. The dough will be stiff and chocolate chips might come loose.
5. Roll one tablespoonful of dough into a ball. This will secure the chocolate chips in the cookie and ensure perfectly round cookies. Bake for 11 minutes. The bottoms will be evenly browned.
6. Cool on tray for one minute before removing to a cooling rack.

Makes three dozen cookies.

Chocolate Butterscotch Walnut Cookies and a fond farewell

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Dear Bakers Anonymous family, Monday was a sad day for me. After nearly two years of close companionship with my teddy bear hamster, Butterscotch, I had to put my little pet down due to medical reasons. I’m still in recovery mode, so I did the one thing I know how to do best in times of crisis – bake. In honor of my lost buddy, I made these chocolate butterscotch walnut cookies, using the chocolate butterscotch-chip cookie recipe from 101 Things to do With a Cake Mix, a book I finally purchased. As much as I miss my hamster, I’m happy that she’s out of pain and off in Hammie Heaven.

Chocolate Butterscotch Walnut Cookies

Ingredients:
1 box of chocolate cake mix (I used Pillsbury’s dark chocolate mix)
2 eggs
One-third cup of all-natural applesauce (I used applesauce instead of vegetable oil. Cut out the bad stuff when you can!  One 4 oz container of Musselman’s all-natural applesauce is about a one-third cup)
One and a half cups of butterscotch chips
1 C of chopped and halved walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil.
2. Mix together the eggs and the applesauce. Stir in the box of cake mix, a little bit at a time. The dough will be slightly stiff and sticky.
3. Add in the butterscotch chips, making sure to incorporate them to every part of the batter.
4. Drop the dough  by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the lined cookie sheet. The dough will not spread much, but it will puff up.
5. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. Allow to cool for 30 seconds to one minute on the cookie sheet before removing to cooling racks. They might stick to the foil a little bit. Make sure you use a plastic pancake turner.

This recipe will make two and a half dozen cakey, light and butterscotch-y, delicious cookies, depending on how much dough you use for each drop.

Birthday Brownies!

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BrownieI was sitting in my apartment yesterday, wondering what do for my friend’s birthday today. Cake and cupcakes seemed cliché and I’d just made a batch of cookies (and already eaten most of them . . .). There was only one solution.

Brownies.

As I thought more about it, brownies made more and more sense! Ihave yet to make them, they’re similar to cake, and they require no forks. Perfection.

My boyfriend likes these, but I wasn’t very fond of the bottoms. I think I might have sprayed to much PAM in the pan before I baked them. It’s understandable in my case considering I’m always scared things will stick, be ruined, I’ll cry, there will be much drama, etc. etc. etc. Turns out it doesn’t even matter. The birthday boy loved them

I wish I’d had my camera when he showed up in his birthday hat. It was, in one word, amazing.

Simple Chocolate Brownies

(from 101 things to do with Cake Mix)

Ingredients:

1 box of chocolate cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 C vegetable oil

1 C mini chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix all the wet ingredients together. This will ensure the eggs are incorporated properly.

2. Add the cake mix. Dough will be stiff.

3. Push dough into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Sprinkle dough with mini chocolate chips.

4. Put in the oven for 12 to 16 minutes or until desired consistency.

Strawberry frostedI spread the melted chocolate chips out after the brownies had cooled a bit and then sprinkled more chocolate chips on top.

As you can see, I frosted my brownies with leftover strawberry frosting from my shortbread cookies. It’s delicious, what can I say?

Peppermint chocolate chip cookies

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Candy CanesI save my candy canes for as long as possible. I buy in massive quantities from my nearest Dollar Tree because, for some reason, candy canes are not on sale throughout the year. That’s why I end up with boxes of leftover holiday treats in my cabinet, waiting for me to remember them. And they’re exactly what I needed for my latest recipe.

I adapted my delicious peppermint chocolate chip cookies from a chocolate chip cookie recipe found in the latest cookbook love of my life, “101 Things to do with a Cake Mix” by Stephanie Ashcraft. While the book is over six years-old, I still drool over the simplicity of making cookies with cake mix.

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookie doughIngredients:

1 yellow cake mix

1/2 C butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

2/3 C chocolate chips

1/2 C crushed peppermint candies (or candy canes!) NOTE: Pieces can be whatever size you want!

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together your wet ingredients first, then add half the cake batter. Mix until smooth.

3. Stir in the chocolate chips, peppermint pieces. Then add the rest of the cake batter until completely absorbed.

Peppermint chocolate chip cookies4. Drop by the tablespoonfull onto greased or lined cookie sheets. It is necessary to line them because the sugar from the candy pieces will melt and spread underneath the cookie. Also, make sure that you use only a tablespoon of dough! These cookies spread easily, so put only about six to a pan, staggered.

5. Bake the cookies for 14 minutes, or until a lovely golden brown on top. Let them cool on the pan a minute before gently removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 2 – 3 dozen cookies.

My cookies never come out perfectly round, but that's okay!

My cookies never come out perfectly round, but that's okay!