Frugal Foodie Mama: Search results for cake mix cookies

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Small Batch Spice Thumbprint Cookies

These thick & soft Small Batch Spice Thumbprint Cookies are perfect for when you have a craving for a fall inspired treat, but don't want to bake up an entire batch of cookies...

Confession: I absolutely love me some cake mix cookies. Fact: If I make an entire box of cake mix cookies, I will end up eating almost all of them by myself, you all. No joke.

My solution to this little dilemma is to only to use half of the box of cake mix & make myself a small batch of cake mix cookies. I can always tuck away the other half of the mix to bake up another small batch later on or to use in another recipe altogether.

A couple of weeks ago as I was getting myself into full-on fall mode, I had a craving for some thick & soft spiced cookies. I happened to have half of a box of spice cake mix in the cabinet, so it was a no-brainer to whip myself up a batch of fall inspired cake mix cookies using that. I had happened to use the other half of that mix in these soft & fluffy Banana Spice Streusel Muffins I baked up earlier in the month.

Peanut Butter Oreo Cake Mix Cookies

These easy to make peanut butter cookies start with a cake mix and are loaded with chunks of chopped Oreos...

So, we are on like what? Day #1,525,123 of the stay at home/quarantine life now? And yes, like everyone else I am starting to feel a little restless and antsy & long for some of the normalcy from my life pre-virus...

For one, I miss my gym workouts something fierce, you all. Specifically, cardio machines like my beloved elliptical and stair climber.

Yeah, I know I could go out and run, but A. I kind of hate running and B. Mother Nature hasn't really been cooperating weather-wise. I mean, one day it is sunny and in the 60's and the very next day it is flipping snow here. Or it is raining. Or just plain cold.

I also miss getting my hair cut. And since I went much shorter with my hair in the fall, I had been stopping in to see my stylist about once every 3 weeks before all of this went down. I made the decision a few weeks ago to just go with it and started growing it out.

My hair is presently in that super awkward stage of having ducky feathers and sticking out in weird places, so I am super thankful for my stretchy, wide headbands right now. And baseball caps.

And the fact that I can't go out socially (because no one wants to witness this, lol). But hey- what better time to decide to grow it out than now?

10 Out of the Box Cake Mix Cookie Recipes

Transform your favorite boxed cake mix into a batch of soft & chewy cookies with these 10 Out of the Box Cake Mix Cookie Recipes...

It is no secret that I have a love affair with using boxed cake mixes in my baking. I like to doctor them up to use in my semi-homemade cake recipes, like my Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake & my perfect for spring Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Curd Buttercream.

I am also a fan of using my favorite cake mixes to bake up a batch of sweet rolls or my moist & fluffy Banana Spice Streusel Muffins on a weekend morning. There is absolutely no shame in my store-bought cake mix game, you all. ;)

But perhaps one of my favorite things to use boxed cake mix in is cookie recipes. You can transform just about any flavor of cake mix into a batch of perfectly baked, soft & chewy cookies.

And there is no need to waste your time with measuring flour, and baking soda, and sugar. The cake mix has done all the hard work for you!

Since I can't get enough of cake mix cookies, I decided to visit some of my favorite food blogs to find some of the most creative, out-of-the-box (I know.... punny, right? ;) ) cookie recipes made from a cake mix.

Whether you are a chocolate addict, a strawberry lover, or are into more traditional cookie flavors, you are sure to find the perfect cake batter cookie for you in this collection of easy recipes I am sharing with you all today...

Rainbow Sprinkle-fetti Cookies

Soft & thick cake mix cookies are loaded up with rainbow sprinkles & then topped with a perfect buttercream frosting in these Rainbow Sprinkle-fetti Cookies...

As some of you all may recall, my daughter turned four last month. (Yes, hold me. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up!)

Her birthday happened to fall on one of the days of the week that she attends preschool, so I asked her if she would like to bring in a special treat to share with her friends at school that day. Of course, she was absolutely ecstatic about it.

And to be perfectly honest, I was pretty excited about baking up a fun sweet treat for her classmates as well. ;)

You see, my son is an August baby. And his actual birthday is always towards the end of summer break, so I never really got to bake anything for him to take to school and share with his class.

When I asked Little Miss what she wanted me to make for her class for her birthday, she had just two requirements- she wanted cookies and she wanted pink frosting on them. Okay. That was something I could definitely handle. :)

Cake mix cookies happen to be one of my favorite cookies to bake. They are soft & thick, taste like cake, and happen to be crazy easy to make.

So, I took a basic cake mix cookie dough and loaded it up with LOTS of rainbow sprinkles (because you can never have too many rainbow sprinkles!). Then I topped each of these cookies with a perfect pink buttercream and even more rainbow sprinkles.

Let's just say that these Rainbow Sprinkle-fetti Cookies were a HUGE hit with her preschool friends and teachers...

Cake Mix Strawberry Shortcakes

These easy-to-make Strawberry Shortcakes start with one of my favorite time-saving baking hacks- a boxed cake mix!

While I tend to make most of my recipes from scratch, I have also posted my fair share of recipes using one of my absolute favorite baking hacks- a simple boxed cake mix. I know that some people might consider using a boxed cake mix as "cheating", but I personally just find it to be a convenient shortcut that comes in handy if you are short on time or happen to not be the best at baking.

For the most part, a boxed cake mix takes the guesswork out of making sure you have the right amount of flour, baking soda or baking powder (or both), salt, etc. And bonus? Cake mixes come in so many different varieties and flavors that they can easily be adapted to just about any recipe you would like to make!

I have used boxed cake mixes in everything from actual cakes (see my secret for making a boxed cake mix taste better than the bakery HERE) to pancakes and even cookies and muffins.

But today's recipe was my first time making a shortcake from a cake mix...

Blue Velvet & Raspberry Buttercream Cookiewiches

A fresh raspberry buttercream is sandwiched between two soft & chewy blue velvet cake mix cookies in these perfectly patriotic Blue Velvet & Raspberry Buttercream Cookiewiches...

My luck with bringing patriotic recipe ideas to fruition hasn't been very good in the past couple of years.

Until today, I literally had one- just one- 4th of July themed recipe on the blog.

My Red, White, & Berry Cupcakes are fun & absolutely delicious, but you will have to excuse the photos if you click over to take a peek at them.

But after those cupcakes, my red, white, & blue recipe mojo went kaput.

Some of you all may recall the Patriotic Pie Fail from last summer. It looked amazing and like a real winner before I cut into it... but after I cut into? One big delicious, goopy mess.

And I was about to give up on this Fourth of July as well. Two recipe fails in a row this month- one was a burnt tart and the other was cake bars that refused to bake all the way through and set up.

(If you happen to follow me on Instagram, you were probably a firsthand witness to those recipe flops of mine.) I was about to throw the towel in and finally accept my fate that I was not meant to publish another patriotic inspired recipe ever again on the blog.

But then inspiration struck...

I spied Duncan Hines Blue Velvet Cake Mix on the grocery store shelf... and then my mind wandered to the White Chocolate Peeps Cookiewiches I made in April... and BOOM! :)

Why not make cookiewiches with blue velvet cookies?

And sure, I could have just made a plain ole buttercream and colored it red and called it a day, but what fun is that? ;)

So instead, I sandwiched a sweet & tart fresh raspberry buttercream between the cookies.

And whoa! Just whoa, folks...

Bacon & Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Super soft & thick pudding cookies are jam-packed with crispy bacon, crunchy pretzels, and chocolate chips in these Bacon & Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Ready for more bacon for dessert action?

If the Candied Bacon S'mores Pizza recipe I posted yesterday didn't convince you of the merits of having a little bacon for dessert, then these Bacon & Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies certainly will! ;)

The secret to these cookies being so soft and thick? Cake mix and pudding mix, folks.

Some call it cheating. I call it genius.

And then when you throw in some gooey chocolate chips, salty bacon, and crunchy pretzel pieces?

Irresistible!

These cookies pair perfectly with a cold glass of milk.... or maybe a good beer. ;)

Cookie Butter Pecan Bars {The Leftovers Club}

I will admit it. I am a full-on cookie butter addict. I spread it on granola bars, dip pretzels in it, and just eat it by the spoonful straight out of the jar. I knew it wouldn't be long before I was baking with it.

The inspiration for my Butter Pecan Cookie Butter Bars came to me when I was visiting the Wine and Glue blog and came across Lisa's recipe for Sugar Cookie Cookie Butter Bars. I am not going to lie- I REALLY wanted to make her cookie bar recipe, but I was feeling lazy and was short on butter for her recipe. So, I improvised! ;)

I had a box of Butter Pecan cake mix that had been sitting in my pantry for a few months now. Honestly, I had no clue why I even bought it. But it had been sitting there on my shelf for months staring at me, begging me to just do something with it. I figured cookie butter and butter pecan would go well together, so why not make some cookie bars combining the two flavors? (And finally get rid of that box of cake mix already! ;) )

And so I did and the results were ah-mazing! In fact when I was paired up with my April partner for The Leftovers Club, I knew I had to make a batch of these cookie bars again to send to Daphne of Go Gastronomy.

What you will need:

1 box of butter pecan cake mix

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional- I did not add pecans to either one of my batches of the cookie bars, but I plan to for my next batch.)

For the cookie butter layer:

1 stick of butter

1 cup of cookie butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 x 11.5 baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Dump the cake mix into a large mixing bowl. In your microwave, melt the 1/2 cup butter in a microwave safe bowl. Pour the melted butter over the cake mix and add the egg. Mix well. Fold in the chopped pecans if you decided to add them.

Press the butter pecan dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until the cookie layer is lightly golden brown.

Let it cool completely (pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes to speed up the process if you are impatient like me).

Once the cookie layer is cooled, whip up the cookie butter layer. Place the stick of butter in a medium sized microwave safe bowl. Nuke it for about 30 seconds. Add the cookie butter and microwave for another 30 seconds. Whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth.

Spread the cookie butter mixture evenly over top of the cooled butter pecan cookie layer.

Pop in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes until the cookie butter layer sets up.

I cut the cookie bars as needed, and left the entire pan wrapped tightly with plastic wrap at room temperature. You can refrigerate them if you would like, but be sure to let them come to room temperature before cutting or the cookie butter layer will break up.

I am not going to lie... I probably ate 80% of both of the batches of these Cookie Butter Pecan Bars that I made. They are addicting. And they were staring me in the face.

All day.

Every day.

Just sitting out on that kitchen counter beckoning me to cut off just one more tiny piece.

Note: All those tiny pieces add up to one huge hunk by the end of the day.... just saying. ;)

So I was more than happy to send a few bars Daphne's way for this month's The Leftovers Club swap.

Cookie Butter Pecan Bars

by Frugal Foodie Mama

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients (12-16 bars)

For the cookie bar layer

1 box of butter pecan cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

For the cookie butter layer

1 stick of butter
1 cup of cookie butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 x 11.5 baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Press the butter pecan dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until the cookie layer is lightly golden brown.

Let it cool completely (pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes to speed up the process if you are impatient like me).

Spread the cookie butter mixture evenly over top of the cooled butter pecan cookie layer.

Pop in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes until the cookie butter layer sets up.

If you are a lover of cookie butter like me, make sure to check out my recipe for...