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This whole experiment started because I bought one too many cake mixes. I know, I know — who does that, and when is it ever a problem?! The thing is, since it’s just Nate and me at home, there isn’t much of a need for an entire vanilla cake. Plus, I’m less of a cake person, and more of a fudgy brownies and cookies person. So, as the box kept taunting me from the back of the pantry each time I’d go in to grab an ingredient, I finally decided to do something about it.
Cake mix cookies are nothing new, but they’re often a little too sweet for my tastes. I’d stumbled upon Betty Crocker‘s Cake Mix Monster Cookies and got excited, because the oats and peanut butter looked like they could offset some of the sweetness. It took some tinkering and riffing — Betty’s recipe calls for more brown sugar than I’d like, and I used Reduced Fat Jif (which isn’t as runny as traditional peanut butter), so I had to increase the water in the recipe to make up for it.
The end result was a pillowy, slightly peanut buttery treat that’s bursting with gooey chocolate chips and tastes like cake batter. Imagine Cold Stone Creamery’s Birthday Cake Remix Cookies, only in cookie form. I’m not joking.
A little underbaked and warm out of the oven, these are extra divine. The sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top is a must, particularly if you want to balance out all that sugar. (Salty-sweet fans, you get me!)
Try it for yourself, and let me know what you think!
Ingredients
- 1 box vanilla cake mix (or yellow cake)
- 1/3 c packed brown sugar
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1/2 c creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 c water
- 1 egg
- 1 c quick-cooking oats
- 1/3 c M&M’s
- 2/3 c semisweet chocolate chip cookies
- 1/3 c rainbow sprinkles
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat cake mix, brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, water and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients, except sea salt.
- Spoon 1-inch balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, placing each one about an inch apart. Lightly sprinkle the tops of the cookies with sea salt (optional).
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the cookies have puffed up and the edges are very slightly golden. (NOTE: These cookies will not brown like typical chocolate chip cookies. They’re more like sugar cookies in that respect.)
