Baking Shortcut: Funfetti Cookies

How To Make Cookies Really Really Fast 

I LOVE to bake. Cookies are one of the first things I learned to bake from scratch when I first started baking around age 11 or 12. Since then, I've continued to bake cookies from scratch. But, I've also discovered a really quick and easy way to make cookies. The secret is to start with store bought cake mix. Baking anything, whether it's cookies or cake or bread, starts with the same basic ingredients for the most part. So, it's really easy to turn a cake mix into cookies instead!

You can use any type of cake mix to make any type of cookies, but this week I decided to make Funfetti cookies. Baking usually involves exact measurements to make sure that the product turns out the way it's supposed to. But when I'm making cookies from cake mix, I don't measure as precisely and just use my judgment for how much of each ingredient to add. With practice, it gets easier to do. 

Side note: I like my Funfetti cookies to be more fluffy and puffy than when I make other cookies. So, I add a little bit of baking soda to the dough. This step is completely optional and can be left out if you prefer cookies that aren't as puffy. I've made the cookies with and without baking soda before, and both ways result in delicious tasting cookies.

Ingredients

1 box Funfetti cake mix (any brand will do!)

2 large eggs

3-4 tablespoons flour

1/4 heaping teaspoon baking powder (optional)

1/3 cup vegetable oil (not olive oil)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees before making the dough. The dough is really easy to make and you'll want the oven to be ready to pop the cookies in.

Step 1:

Wet ingredients: In a bowl, whisk together the 2 large eggs and 1/3 cup of vegetable oil.

Step 2:

Dry ingredients: In a second bowl, dump in the bag of cake mix. Whisk well to get rid of clumps. Add a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda (if desired) and whisk together.

Step 3:

 To the dry ingredients, add 3 loose tablespoons of flour (don't pat it down). Whisk well.

Step 4:

 Slowly add ~1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk together. Continue to add a little bit of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients like so, and mix.

Step 5: 

When the mixture becomes too thick to mix with the whisk, take out the whisk and mix the rest by hand. The dough should start to come together and form into a lump. If not, add another tablespoon of flour (or more) until the dough all clumps together. The dough shouldn't be too wet (like cake batter) or too dry (like pizza dough).

Step 6:

 Using a mini ice cream scoop, or a regular spoon, form ~1 inch round balls of dough and place onto a greased cookie sheet. Leave around 2 inches of space between each ball.

Step 7:

Gently press down on each ball to flatten them. Dough should be slightly springy.

Step 8:

Bake the cookies at 325 degrees for around 11-13 minutes or until the cookies are slightly golden brown. I usually don't use timers, but I'll know that the cookies are almost done once I start to smell them.

Step 9:

Once the cookies are done, take them out of the oven and let them rest for a minute or so. Then place the cookies onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. And they're ready to eat!

So, the most important part to remember for this recipe is to not follow the directions listed on the cake mix box. Because remember, you're trying to make cookies, not cake! But whether you're making cookies or cake, your house will smell delicious for hours after you bake. And I think everyone agrees that the smell of freshly baked Funfetti is one of the best smells in the world. 

8 Random Things I Love Doing

Because I'm Weird. Honestly. 

I'm easily entertained and find the most random things to be interesting or fun. Besides the obvious things I love, like baking and traveling, these are some more random things I love to do. Some of these things are weird, but all of them are really fun for me. So here we go.

1. Brushing my teeth for a really long time.

This is probably the most random one on my list. I really love brushing my teeth for some odd reason. Like, I'll literally brush my teeth for the longest time because I think it's really fun. I also really like the feeling of clean teeth and how minty fresh your mouth gets. So every time I brush my teeth, I'll stand there and brush, brush, brush away for like 5 minutes (or even more). 

2. Going to concerts and getting that ringing in the ears afterwards.

One of the greatest joys in my life is going to concerts and shows. I LOVE IT. I love seeing my favorite bands and singers performing live because it's such a different feeling than just listening through headphones. I believe that the best shows leave you with the most intense ringing in the ears feeling after it's over. The better the show, the longer you have that ringing for. Really good shows will leave me with the ringing feeing for days, and I love every minute of it.

3. Going into kitchen stores.

I love walking into stores like Sur La Table or Crate&Barrel just to browse through all of the kitchen things they have. It's so fun to just wander through those stores and look at all of the baking gadgets and little tools they have. I have a collection of appliances and baking tools at home, but there's always more things I would love to get (and will slowly, but surely buy). 

4. Watching movies on the SyFy Channel.

The SyFy Channel always has these movies that are really stupid, but hilarious to watch. The plots are outrageously ridiculous but they keep me entertained. I really love sharks, so the shark ones are my favorites to watch. My favorite right now is probably Sand Sharks because I love how the sharks can swim through the sand to attack their victims. I still need to watch the one about the invisible sharks, and I can't wait for Sharknado 2!

5. Building furniture.

I like to build things by myself. Like all of the furniture you get from IKEA or Target, I love to build. Now, I'm no handyman so I definitely can't build things from scratch. But give me a set with instructions, and I can sit there and have the best time doing it. I have no idea why it's so fun for me, but I just love it.

6. Watching football.

Growing up, I loved watching basketball with my dad. But now, I love watching football soo much more. I can't wait for September for football to start again. It seems like it's been forever since the SuperBowl and football season ended. My favorite team to watch is the Saints, even though I'm from San Diego. But... I really just don't like the Chargers hahaha.

7. Going to aquariums.

I could spend all day in any aquarium. Take me to an aquarium, and I will be a happy girl. The sharks are always my favorite to look at, and I can sit there forever just looking at them. Of course, I do sometimes get scared that the glass will break and the sharks will eat me. But at the same time, I also get scared that the glass will break, because then it means all the fish will die. And that would be so sad.

8. Singing loudly in the car with other people.

I love to sing in the car, and it's even more fun when there are other people in the car to do it with. I never drive without music on because it's so boring to sit there in silence. It's fun to listen to the radio, but the radio overplays a lot of songs. So most of the time I'll plug in my phone and play songs on shuffle. I love when a random 90's song will play, like Backstreet Boys or something. It's so much fun to sing/scream to songs you really love, and even more fun to sing/scream to songs from "back in the day."

So that's it. 8 random things that I love doing. I don't think any of them really correlate to each other at all, but that's okay. I'm just a complex person who likes a wide array of different activities. LOL just kidding. But not really.