ME WANT COOKIE:
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a hankering for cookies.
I didn’t want to bake cookies from scratch and I didn’t want to rely on my friend Nestle Tollhouse (Yes, I need you to read it like Phoebe Buffay would).
After checking out so many (and I mean soooo many) recipes online I was like
Hey… Maybe I can bake cookies from a box of cake mix…
From all my research, I had surmised that, at a bare minimum, I needed to add 1-2 eggs & 1/4-1/2 cup of either oil or butter.
But what about after that?
I wanted these cookies to taste good.
Yes, I wanted the real deal… but not too sweet.
I read about adding instant pudding mix, but I was more interested in adding a cup of readymade pudding (mostly because it was already in my fridge). Yes, I know, as evidenced by the picture, it was sugar free, but beggar’s can’t be choosers.
So Anyways…
Being the Curious George I am, I thought to myself, ‘Challenge Accepted!‘
I realised that since every quantity of cake mix is different (aka the companies have starting giving people less bang for their buck… Don’t get me started on Corporate America…) I would have to wing the recipe to a certain degree.
I know… ‘Uh oh’.
Thus, the following section will be the story of all the things that went wrong when trying to attempt these ‘easy bake’ cookies. However, feel free to skip a section to just get the recipe and the materials needed.
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WHAT YOU SHOULD PROBABLY NOT DO:
So I started out dumping the cake mix into a large bowl. Then I dumped about 3/4 of the cup of pudding in. I picked up a whisk. This is where my trouble began. Use a wooden spoon ladies and gentleman… Trust me.
This caused me so much grief. I followed by adding a couple drops more than 1/4 cup of canola oil. And then I pre-whisked an egg and added it. I was having way too much trouble trying to transfer the dough back and forth from my tablespoon to my whisk. I even pulled at a prong of the whisk and had to reassemble it. Shhh don’t tell my mommy. Anyways I ended up resorting to wo-manhandling the dough with my bare hands. Don’t worry I washed them in between every step… You’re not the only germaphobe. Think atta gunding for roti making (English translation: kneading the dough).
Next, I meant to add a teaspoon of vanilla and ended up dropping an indiscriminate amount into the bowl. Oh well…
Then, I added some chocolate chips and mixed.
Refrigerate for 20 min (to make easier to work with)
And that’s when I noticed the box with a cookie recipe on it… SAY WHAAAAAA?!?!?
It even tells you to use a wooden spoon. The recipe is different and has a different temperature recommendation than many of the sites online (which usually recommend 350 degrees). So I ended up settling for the 360. I know… Clever.
After I pulled out the cold dough, I decided that I wanted to sprinkle some dark brown sugar on the cookies cause hey why not…
So I attempted making shapes.
First, I just scooped out globs covering my tablespoon and then started flattening them.
Then I decided… Nah, probably too big. Next, I made squares akin to the ‘ready to bake’ Nestle Tollhouse cookies.
Finally, I decided to scoop out half a tablespoon, roll them into little balls and flatten by making a pound sign with my fingers.
Luckily they weren’t sticky. Why?
Because they were refrigerated.
Last but not least, I sprinkled some dark brown sugar on top and BAM!
Done Son!
Although I kinda ended up baking them too close together... Oops.
They smelled like brownies though…
And they tasted like them too. 🙂
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RECIPE: BOXED CAKE BROWNIES (shaped like cookies)
Materials:
- Box of cake mix (I used a chocolatey one that was 16.5 oz)
- 1 Egg
- 3/4 cup readymade pudding (I used a sugar free chocolate one made by Jello)
- 1/4 cup + 1 tsp oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Handful of semisweet chocolate chips
- Handful of brown sugar
- Large Bowl
- Wooden Spoon
- Tablespoon
- 3 baking trays
- Wax paper
- Plastic wrap
- Oven
- Refrigerator
Directions:
- Add the egg, pudding, and vanilla extra to the large bowl keep stirring until properly mixed.
- Slowly add the cake mix to start creating dough. Don’t stop stirring until all the mix has become dough.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix well.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. This will ensure the dough is easier to work with.
- Preheat oven at 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare baking trays with sheets of wax paper to allow for easy clean up afterwards.
- Pull out the chilled dough. Scoop out about heaping half tablespoon, roll into a ball & flatten by imprinting a hashtag with two fingers. Repeat this process to create between 25-30 cookies.
- Make sure the cookies are evenly spaced so you don’t get smushy sides like in the picture above.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes. Among other things, bake time will depend on the altitude of your location and the strength of your oven. So just watch after the 8 minute mark, for nice brown edges.
- Once you remove the tray, let the boxed cake brownie/cookie thing cool for about a minute. And Voila! HAPPY MUNCHING!!! 🙂
Lost in Transformation 