Holiday Hacks :: Cookies Round 1

Sometimes it's magical when two things come together as one. For me, that is definitely mint and chocolate!

Since my family cookie exchange is just a little over 2 weeks away, I figured I better fire up the oven and get started! 

I'll share this super delicious AND SUPER EASY recipe with you. But... don't you dare tell another soul that I took Easy Street to make these.

First, full disclosure... about 15 years ago on our sister weekend I found a "cook book" that touted 101 Things You Can Do With A Cake Mix. It's a freaking godsend when you're in a pinch. Every recipe for the cookies anyway has the same 3 essential ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 dry cake mix

Then you can add whatever type of chips you want for your flavor creation. That's it. Do not do anything more to your cake mix! I've done this with spice cake mix and pumpkin flavored chips, chocolate cake mix with peanut butter chips, and so on.

For my Mint Chocolate Delights (I make up names for everything), this is what I did. I used a chocolate cake mix and – I have to endorse Pampered Chef here – used their small scoop and their mini muffin pan.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350.

Then, as soon as I removed the pan from the oven, I inserted one of these amazing kisses into each mini "cookie muffin" – TIP DOWN. After a few minutes, you can see the heat sort of melts the kiss a bit. That's when I used my cheese grater to grate some Andes Mints on top of each cookie. You can use the Andes Mint chips but I couldn't find them at the two stores I checked. It would definitely by easier!!

Then I added some green-themed sprinkles to get across the idea this was MINT – not peppermint.

With one cake mix, this makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies. Perfect for a last-minute plate of cookies for a potluck. And perfect for a small cookie exchange if you're making a few different types of cookies and want to give them a taste!

Follow me for more holiday hacks this season! Ha.