Adventures In Emergency Baking
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Regular visitors to the blog might remember that I am a fan of “quick and easy” when it comes to cooking and baking. (You might try my Seven Layer Bars, my SOS, my Squared Peanut Butter Balls, my Pumpkin Pie, my Banana Cake, or my Coffee Cake, if you’re interested in quick and easy.) And if you have company unexpectedly, you might need an emergency cookie recipe. I have just the thing! As long as you keep a cake mix in your pantry, you’re all set for any cookie emergency. And did I mention that these cookies are quick and easy? Of course I did.
I will confess that these cookies are on the cake-y side…not a surprise, since they’re made with cake mix. The basic recipe is easy: 1 stick (1/2 a cup) of melted butter, two large eggs at room temperature, and the cake mix. Mix it all together (makes a dough, rather than a batter), scoop out in two Tbsp balls (I like this scoop) onto a baking sheet lined with a silicon baking sheet or baking parchment, and pat the center down a little bit. Then bake for 10-15 minutes. The cookies are done when you can touch the center and it still feels soft but no longer mushy.
Now, the fun part is the additives. When adding things to this cookie dough, be careful not to add anything that will draw moisture away from the cookies, like coconut or raisins, for example. However, you can add anything you like other than that. Chocolate chips? Of course…fabulous when mixed with chocolate cookie dough. Nuts? Well, sure, if you’re into that sort of thing.
For the cookies I baked to take pictures for the blog, I used a regular yellow cake mix. Into the base recipe, I added the zest of two lemons, along with six drops of Doterra lemon essential oil (you could substitute maybe 1/4-1/2 tsp of lemon extract), and then baked the cookies. Once they were cooled, I juiced the lemons, and added the juice a little at a time to about two cups of powdered sugar until I liked the consistency. I also added a drop of yellow food coloring because it entertained me to do so. I frosted the cookies, then sprinkled a little sweetened coconut over the top. Coconut and lemon are a surprisingly delicious combination (you could also try my Sweet Rolls recipe, which has a similar flavor profile and is also…yes, you guess it, quick and easy). To answer the obvious question, yes, I could have made lemon cookies more easily with a lemon cake mix. But I used what I already had in the pantry.
INGREDIENTS
1 box of cake mix
2 eggs at room temperature
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
Optional: desired add-ins (such as chocolate chips or nuts)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350°.
Mix all ingredients and drop onto a greased baking sheet by the spoonful. I like to use a cookie scoop that is about 2 tablespoons in quantity. Pat the center of the cookies down a little bit so they bake more evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes. The cookies are done when you can touch the center and they still feel soft but no longer mushy. Cool on a rack. Makes 12-14 cookies.
