Food Friday

I thought it might be fun to post a recipe every week. Most of these will be recipes I've tried and probably made a million times. Some might be new. There may even be stories about the recipes or some silly history behind them.

This week's recipe is Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies (or The Official "I-have-to-take-cookies-to-school-tomorrow" Cookie of the McIlwain Family) These cookies were made last Valentine's Day. The round chocolate cookies are the cake mix cookies.



1 Chocolate Cake Mix (prefereably generic)
2 eggs
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
granulated sugar or other toppings like sprinkles

Mix everything in a bowl with a large wooden spoon, or fork or whatever is handy. The main point is that you do not need to drag out a mixer to make these cookies. The dough will be very thick and greasy. Roll into balls (about walnut size) and roll in the sugar. Place on cookie sheet (about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading) and bake for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees. One box of cake mix makes about 3 dozen cookies.

They look beautiful when they are done...all crackled on top sort of like a macaroon. You could easily substitute peppermint extract or almond extract or any other flavoring for the vanilla. They are also perfect for every holiday...just use different colored sprinkles for each holiday (red & green, or orange & black). These cookies are so delicious!

If you want to know how long it takes to make 30 dozen (yes, that's 30 dozen) of these wonderful cookies, just ask our son, Christian. He knows all about it! You see, he was grounded, but desperately wanted to go see the latest Harry Potter movie. The church desperately needed 30 dozen cookies for its Christmas cookie trays. It was a perfect match. Everyone was happy...right Christian?? He still has a bit of a twitch if you ask him to bake anything. A Saturday afternoon spent "8-10 minutes" at a time is bound to leave an impression!