Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour cake mix in large bowl. Mix in butter, eggs, and vanilla with electric mixer until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes in oven until edges are golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes, then on wire racks.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
1/2 cup salad oil
4 1-oz. squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup powdered sugar
Mix oil, chocolate and granulated sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla. Sift together flour, soda and salt and blend into chocolate mixture. Chill dough (for best results, freeze overnight). Roll into balls and roll in powdered sugar (chill the dough between batches to keep it from getting too sticky). Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees F.for 9 minutes, Makes about 6 dozen.
Knock Your Sox Off Brownies
1 box German chocolate cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (12 oz)
1 Kraft caramels
Mix up cake mix as directed; pour half into greased brownie pan. Pour entire bag of chocolate chips over top of mixture, make sure this is even.
On low temperature, melt caramels along with milk to make a smooth mixture. Use milk to taste. Pour this on top of chips. Then put the rest of the cake mix on top of this, brownie fashion.
Bake as long as cake mix directions say. Be sure to let this completely cool, or else it will totally fall apart when you cut and serve.
Once the caramel cools, they will be finger edible. If this is too sweet for you, then serve hot with ice cream.
Coca Cola Cake
2 cups All-purpose flour
2 cups Granulated sugar
1 cup Margarine
1 cup Coca-Cola
3 tablespoons Cocoa
1/2 cup Buttermilk
2 Eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/2 cup Miniature marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
In large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar; set aside. In small, heavy saucepan, bring margarine, cola and cocoa to boil; pour over flour and sugar and mix thoroughly. Add buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, vanilla and miniature marshmallows.
Pour into prepared pan and bake 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. While cake bakes, prepare Coca-Cola Frosting (you will be frosting the cake while it is still hot).
Boxed cake mixes from the grocery store are soooo handy! Here's some ideas for making them special.
M&M Monster Cookies
4 eggs
3/4 cup margarine
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups peanut butter
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
7 cups rolled oats (quick)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
3/4 cup M and M candies
Beat together eggs, margarine, sugars, vanilla and peanut butter.
In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, salt, and oatmeal. Mix into peanut butter mixture. Add chocolate chips and pecans and stir until well blended.
Drop golfball-sized balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten each cookie into a circle shape with the bottom of a small glass.
Press M and M candies on the top of unbaked cookies. Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet before removing. Makes 2 to 3 dozen large cookies.
Tip: If dough seeems too moist, add 1/2 to 1 cup all-purpose flour to the dough.
Root Beer Float Cake
1 white cake mix
1 can root beer
Make the cake with the box mix and the rootbeer--do not use any eggs, oil, or water. Use baking instructions on the box.
Frosting: 2 envelopes Dream Whip and one cup very cold Root Beer. Whip on high until very thick.
(You can use any flavor of soda with this recipe)
Martha Stewart's Perfect Pie Shell
Note: This is from her cookbook.
1 C All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 Stick of Butter
1 1/2 Tbsp. Shortening
1/8 C Ice Water
Put flour and salt in the bowl of food processor. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour. Process a few seconds until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Drop water very slowly and process briefly. The entire process should take about 20 - 30 seconds. Remove dough wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hr. Remove from refrigerator and let stand for 15 min. before rolling out. Bake in a 400 oven until done. Can be doubled for top and bottom crust.
No Bake Chocolate Cookies
1 ¾ cup white sugar
½ cup milk
½ cup butter
4 TBLSP unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup peanut butter
3 Cups Quick Oats
1 tsp Vanilla extract
(substitute Almond extract for a sweeter taste)
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 ½ minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened and hide half of the cookies, so you will have some, too! Makes approximately 3 dozen. (tip for the texture: If you underboil, you will get cookies that won’t set, if you overboil, you will get cookies that crumble and not form at all. The recipe calls for 1 ½ minutes cooking time. My suggestion for the perfect cookie is to time it from a FULL boil and do the 1 ½ minutes from that point. If you count from a simmer then make it 2-2 ½ minutes tops. You may have to experiment since different stoves heat differently.)
Butternut Balls
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2-1/3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pecan halves
Chocolate kisses
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In large bowl, combine butter and powdered sugar and mix well. Add vanilla and beat. Add dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms.
Form dough around pecan halves or chocolate kiss, enclosing nut or chocolate completely.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Cookies should not brown. Immediately drop into a bowl full of powdered sugar and roll to coat. Let cool on wire racks. When cool, roll in powdered sugar again.
Single-Serve Cookies
1 teaspoon butter
2 teaspoons egg whites (or Eggbeaters)
1/2 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
4 teaspoons flour
1 pinch baking soda
1 teaspoon mini chocolate chips or raisins
Preheat toaster oven to 350 F. Melt the butter in a small bowl for about 20 seconds in the microwave. Add in the egg whites, oil and brown and white sugar. Mix well. Add the flour and baking soda; mix to form dough. Add chocolate chips or raisins. Spoon two mounds of dough on lightly greased toaster oven baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Yield: 2 cookies.
Gingerbread
½ Cup molasses
1/3 Cup sugar
½ Cup butter, cut into pieces
1 Cup boiling water
1 egg
1 ¾ Cups flour
1 to 2 Tablespoons ginger, to taste
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Put the molasses, sugar, and butter in a glass mixing bowl and pour the water on top. Stir until the butter melts. Add the egg and beat well. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda and add to the butter mixture. Beat until smooth. Pour into a greased 8 or 9 inch square pan and bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 8 servings.
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Cupcakes:
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
Frosting:
2 cups heavy cream, cold
24 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (or 12 ounces cream cheese and
12 ounces mascarpone cheese)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Preheat oven to 350 F. Place paper cupcake liners into two or three 12-count muffin pans. This recipe will make 24 large cupcakes or 36 smaller cupcakes, or loads of mini-cupcakes.
In a medium bowl, combine cake flour, cocoa and salt. Whisk to mix thoroughly. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine oi l and sugar. Beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low add red food coloring slowly, without splashing. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.
In a small dish, place the baking soda, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds. Divide batter among cupcake compartments, filling about 2/3 full. Place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans. Let cool completely before frosting.
Yield: 24-36 cupcakes depending on the size of pans.
This recipe will also yield three 9-inch layers if you want to make a cake instead. Make sure you butter the cake pans well, then line the bottoms with parchment paper. Bake longer (40-45 minutes) when making a layer cake.
Frosting:
Place cream in bowl and whip cream by hand until soft peaks form. Cover in bowl and refrigerate. Blend cream cheese (and mascarpone if desired) with electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla and confectioners’ sugar. Blend well. Transfer cream cheese mixture to a larger bowl. Fold in whipped cream. Pile high on cupcakes with a knife or through a pastry bag. Yield: Icing for 36 small, 24 large cupcakes or the tops and sides of a three-layer cake.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
Honey Bun Cake
Cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 8-ounce container sour cream
Filling:
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons milk
Preheat the oven to 325 F. In a large bowl add the cake mix, oil, eggs and sour cream. Mix well with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, or until fully incorporated. Spread half of this batter into a well-greased 9x13-inch pan. Set aside the rest of the batter.
In a small bowl mix the brown sugar and cinnamon with a fork until incorporated to make the filling. Sprinkle about half of this filling mixture on top of the cake batter in the pan. Spread the rest of the cake batter over this. Sprinkle the remainder of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture over the top of the second layer of cake batter. Using a butter knife, swirl the top just slightly into the batter to make a pleasing pattern.
Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven. Mix icing ingredients in a small bowl and pour over the warm cake. Servings: 8-10.
