THINGS TO DO
Incredible Edible Gifts! By Elizabeth Morse Read
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or those of us who are culinarilychallenged, the prospect of making holiday cookies can be daunting – was that baking powder or baking soda I was supposed to use? What do I do with all those tiny containers and bottles of exotic ingredients for the rest of the year? (Trust me – once you master baking these cookies, you’ll be making them year-round, not just at holiday time!) Here’s the ultimate foolproof baking hack – cake-mix cookies! They are way easier to make than cookies from scratch and they produce soft moist cookies that look and taste like they came from the bakery. And while you may not be able to be there-in-the-flesh at your family’s holiday gatherings this year, your thoughtful gift of a box of homemade cookies will be a big hit!
Cake-Mix Cookies Basics
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Select two cookie trays that will fit side-by-side on one oven rack, rather than on separate racks – that way you won’t have to rotate the trays half-way through. (Opening the oven door will screw up the cooking time
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and could result in burnt-on-the-bottom or dried-out cookies.) In a large mixing bowl, whisk your favorite flavored 14.25 oz. cake mix with your selected dry add-ins like cocoa powder or spices, then use a stiff spoon to mix in two whisked large eggs and 1/3 cup vegetable
They are way easier to make than cookies from scratch and they produce soft moist cookies that look and taste like they came from the bakery oil and your selected wet add-ins like flavored extract or syrups. Once it’s all blended thoroughly, add in ½-1 cup of any extra dry ingredients – chopped nuts, flavored morsel chips, raisins/chopped dried fruit, flaked coconut, etc. Let dough
December 2020 | The South Coast Insider
cool in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to make it less sticky and easier to scoop. If you’re planning on coating your cookie dough with dry powdery ingredients like cinnamon sugar, confectioner’s sugar, finely crushed nuts, flaked coconut, or cocoa, add ½ cup to a small mixing bowl. Crush any lumps with a fork. Using a 1 ½ teaspoon cookie scoop, drop a small, rounded scoop of the dough into the powdered coating and shake it a bit to cover thoroughly. Place the dough scoop on ungreased cookie trays lined with parchment paper (tip: buy pre-cut sheets online!). Leave about two inches between each scoop, as cookies will spread and flatten as they bake. Bake for exactly ten minutes; remove trays from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before using a thin spatula to transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack. Each of the following recipes makes about 20 cookies. Keep in an air-tight container on the countertop for three days or up to a week in the refrigerator – or freeze the batch on a cookie tray for 30 minutes, then put them in a freezer bag or plastic container for up to three months. If you’ll be dropping off a batch of one
