Cake Mix Cookie Fun

All in all I like cookies - they're the easy grab and go treat that's easy to eat any time. And no dirty dishes after you eat them either :) Ok - unless you put them on a plate and go sit and eat several... but even then the plate just needs a simple rinse.

Anyways, there are all sorts of cookies - the possibilities are truly endless... but today, I'm talking about cake mix cookies :) Cake mixes come in several flavors and make an incredibly easy cookie... not to mention you can always add things to spruce up your cookies... and the one big plus of cake mix cookies -- they're always soft and yummy! I don't know about you, but I love a good soft cookie! Especially fresh out of the oven :) And when they're still soft and moist after they've cooled. I've found come cookies I love fresh, but after they've cooled a day they seem a bit harder and I'm not always in the mood for that... and I'm always in the mood for soft cookies :)

I've got my own twist on two types of cake mix cookies for you today :)

The basic cake cookie can be made with 3 ingredients:

1     Box    Cake Mix
2     Eggs
1/3  Cup    Vegetable Oil

Now you can change this, like swap 2 cups of whipped cream topping for the oil to make extra chewy cookies. Or use apple sauce to make it healthier... or add oats and other stuff to make oat cookies.... nuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pumpkin, etc... again - endless possibilities really.

So the first one I did was a simple strawberry cookie with a twist...

Strawberry Cookie Bliss

1       Box         Strawberry Cake Mix
2       Lg           Eggs
1/3    Cup         Vegetable Oil
                         Powdered Sugar
                         Water
                         Dehydrated Strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a spoon, mix together cake mix, eggs, and oil in a large bowl.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place, about an inch apart, onto a greased cookie sheet or baking mat.

Bake for 8 - 11 minutes. If your cookies are slightly golden on top - they're over cooked and will dry out as they cool. Basically you want the bottoms to be lightly golden but you can only see that by lifting the cookie... 9 minutes was practically perfect for me, but I realize all ovens vary.

Place cookies on cooling rack to cool and refill cookie sheet until all cookies are baked (I got two cookie sheets of cookies).

Once they were cool I made a simple glaze. This I didn't write out when I did it so unfortunately I do not recall the exact measurements.... so this part is an approximation. Well, except for the strawberries which I luckily had a photo of :)

1/4    Cup    Dehydrated Strawberries, blended and turned into strawberry powder
1/2    Cup    Powdered Sugar
1-2    Tbl     Water

Mix all these together in a small bowl - I did it in a sandwich bag but it was hard to mix together and it goes much easier in a bowl.

You want just enough water to make it a light paste like texture. You still want it semi thick - so paste like. But you want it thin enough to be able to easily drizzle it over the top of your cookies.

Put mixture in a small sandwich bag and cut out one of the corners to pipe on the icing. You can drizzle it or spread it lightly across the top of the whole cookie. Or you can leave it in the bowl and actually dip your cookies into it too.

*the icing gets a little lighter once it dries*

<sorry - no photos taken of the icing later>

You don't have to add the strawberry powder, but I think it adds a great extra kick of strawberry flavor.

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

1       Box         Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix

2       Lg           Eggs

1/3    Cup         Vegetable Oil

                         Mint Brownie Ice Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

With a spoon, mix together cake mix, eggs, and oil in a large bowl. 

Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place, about two inches apart, onto a greased cookie sheet or baking mat. Lightly press down on the ball with the palm of your hand to flatten it out just a little bit. 

Bake for 8 - 11 minutes. With chocolate cookies you can't look for that little bit of golden color. I looked at the tops to see if it still looked too doughy - I took them out right around 8 minutes.

Place cookies on cooling rack to cool and refill cookie sheet until all cookies are baked (I got two cookie sheets of cookies). 

Once cookies are cool, let your ice cream soften just a bit so it's easy to work with. Place a scoop of ice cream on your bottom cookie and then lightly press together with the top cookie. You can use a butter knife or small spatula to smooth out the sides if wanted too. 

Then you can wrap each individually in plastic (optional depending on how long they'll last really) and store in an airtight container in  the freezer. 

You'll want to freeze them for at least 10 minutes after you've made them to let them solidify. If you don't the ice cream is still soft (since you let it soften before making the sandwiches so it's only softer now) and when you bite down will just squish right out... yes - I learned this from experience because I just couldn't wait to try them :) They're still yummy - just a bit messier :)

If you don't like mint ice cream you may want something else. But the brownie chunks in the ice cream, if you ask me, really took these ice cream sandwiches to the next level :) Soft chocolate cookies (are still semi soft after freezing) and the brownie chunks in the ice cream make it seem like there's small pieces of chocolate cookies in the middle - or bigger brownies for the sandwich part... granted it is more cake like than brownie (understandably). 

Both of these were really good! I gave the first to a friend (after eating at least 5 of them - if they'd have stayed in the house much longer I would've needed to make a new batch), and the second - even with the ice cream centers making them more than just simple cookie snacks - didn't last more than a few days. 

So if you're craving a simple dessert - cake mix cookies are a simple and quick solution... not to mention - you have so many options that you can always change them up and keep from getting bored of the same old cookies :)