Wednesday, February 21, 2007

WFMW – Cake Box Cookies


3 ingredients 3 steps – Perfect cookies every time!

I owe this wonderful tip to my mother-in-law. Sometime in my first few years of adulthood I lost the ability to bake cookies. Maybe it was the high altitude of where we were living, but my cookies started having issues after my babysitting years. When Danny and I were engaged my mil-to-be offered me a cookie from a plateful of spice cookies sitting on her table. They were the perfect chewy consistency and very tasty! I went on and on about how wonderful they were and could I PLEASE have the recipe. She looked at me like I was nuts and told me they were “Cake Box Cookies,” a term I had never heard before. Then she wrote down the recipe for me.

· One box of cake mix flavor of your choice
[Our family favorites: spice cake mix, cinnamon swirl cake mix, chocolate cake mix (not German chocolate) with chocolate chips mixed in, or lemon cake mix]

· 1 cube margarine or butter melted NOTE: That's equal to 1/2 cup.

· 1 egg (2 for cinnamon swirl cake mix) well beaten (use large or extra large eggs)

1. Mix ingredients well with electric mixer.
2. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes in a preheated 350° Fahrenheit oven.

If you do the cinnamon swirl cake mix it comes with a cinnamon-seasoning packet. Use about 1/3 to half the packet in with the cake mix and use the rest to roll the cookie dough in, kinda like Snickerdoodles. These cinnamon swirl cake mixes are often on sale at our commissary on base for 75¢ to $1.00 a box. I keep a few in my pantry for last minute refreshment requests. They are always a hit! (and they freeze well too!) Fast, successful, non-flat cookies work for me!

42 comments:

An Ordinary Mom said...

I love this idea! So easy, inexpensive and I am sure they are tasty. Thanks so much for sharing!

Staci said...

I'll have to try it. My sister and I tried to make cake mix cookies as one of the many cookies we baked for "cookie plates" to give to our neighbors at Christmas time. They turned out TERRIBLE. I think ours called for sugar... maybe that was the problem? Thanks for the recipe.

Jane said...

I have to try this! Sometimes my class size is 30 students. It takes a large recipe to make so many cookies. I bet this would do it.

Overwhelmed! said...

I've made these before...they're delicious! Thanks for the reminder.

Heather @ Marine Corps Nomads said...

These were my favorite last minute cookies in high school. I had forgotten all about them until my step-mom made some at christmas. Yum!

Joyful Days said...

Oh awesome!! I will be doing this for the weekend.

The boys will love it.

Amber said...

Oh. My. Word. How easy is that?? I love it! I'm going to have to try this right away! Thanks!

Amy said...

Mmmm...I've made these out of the Funfetti mix, but that cinnamon swirl sounds delicious!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! I am so doing these tomorrow! I have had a spice cake mix in my cupboard for, oh I don't know, a year now! I'm so excited!

Jessica Snell said...

I love this recipe (though I make it with veg. oil) - our favorite is the spice cake mix. I always pick up a couple of boxes when they go on sale for a dollar!

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica

Anonymous said...

Oh, this sounds great! I usually get cake mixes for 50 cents at a grocery outlet here, and my oldest 2 dd's love to make cookies, brownies, etc...they will enjoy this for sure! Thanks for sharing this tip!

Anne-Marie

Anonymous said...

I love this idea! I've made one batch of cake box cookies before...the funfetti kind. It was for my daughters pre-school class and they all loved them. I have a cake mix I need to use up now and I'm doing this this week! Thanks for the idea!

Homeschool Help Web said...

I just made cake mix cookies on Monday!

If you like soft cookies, add some water until they're a thinner (but still gooey) consistency. They puff up and are so soft and gooey and yummy........ Mmmmmmmmmm!!

Roswell Card Lady said...

Yumm! We also make Spice Cake muffins - take one can (15 oz.? not the huge can) of pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix), combine it with one box of Spice Cake mix, and put into lightly greased cupcake pans. Bake for whatever time and temperature your cake box specifies for cupcakes. Optional: add 6 ounces of semisweet chips. Works great as mini-muffins, too - just add mini-chips!

Makes 24 cupcake-sized muffins or 48 minimuffins!

Heather said...

This sounds wonderful! Just to clarify, by "cube of butter" do you mean like about 2 T. cut off of the stick or do you mean a whole stick (1/2 C.)? Thanks for sharing!

Martha said...

I've never heard of this! Thanks for the tip! I'm looking forward to trying it!

All Andersens said...

Wow, I will definaty have to try this out. Sounds so easy and yummy :) Oh hey I was wondering, Rach changed her blogspot, and now I can't look at her's. Can you mention it to her? Also how did you get the list of all the people on the side of your page? I am trying to make my blog spot a bit more managable with everyone. Thanks cousin :)

Crystal

Anonymous said...

Oooohhh ... sounds so yummy I want to make them RIGHT NOW! LOL!

Quick question though ... what exactly do you mean by cube of butter, a stick or a couple of tablespoons? I don't want to mess these up ... they sound way too good for that! :)

Thanks!

Nikki said...

Heather-
That's 1/2 cup of butter or 1/4 lb. Margarine is cheaper, but I like the butter taste better. And 1 full stick (so far in my experience) has been 1/2 cup. If I use a chocolate cake mix to make homemade oreo cookies, then I use canola oil instead and decrease the amount to about 1/3 cup.

Crystal-
On the template page when you're logged in to blogger, you can use HTML to add in links to the sidebar. I had a section with template I chose that said, "Links" and that I could add them there. And then I changed it from "Links" to "Blogroll." It's a lot of fun to personalize your page so it doesn't look like everyone else's. There's a wonderful site called Blogging Basics 101 that probably could tell you how. If it doesn't, you could request from them to teach you how. Their site has a ton of info on blogging. Very good, highly recommended.

And about Rachel's blog, it's private now. So get my email address from Amy, email me, and I'll send it to Rachel so she can add you. :)

Nikki said...

I don't know why the link didn't work for Blogging Basics 101. But it is on my sidebar.

Iowa Mom-
I'll add a note and specify on the recipe page, but it is 1/2 cup of butter.

Anonymous said...

Oh, that sounds wonderful! Quick, easy, simple, non-time-consuming and inexpensive. Thanks so much!

i'm erin. said...

Nikki,
These cookies sound so good, I don't know how I have gone so long without knowing how to make them. The only cake box cookies I know how to make are the chocolate pumpkin cookies and the pumpkin spice cookies...If you want the recipe send and email and I will send it to you.

GiBee said...

Sounds easy and delicious! Thanks for the recipe!

Cheri said...

OOO - I bookmarked this recipe! It sounds so much easier than other cookies, plus cake mix is always on sale here!

I can't wait to try them....
Thanks!

Rae said...

Yummy! That sounds terrific and incredibly easy. Thank you for sharing! =)

gurrbonzo said...

YUM. When you talk about homemade oreos, do you just stick two together with cream cheese frosting??? in our house, those are called pday cookies! so named bc we made them almost every pday for the last part of my mission...in fact, i may go make some right now. Your blog always makes me hungry.

Amy said...

I wish I would have had this tip last week when I had to bring a snack to my son's school :) Great tip- thank you!

amelia said...

I've had these before. Very yummy and a quick last minute treat!

Justabeachkat said...

Gotta try these for sure! The spice cake ones sound really yummy.

Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. Come back anytime.

Kara said...

Great idea! I've been wanting to make cookies all week but didn't have the stuff, by I do have all that! I might give it a try!

Nikki said...

Gurrbonzo-

Yep, two chocolate cookies with cream cheese frosting in the middle. They are so very addictive. Don't forget a gallon of milk to go with the batch of homemade oreos!

Brought to you by Her Majesty Magenta said...

Great WFMW. Like my sister Stacitee said, we tried to make cake box cookies at Christmas time, however our recipe seemed to have too many ingredients. I thought they were better than she did. I am so looking forward to trying these. Especially the oreo type!

Heather said...

Thanks for clarifying the butter thing. Thanks, too for using me for ebates! I really appreciate it!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing it. I can't wait to try them.

A Juggling Mum said...

They sound great and so so easy, thanks for the tip Nikki :)

Unknown said...

YUM! The quicker and easier I can get homemade cookies in my mouth the better!

Kacey said...

These all souond great! I have an old, old recipe for spice cake or oatmeal cake that has broiled frosting. I'm thinking that your spice cookies would be fantastic with this on top.

6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup of 1/2&1/2
1/2 cup brown sugar
Bring to a boil and add
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Spread a little on the warm cookies and broil until toasted
It is soooo good!

Lisa said...

I make these too, but I haven't in a while. Thanks for reminding me. :o) I really like to use the Butter Peacan cake mix and add a few more peacans. People can't believe that they're from a cake mix. :o)

Candace said...

Anna & I baked some cookies last night. They were yummy and soft like I like them. Thanks for the tip!!!

Nikki said...

Candace & Anna-

Yaa! I made cookies too. I did the homemade oreos from the cake mix and they were almost too tempting to share.

Don't forget to enter my limerick contest! Nikki's FaBuLoUs MaRcH cOnTeSt

KDD said...

Amazing cookies! I never would of thought to roll them in the cinnamon sugar, but that makes all the difference!

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

I've had cake mix cookies, but I've never tried making them.

Have a great day! :D

Sherry