Easy treat: Cake Mix Cookies

All this week, my sons are helping me de-clutter our house. We're up to our ears in stuff--some trash, mostly good stuff--but all stuff that we don't use anymore. My husband has finally convinced us that "stuff we don't use anymore" is better called "clutter." So we are trying to make huge de-cluttering headway. Our closets and cupboards are looking so nice. And it will be so much easier to clean up the house after all this clutter is gone.

But it's a lot of work. So yesterday, as a little reward and a bit of a pick-me-up, I stopped and made a treat. It needed to be a quick treat, though, so I made some cake mix cookies. Do you make cookies from cake mixes? If not, believe me: you should try this. I'm not an awesome cook, but I am a good baker, and I love to make cookies from scratch. But these are so fast you'll hardly believe it. I turned on the oven, mixed up the dough, and then had to wait for the oven to finish pre-heating. I'm telling you: fast.

The recipe is simple. It's a formula: 

1 cake mix

+

1/2 cup oil or butter

+

2 eggs

+

 whatever add-ins you want to try

Yesterday I made yummy sugar cookies using a Pillsbury "Funfetti" cake mix, oil, and eggs. I simply rolled each spoon of dough into a little ball, plopped them on a cookie sheet, and baked at 350 degrees for about 9 minutes. They're delicious and really pretty:

Here are some other variations that we love:

• Double Chocolate: devil's food cake mix, oil, eggs, + chocolate chips
• German Chocolate: German chocolate cake mix, butter, eggs, + coconut and chopped pecans
• Butter Toffee: butter recipe yellow cake mix, butter, eggs, + Bits o' Brickle and chopped pecans

These are all scrumptious. A few bits of advice. 

 First, DO NOT OVERBAKE these cookies. Remove them from the oven just when they're starting to look done; don't let them get brown. Allow them to sit on their cookie sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. They'll continue to cook a bit without getting overdone. 

Second, use an ungreased cookie sheet for baking most of these cookies. For the butter toffee ones, use parchment paper. 

Third, don't be afraid to try new combinations. I've used every different brand of cake mix with equally pleasing results--I just buy whatever is on sale. 

And last, don't forget to let your kids eat some of the dough. No matter how old they get. Eating cookie dough is one of those treats that kids just don't outgrow.

Enjoy!