EASY & Super Moist Chocolate Cookies

 I enjoy cookies but I really dislike messing and measuring flour and all the dry ingredients; too many dishes to clean and dusty flour everywhere! It is just so time consuming and, if you don't measure very accurately, your baked goods will turn out badly.

One late night I was in my kitchen perusing my pantry for a quick, homemade treat. I was not in the mood for a lengthy and complicated recipe. I was in an "instant gratification" mood. Ah-Ha! There sat a box of cake mix.

Side story: One day, on an impulse, I had purchased several boxes of cake mix, at my local grocery store. It was a great special: buy one box, get one box free. I stocked up. But how much cake can you really eat? I had made a lot of cakes and was getting tired of making cakes for all our church activities.

When I spotted the box of cake mix on the pantry shelf my mind said, "Cookies?! Yes! Cookies!" If you think about it, a box of cake mix has basically the same measure of dry ingredients included in a cookie mix, all I have to do is add the moist ingredients. I grabbed the things I already had in my fridge and quickly whipped up a batch of these YUMILICIOUS cookies. You know what? They turned out WAY BETTER than I could have ever hoped! Now, I make these all the time. When I take them to any function everyone asks for my recipe. They are so simple and quick to make, it should be a crime!

Happy eating!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 15 minutes
Clean up time: 5 minutes!

Makes approximately 25-30 cookies

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box of chocolate cake (regular, super moist, or any flavor)
• 1 small box of instant chocolate or vanilla Jell-O Pudding mix
• 1 stick of butter (melted)
• 2 whole eggs (discard shells)
• 1/4 cup water (Or 1/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt)

OPTIONAL ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows.

Additional Supplies:
Non-stick cooking spray
Large mixing bowl
Hand mixer or stand mixer
2 Cookie sheets
Silpat non-stick pad or parchment paper
#40 Ice Cream Scoop (1.5 Tablespoon size)
Oven
Timer
Hot pads
Flat spatula
Cookie cooling racks

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the box cake mix, dry powder instant pudding mix melted butter, eggs, and water. 
3. Mix on low speed until it forms a dough. It will be thick. If it is too thick and crumbly, add in a small bit of water until it forms a nice moist dough ball.
4. (Add optional ingredients here and mix on low speed!)
5. Line your cookie sheets with a non-stick Silpat pad or parchment paper.
6. Spray your cookie scoop with non-stick cooking spray and scoop out level scoops of cookie dough and place about 4 dough balls across and 5 dough balls rows down.
7. Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake at 350F degrees for 15 minutes.
8. Remove baked cookies from the oven and immediately remove them from the cookie sheet with a spatula onto the cooling racks.
9. Store cooled cookies in a sealed container...if they last that long!