Quick, Easy & Messy Cookies for Christmas

Christmas keeps getting closer each day and that means that it's time for me to ramp up my holiday baking. When I was a kid, my mom would spend December making goodie bags for neighbors and friends. There was always a tiny loaf of homemade sourdough bread and several different kinds of cookies along with her signature chocolate chip cookies. Now that I have more time on my hands, I'm going to carry on the tradition.

In college one of my housemates made lemon cookies using four ingredients: lemon cake mix, Cool Whip, egg, and powdered sugar. Tonight I modified her recipe using a devil's food cake mix and it made the most super chocolaty cookies in the world. If you are looking for a cheap and quick cookie recipe, I highly recommend this one. Warning: It's a messy process, but totally worth it.

Cake-N-Cool Whip Cookies
1 cake mix - lemon, chocolate, devil's food, or whatever you want to experiment with
2 c. Cool Whip
1 egg

Powdered sugar

Mix ingredients together using a mixer. The dough will be thick and sticky. Use a cookie scoop to make a ball. Roll the ball in powdered sugar and coat evenly. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (What? You've never baked with parchment paper? Once you try it, you'll never go back. It's a little on the expensive side, but totally worth it in my opinion.) Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes.

Give this quick recipe a try, you'll love it!

P.S. It's Monday...have you shined your sink?

Ranger Cookies

I was at my sister-in-law's house last week searching for a recipe and ran across a recipe for Ranger Cookies. I loved them as kid, but my mom hardly ever made anything other than chocolate chip cookies. What did I do the next day? Made cookies!

Ranger Cookies

1 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 c. crisco
1 c. white sugar
1c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Cream sugars, butter, and crisco together until light. Add vanilla. Add one egg at a time and mix until light and fluffy.

2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix above ingredients together with a fork or whisk. Add slowly into wet ingredients.


1 c. oatmeal
1 c. coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

Add oatmeal and coconut and mix well.





1 c. Rice Krispies (or rice cereal)

Stir in Rice Krispies by hand so they don't break down. Drop by spoonfuls on parchment paper lined baking sheet. I'm a HUGE fan of parchment for two main reasons - clean up is simple and they help put a nice crisp on the bottom of the cookies. Bake a 375* for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy! These cookies are really good with fresh fruit like strawberries or peaches.