Cake-mix cookie recipe is endlessly adaptable
3/12/2013Q: I lost a recipe for a chocolate cookie made with a devil’s food cake mix. Into the center of each ball of dough you seal a Junior Mint candy. They were absolutely delicious.
A. I don’t have that specific recipe, but I have a one-size-fits-all type of cookie recipe I’m sure can be made to work. It basically calls for a cake mix of any kind that you embellish to suit. You can add nuts, candy, chocolate or other flavor chips, dried fruit — the list is endless. You can also make a quick cookie with just a confectioners’ sugar sprinkle.
Some combinations I’ve seen include devil’s food or white cake mix with chocolate chips and chopped nuts, white cake mix and granola or trail mix, red velvet and M&Ms, German chocolate cake mix with pecans and caramel, spice cake with nuts and raisins, cherry cake mix with chocolate chips and/or dried cherries, strawberry cake mix with mini chocolate chips and a chocolate frosting, and devil’s food and peanut butter chips.
Design-To-Suit Cake Mix Cookies
1 box of cake mix (any flavor)
1 egg
¼ cup vegetable oil
Up to 1 cup of chopped nuts, candy, chips, raisins, oatmeal, coconut, and/or sprinkles
Heat oven to 350°. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease thoroughly.
Combine the dry cake mix, egg, oil, and ¼ cup water until well blended. Some mixes may need just a teaspoon or so more of water to make a dough that sticks together.
At this point you can either make plain cookies (drop by rounded teaspoonful onto prepared cookie sheets), fold in the cup of other ingredients and then drop onto the cookie sheets, or roll dough into 1-inch balls and insert a candy (Rolo, Junior Mint, etc) or a whole nut or maraschino cherry or the like. In each case, leave about 2 inches between cookies.
Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, or until cookies are no longer shiny. (I would start checking at 8 minutes, since some candies may add so much sugar the dough will more easily burn.)
Yield: About four dozen cookies.
Per cookie: 70 calories (47 percent from fat), 3.8 g fat (0.5 g saturated, 1g monounsaturated), 3.9 mg cholesterol, 1 g protein, 8.8 g carbohydrates, 0.5 g fiber, 98 mg sodium.