BOOK REVIEW Cake Mix Cookies: More Than 175 Delectable Cookie Recipes That Begin With a Box of Cake Mix

Cake Mix Cookies: More than 175 Delectable Cookie Recipes That Begin with a Box of Cake Mix

by Camilla V. Saulsbury

Cumberland House Publishing 2005, 230 pages

*There is a newer edition of this book that contains 375 recipes The Ultimate Cake Mix Cookie Book

Why cake mix cookies?  Reading the introduction, it makes sense if you are in a hurry.  A box of cake mix is inexpensive, and usually on hand in the cupboard.  When you and your family are hungry for a fresh baked cookie on a lazy Sunday afternoon, how wonderful to have the flour, sugar and leavening pre-measured and ready to go.  All you need do is add the "extras" for a spectacular result in minutes.

There are recipes for Caramel-loaded Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies, Orange Dreamsicle Cookies, Pumpkin Spice Softies, Banana Bliss Gooey Chess Squares, S'mores Brownies, New York Cheesecake Bars and a wide variety of cookies sure to taste tempt practically everyone.  How easy was it?  Well, I had a box of yellow cake mix on my shelf, so I decided to give it a try.  I picked out the recipe on page 112 named Peanut Butter Fudge Bars.  I needed peanut butter, chocolate chips and a can of sweetened condensed milk as my extra ingredients besides the normal eggs, oil and vanilla.  But it did come together fast and easy.  No need to measure out the dry ingredients, just open the box and pour.  And the results were fantastic.  Did I say yum???

There are recipes for drop cookies, bar cookies and shaped and filled cookies, as well as frostings and finishings. To name a few finishings, there were recipes for Chocolate marshmallow, Chocolate-raspberry, and Rum icings, as well as a chocolate drizzle and ganache.  If you are a cookie monster like I am, you'll enjoy having these recipes on hand to mix things up.  I'd even like to get the new edition packed with even more recipes.  For now, this one will do.  

With over 20 cookbooks published to her name, author Saulsbury is a writer, recipe developer, fitness trainer, endurance athlete, and creator of the healthy food blog Power Hungry.