Perfect Party Cookies

When you find something you love, truly deeply love, it can become all consuming. I am an extremely passionate person and I tend to get obsessed with things that hold meaning to me. Blogging is truly my passion and has become something that is all consuming for me. Not in a bad way, I mean I still socialize and shower and stuff, but I spend a lot of time blogging/researching/cooking/etc. It's my release. As a child I loved to write and took great pleasure from writing. As I grew older I set that part of me aside because I knew I didn't want to write books, and I figured if you didn't write books then you weren't a writer. It was through this blog that my love for writing rekindled. I can be myself- I can write my quirky thoughts just as they appear in my brain, and I can release some of my creative energy.

Aside from the writing aspect of this blog there is the obvious part- the food. While I like to dream that you come here for my little paragraphs at the top, I know most people skip to the recipes- and that's ok too. I try my best to come up with new recipes, ultimately trying to make up a good portion of what I put on this blog. Baking has been an area where I did NOT get creative. Sure I'd throw some chocolate chips in a recipe that didn't call for them (I am wild like that...) but I didn't mess with the quantities of ingredients because baking is science. Yet, one night I literally bounced off the couch and decided I was going to make up my own cookie recipe. I just started tossing things together, hopping around my little 2 by 4 of a kitchen, and then proudly proclaimed to John that "this was going to make the prettiest garbage!" because I was sure they wouldn't turn out.

Well... well well well... they turned out. They are amazing! And I'm not just saying that because it's my first original cookie recipe. I'm saying that because they are so firm and sturdy, yet soft in the center. They are pretty and colorful, and chocolatey, and cake-battery, and just delectable. Also since I'm lazy I didn't feel like pulling out my Kitchen Aide mixer (those things are so heavy... I'm amazed I still have 10 toes) so I used my laziness to come up with a recipe I could mix by hand... and here it is. I really am proud of this recipe, perhaps more proud than any other here, because it's truly my own. I've made at least 100 original recipes on this blog, but this one took me out of my comfort zone and it worked out so nicely. If you try these PLEASE don't be shy- comment, and tell me how they go. I'm like a proud mama letting her baby ducklings out to the pond for the first time... and I'm hoping they float rather than sink. So make these, they are excellent, and then tell me how it went. K? K.

Source: Stephanie Cooks Original

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup yellow boxed cake mix
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup butter, melted, and slightly cooled
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
4 tbsp. colored sprinkles

Directions:
1- In a large bowl sift together the flour, cake mix, and baking soda. Set aside.
2- In a bowl, beat together the melted butter, egg yolk, egg, and vanilla until slightly creamy. Add the sugars and stir well.
3- Add the flour mixture, stir until well combined.
4- Stir in the chocolate chips and sprinkles.
5- Refrigerate for 30 minutes (the dough will be very runny).
6- Preheat oven to 350.
7- Once dough is chilled, scoop heaping tablespoons worth of dough onto greased cookie sheets. The dough should be slightly smaller than a golf ball. Keep dough cool until it goes in the oven.
8- Bake 12-15 minutes, until the edges are golden and the center sets.
9- Cool for 5 minutes on the sheet, then place on a cooling rack to cool.