Tag Archive for "cake mix" - Simple Everyday Food

red velvet whoopie pies

Posted by :Amy On : February 21, 2014

Tags:cake mix, cream cheese, dessert, red velvet, whoopie pies

I always seem to hop on the holiday baking train a few days late. Rarely do I ever find myself getting ahead of the game and baking things in anticipation of the upcoming holiday. Don’t ask why – it has always been a problem and I don’t think I plan on fixing that problem anytime soon. I have too many things to take care of, and right now baking ahead of schedule just isn’t as important as things such as studying for boards, spending time with family, working a full-time job, making sure everyone is fed and happy at the dinner table, and squeezing in time to run errands and do housework (I absolutely despise doing laundry).

[It’s soooo hard to work full-time and find time to cook, bake, photograph, edit, write, and post blog posts! I’m open to any advice, tips, and tricks anyone can give me!]

To me, this blog isn’t about making and posting a number of holiday desserts in anticipation of a holiday… don’t get me wrong, I admire (and am a little jealous of) all the talented food bloggers out there that are able to do so, and if I ever have the opportunity to make a full-time income off of SEF, I’d do it in a heartbeat. However, my current lifestyle simply does not allow such extensive food blog planning, so you guys will just have to put up with whatever my little heart felt like making at the moment… even if that means making Valentine-y red velvet desserts days and days after the holiday is over :)

So, about these whoopie pies.

I always like to think of whoopie pies as soft, puffy, big fat Oreos. Except these are thicker and softer than an Oreo cookie and has at least twice as much filling. And they’re soooo easy to make! I was itching to bake something the other day and just wanted a super simple recipe that didn’t require a long list of ingredients and a bunch of steps to follow. These really are not that complicated at all. The directions can be condensed into 6 simple steps:

1. Make cookies

(Oooh… those crinkles. I absolutely looooove crinkly cookies!!)

2. Bake cookies

3. Make filling

4. Pipe filling

5. Sandwich cookies

6. DEVOUR! (with a big glass of ice cold milk is highly recommended)

See? Simple. So simple that a monkey can do it. Okay, maybe not a monkey, but it is a really straight-forward recipe. l I even made these a “double stuffed” whoopie pie by generously piping the cream cheese frosting on BOTH cookies, because well, who doesn’t like extra frosting?! If you don’t have a piping bag, you can also just smear the frosting on the bottom of the cookies using a spoon, knife, spatula, or any kind of kitchen utensil you have handy before sandwiching them together.

I think I could’ve probably eaten the cookies by themselves without the cream cheese frosting – they were so soft and so moist and so good! They even remained soft and moist in an airtight container three days later! My favorite way of eating them was twisting them open and eating each half of the sandwich with a little bit of cookie and a little bit of frosting.

red velvet whoopie pies

2014-02-15 12:00:36

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For the cookies

One 16.25-oz box of red velvet cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the frosting

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 teaspoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
Using an electric mixer, combine all the ingredients for the cookies until well mixed. Roll the cookie dough into dough balls 1" in diameter. Place dough balls ~2" apart and bake for 8 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies start to crack. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling, make the frosting: combine the butter, cream cheese, milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Then add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, making sure the mixture is well-mixed in between each addition.
Spread a generous amount of frosting on the bottom of all the cookies*, and pair cookies up together, pressing gently to sandwich them together. Store an an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Makes about 13 cookies
*I spread the frosting on the cookies using a piping bag and a starred tip. If you don't have piping supplies, you can also simply spread the frosting onto the bottom of the cookies with a knife, offset spatula, a regular spatula, or whatever kitchen utensil you have handy.

By Simple Everyday Food

Adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff

Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/

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Recipe adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff

© Simple Everyday Food. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use any of my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or kindly link back to this post for the recipe.

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gooey peppermint bars

Posted by :Amy On : December 25, 2013

Category: Desserts

Tags:bars, cake mix, chocolate, dessert, holidays, peppermint

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is having a splendid holiday filled with love, laughter, relaxation, and spending time with friends and family. Since it’s Christmas, it only makes sense that I post something chocolate-and-peppermint-related, right?

On Cyber Monday, I finally broke down and bought myself Adobe Lightroom 5. I have actually been eying it for the last 6 months, but just couldn’t get myself to spend $100+ dollars on it…. so when I saw it was over 50% off, I went ahead and bought myself an early Christmas present :)

You know who else bought me an early Christmas present?

Brian.

He bought me a new Canon 60mm macro lens, had it shipped to the house when I was at work, wrapped it up and put it underneath the tree. Although he repeatedly said I would have to wait for Christmas to open my present, he just wasn’t able to wait that long. So my Christmas is basically over 3 weeks ago….. oh well. That boy couldn’t keep anything in when it comes to presents. I swear I’ve never opened a present on the actual day – he’s always so excited to give me the present or tell me what he got for me. I think the only way I’ll ever get anything on the actual day of a holiday is if he shops for it the night before…

So I’ve been super excited finding new things to make, just so I can take pictures with my new lens – it took some time to get used to, but I love it so far!

Before I try to talk your ear off about how decadent and delicious these bars are, let me just say one thing first: I’m sorry. This post contains a few more pictures than what I usually post, but I just couldn’t choose a couple because I was absolutely in love with a bunch of these pictures and wanted to share them all with you! (even though a few of them are very similar).

Okay, now about these bars: these bars are uh-mazing. Simply amazing, you guys. They’re soft, chewy, gooey, chocolate-y, and peppermint-y – it’s got everything I love in a dessert. If I could eat any kind of dessert for the rest of my life, these just might be it. The sweetened condensed milk keeps it gooey and moist. The chocolate chips and Andes peppermint baking chips are like a match made in heaven. The crushed candy canes on top gives an extra crunch, which is contrasted well with the soft and chewiness of the bars.

Ugh. So good.

gooey peppermint bars

2013-12-08 13:29:45

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Ingredients

One 15.25 oz box of chocolate fudge cake mix
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 regular sized candy canes, crushed (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9" pan with foil and spray generously with cooking spray.
Using an electric mixer, combine the cake mix, butter, and egg. Beat on medium speed until the dough forms into a ball.
Place about half of the dough in the bottom of the pan, press to form the crust, making sure all corners and sides are covered with dough.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips and Andes baking chips over the top of the dough. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the chips.
Drop balls of remaining dough evenly over the top. Press lightly. Don't worry if the entire surface isn't covered by the dough balls - the dough will expand once cooked in the oven. Bake for 23-24 minutes, or until the edges slightly browned. Turn off oven and remove bars from the oven. Immediately sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top. Place the bars back into the cooling oven with the oven door cracked - this will help the candy canes to slightly melt and adhere to the bars.
Cool completely and cut into bars. Store in airtight container for up to 7 days (if they even last that long).
Makes about 16 squares.

By Simple Everyday Food

Adapted from Crazy for Crust

Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/

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I think I just found my new favorite dessert. Even Brian agreed that these has surpassed my gingersnap cookies that he claimed was his “favorite dessert item ever”.

Recipe adapted from Crazy for Crust

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strawberry chocolate chip cookies

Posted by :Amy On : June 4, 2013

Category: Desserts

Tags:cake mix, chocolate chips, cookies, dessert

On Friday, I finally broke down and got myself my very first (ever) cookie scoop!

Yes, all these years of baking and I’ve never owned a cookie scoop of any kind. I have never been a fan of using fancy kitchen gadgets when I cook – I grew up cooking with a few simple equipment, so I always stuck to the old fashion way of cooking.

Seriously though, all my mom had in the kitchen growing up were a few knifes, a cutting board, a wok, a spatula, a ladle, and a few pots. No fancy garlic presses, mango slicers, or onion choppers…

To this day, I still don’t own a lot of those fancy kitchen gadgets. I’m not caving into getting a garlic press, a mango slicer, or a juicer just yet, but I do own an onion chopper only because it was given to us as a wedding gift (which, has saved me a lot of tears lol). It also took me a few years to finally get a rolling pin. Before the rolling pin joined our family, I created my own cheap version of a rolling pin by wrapping a bottle of cooking wine in plastic wrap…

Anyway, now that I finally own a cookie scoop, I was determined to find a cookie recipe that required scooping cookie dough out of my mixer bowl this past weekend.

I’m not particularly fond of making desserts with premade cake mixes, but this recipe intrigued me so much that I just had to give it a try (and I was feeling a little lazy…). Plus, strawberries and chocolate are like a match made in heaven – just like cookies and milk, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and chocolate, chips and salsa, mashed potatoes and gravy, burger and fries…. need I go on?

I made these for a family cookout and they were a big hit. I added a few minutes onto the original cooking time stated on the site that I got the recipe from and they turned out soft and chewy. Plus, they were pink and were pretty to look at.

strawberry chocolate chip cookies

2013-06-04 11:29:44

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Ingredients

1 box strawberry cake mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix and baking powder. In a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to the cake mixture. Gradually turn electric mixer to medium speed and thoroughly mix batter for about 3 minutes, or until all the ingredients are combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop rounded balls of cookie dough, about 1.5 tablespoons each, onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, making sure the cookies do not turn brown. Remove from oven and let cool. As the cookies cool, the tops may settle down a bit. If not, you can press them down gently with your fingers. Transfer cookies onto wired cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

By Simple Everyday Food

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/

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Surprisingly enough, these turned out to be pretty good. They were gone within minutes at our family cookout, and I think I may just have to make them again sometime to bring to work. Maybe I’ll make a double batch next time.