Easy baking: Cake mix cookies

Cake mix cookies are the absolute best. They really don't take long to make, so they're great for that potluck you forgot, or for the daycare party that snuck up on you. A bonus: one box makes a bunch of cookies, and cake mix keeps for a fair amount of time, so you can stock up on sales and make a batch for about a dollar. Here I have two different types: lemon and red velvet. Make sure you wash your baking bowl as soon as you can with the red velvet, or the red will stain everything. I recommend a stainless steel baking bowl because they're easy to wash.

First, we'll go over the lemon cookies. I can never seem to get the 'spoon sized dollops' right so mine end up a bit on the bigger side. You'll need:

• A box of lemon cake mix. Whatever was on sale will work.
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• powdered sugar or sprinkles
• A small cup of water or flour

          So: Throw the cake mix, eggs, and oil in a bowl and mix. This gets sticky, so keep your bowl of water handy so you can dip your spoon or hands into it. The water helps without influencing the outcome too much. You could also use flour, but be careful not to use too much or your cookies will look flat and won't crinkle as much.

          Preheat your oven to 375, and put some parchment paper on a cookie sheet. If you're going with powdered sugar, roll "spoon sized dollops" in the sugar and place on the sheet. Personally, I prefer sprinkles. I pour the sprinkles in a small bowl (usually the cap of the sprinkle jar) and dip the dough into the container before placing it on the sheet. If you're super patient, you can spread the dough out and use a pizza cutter to make little squares and then sprinkle your sprinkles (ha!) over it all at once.

           Give these guys plenty of room to grow! I usually end up with about 30 cookies so you'll need a few rounds in the oven. Bake for 7 or eight minutes. If you have a small oven, check on them at 6 minutes.

          Let them breathe! These cookies have undergone a metamorphosis in less than 10 minutes, so move the pan on top of the stove to rest while you put in the next batch. After about 5 minutes, transfer them from the pan to some cooling racks.

Done! You did fabulously. Ready for the next one? Red is definitely in our holiday palette, just remember if you roll the dough out to make squares, lay a piece of wax paper down first so you don't stain your counter.

You'll need:

• A box of red velvet cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of oil
• white chocolate chips or mini marshmallows or sprinkles

      Bring that oven down to 350 for this recipe. Just like the lemon cookies, we're basically throwing everything into a bowl and mixing it together. Mix the cake mix, oil, and eggs first. Then you can fold in the chocolate chips or marshmallows. Marshmallows will make the cookies fluff up just a bit more than usual, but come out super yummy.

      For these cookies, it helps to throw them in the freezer for no more than 10 minutes (If you've got time to kill, throw it in the fridge for 45) . Just enough to cool it down and let everything settle in to each other. But after that, go ahead and try your skill with Spoon Sized Dollops or go the slightly easier route and spread the dough out on some wax paper so you can cut squares out with a pizza cutter. (I dipped my pizza cutter in flour to keep the dough from sticking)

      Bake for about 12 minutes, and let cool in a similar fashion as the lemon ones. 

Done! You can do this with almost any cake mix. Experiment with your favorite cake mix and toppings! Here we have two different oven temperatures and cooking times. Which one was better?