The stay-at-home order intended to help flatten the coronavirus curve may inadvertently result in some of us seeing our bellies get rounder. Exercise as we might, we’re still mostly at home, with ice cream, chips and salsa, and stashes of other snacks to occupy our time when we’re bored, anxious or annoyed.
Yes, there are other ways to let off steam or entertain ourselves during this time of social distancing, but, you know what? We deserve a cookie right now.
I was inspired to make this week’s recipe after having spotted a box of cake mix that had been in my pantry for months. My mother-in-law had bought it during an extended visit to Atlanta last year. She planned to make it for her deprived son whose wife never bakes him cakes.
It dawned on me that I had a recipe for cake mix cookies. It was given to me when I was 15 years old by an older lady who jump-started my recipe-clipping habit. Nancy Mueller passed away some years ago, but when we worked together at my first job, she’d often write down her favorite recipes for me. Many of them were cookies, her favorite thing to bake.
Nancy’s cake mix cookie recipe takes up an entire sheet of paper. She outlines the basic formula — 1 package dry cake mix, 2 eggs and 1/3 cup oil when using moist cake mix but 1/2 cup oil if using plain cake mix.
“We’ve had a lot of fun experimenting with the different cake mixes,” she writes in perfect penmanship. She lists numerous versions, including: Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix with 2 eggs and 1/2 cup oil; Pillsbury Plus White Cake with 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries, 1/2 cup chopped pecans and a few drops of red food coloring, if desired; and Betty Crocker Carrot Cake with 2 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, 1/3-1/2 cup raisins and cream cheese frosting.
I had walnuts and a chocolate bar, so that is the add-in combo I used. It just so happens that I baked the cookies the day that my husband celebrated his birthday. It wasn’t cake, but the birthday boy was more than happy to have two dozen sweet snacks to munch on when quarantine life with his wife is just too much.
Chocolate Chip-Walnut Cake Mix Cookies
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