Chocolate sugar cookie cake mix bars with fudge frosting

This is a twist on a previous recipe -sugar cookie cake mix bars.   This time, I used all chocolate crinkle cookie mix and devils food cake mix.  Super simply and easy.  I opted for a fudge frosting. But you can use whatever flavor you want.  Sprinkling powdered sugar on to would be good too, I think. 

You can use whatever flavor cookie and cake mix you want.

Remember to preheat your oven so it cycles to the right temp.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cake mix
  • 1 cookie mix
  • 2 sticks of butter, melted
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9×13 sheet with tin foil and spray with baking spray. Set aside.  In a bowl, combine all five ingredients, beat on low-medium speed with a mixer just until blended  (Mixture will be thick).  Spread evenly into prepared pan.  Bake 20 to 23 minutes.  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 6 tbs butter
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 2 tbs unsweetened baking cocoa
  • 1/2 to 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions – in a pan, over low-medium heat, melt butter.   Turn off heat, leaving pan on burner.  Add chips, cocoa, powdered sugar, cream and vanilla.  Stir until melted.  Chill 15 to 20 minutes.   Frost cooled bars. 

Store in covered container. Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Lemon squares

A request for these were from a friend from work- lemon squares.  They were super easy to make and are topped with a lemon frosting.  

I used fresh lemon juice and lemon zest.  You can use bottled lemon juice if you prefer.  Honestly, zesting a lemon seems like unnecessary work!

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  Also preheat the oven before baking.. and, take these out after 16 or 17 minutes, even if they don’t look completely done.

  • Bars ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled for 10 minutes
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp lemon zest (opt)
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line and 8×8 pan with parchment paper.  Set aside.   In a bowl, combine butter, sugar and powdered sugar.  Add eggs, juice and zest.  Blend in flour and salt.  Spread evenly into tapered pants.  Bake 16 to 17 minutes, no longer.  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs lemon juice

Directions – combine and evenly spread over bars.  

Let frosting set before cutting.  Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Magical mermaid graffiti sprinkle cookies

What the what?  I know, a weird name for a cookie.  I saw these sprinkles at price rite and thought “how magical for a cookie.”  So I made a funfetti like cookie dough with cake batter extract and vanilla extracts and poured in a container of magical mermaid graffiti.  Perfectamundo, to paraphrase Arthur Fonzarelli. 🙂

Of course, if you don’t have cake batter extract, you can use vanilla or almond extract. 

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  Also chill the dough for a few hours.  And, preheat the oven before baking.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp cake batter extract
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2.5 Oz container of sprinkles

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and extracts.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Mix in sprinkles.  Scoop out 1/4 cups dough. 

Chill a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.  Stagger cookies on sheet. 

Bake 11 to 13 minutes.  (Bottoms will be lightly browned).  Cookies may be a little gushy.. but let them cool down and pop them in the fridge to firm them up. 

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp cake batter extract
  • 2 tbs milk.

Directions – in a bowl, combine ingredients and mix well.  Frost cooled cookies. 

Store in covered container. 

Frosted brownie cookies

Today’s treat frosted brownie cookies… so simple because they  use a brownie  mix and a few other ingredients.  

You probably could leave them unfrosted, but i think the frosting adds a little extra goodness.

I do recommend chilling the dough and few hours to keep them from spreading too much.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 brownie mix
  • 2 tbs cocoa powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1 tbs chocolate syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions – in a bowl, mix all ingredients.  Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough and chill a few hours.   Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.  Stagger cookies on prepared sheet.sheets.  bake 9 to 11 minutes.  They were a little gushy in the middle, but I did not cook them any longer because I was worried about the bottoms burning).  I did pop them in the fridge to firm them up.  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla

In a bowl, mix ingredients well.  Frost cookies.   Store in covered container.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Frosted Heath Bar Blondies

Rob bought some mini heath bars and asked me to bake something with them,  so I opted for blondies with vanilla frosting.  There are crushed heath bars in the blondies and in the frosting.  Really, these use one of my many chocolate chip cookies recipes, but instead of chips, I put in heath bars. 

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  And, preheat your oven before baking.

  • Blondies ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup crushed heath bars

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper and spray with baking spray.  Set aside.  In a bowl, cream butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Blend in eggs and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients.   Fold in heath bars.  Evenly spread into prepared pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tbs milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Crushed heath bars

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar.  Add milk and vanilla.  Frost bars.  Sprinkle with crushed heath bars. 

Store in covered container.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Puck cookies for the Frozen Four and to welcome the Stanley Cup to campus

The Frozen Four begins tomorrow on ESPN2 (5 pm and 8 pm eastern), and the Stanley Cup will be on campus at ESPN Friday.   So to celebrate, I made puck cookies – soft chocolate sugar cutout cookies shaped like pucks.  Some are frosted with chocolate frosting and since I didn’t make enough of it, I topped the rest with melted Hershey kisses.

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount (same goes for the baking cocoa).  Also preheat your oven before baking for the best cookies.

  • Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups flour (scooped from flour bag into measuring cup so you get the correct amount)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa (scooped from the container into measuring cup)
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees.  in a bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Blend in egg and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients.   Flour a flattened surface and rolling pin.  Roll and cut.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger cookies on it.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes.  Cool completely

  • Frosting list
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 tbs water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp cornstarch syrup
  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips, melted

Directions – in a bowl, mix powdered sugar, water, vanilla and corn syrup.  Blend in melted chips.  Frost cookies.  Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Frosted Cake Batter Cookies

I am always looking for ways to tweak recipes and, while walking in the baking aisle, I noticed cake batter extract, so i added it to my flavoring collection (vanilla, almond, lemon, maple).  And today, instead of making vanilla flavor cookies, I went with cake batter.  Cake batter frosting too.  Some are topped with sprinkles, others with mini m&ms (bc the mini m&ms bag lasts forever).

Of course if you don’t have cake batter flavoring, vanilla is just fine. 

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  I also chilled the individual doughs overnight to keep them from spreading too much.

  • Cookie ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp cake batter extract
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter, sugar, eggs and extract.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Scoop our 1/4 cups of dough.   Chill, in a covered container, a few hours or overnight.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.  Stagger on prepared sheets.  Bake 13 to 15 minutes.   (Bottoms will be lightly browned).  Mine were a little gushy on top, so I popped them in the fridge to firm them up.  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar (scooped from your container into your measuring cup so you get the right amount)
  • 1 tsp cake batter extract
  • 4 tbs milk

Directions- in a bowl, blend all ingredients well.   Frost cooled cookies.  Top with sprinkles or m&ms.  Store in covered container.  (I put mine back in fridge)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Golden oreo frosting

A simple frosting to put on brownies, a cake or even use as a cookie sandwich filling. 

1/2 cup crisco

3 -4  cups powdered sugar

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Golden oreos, finely crushed (i went with one cup here)

2 tbs water (or more to get the consistency you want

Directions – in a bowl combine all crisco, powdered sugar, sugar, vanilla,  and 2 tbs water. Add additional water. Ine tbs at a time, to get the consistency you want.  Blend in finely ground oreos.  You may want to add more water, depending on the consistency you want.

Carrot cake bars for Championship week Thursday

I got some carrots to make a carrot cake, but changed things up a bit and made carrot cake bars.  I used melted butter, so they are a little chewier than carrot cake.  Also, they have way too much frosting!  But there are worse things in life.  I doubled this recipe and used two 8×8 square pans to bake them in.

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  And preheat your oven before baking.

  • Bars ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 cup shredded carrots (wow, is that fun to do)
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions- line and 8×8 square pan with parchment paper and spray with baking spray.  Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.    In a bowl, combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla.  Blend in egg and yolk, then carrots.  Mix in dry ingredients.  Fold in chips.  Evenly spread in prepared pan.  Bake 28 to 32 minutes, no longer.  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1/4 cup butter softened
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter and cream cheese.  Add vanilla.  Blend in powdered sugar slowly.   Frost bara.  Chill in fridge. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Frosted smashed red velvet cookies

I attempted to make red velvet cookies for today’s treat, but I did not have enough red food color, so I added some blue to try and make them purple velvet.  That did not really work.  But I think they are still good!  I frosted some with a vanilla buttercream and others with a chocolate fudge frosting.

Remember to scoop your flour and baking cocoa from their containers into the measuring cups so you get the right amount.  Also, after scooping and smashing the dough into individual parts, i chilled them  to keep them from spreading too much, but if you don’t have time, that is fine.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 11/4 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tbs water
  • 5 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup baking cocoa powder
  • 1 top cream of tartar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs food coloring

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter, sugar and powdered sugar.  Add eggs, water and oil.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Scoop out 3 tbs of dough and roll into a ball.  Using a glass that’s been sprayed with pam, lightly smash each dough ball.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Chill and few hours.  Preheat oven to 350.  Line cookie sheets with nonstick baking liners or parchment paper.  Stagger cookies on sheets.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes,  no longer.  Let cool slightly and pop into fridge to firm them up.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbs milk

Blend well.  Add more powdered sugar and/or milk to get the consistency you want. Frost cookies.

  • Chocolate fudge frosting
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 3 tbs milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions- in a saucepan over low-medium heat, combine butter, milk and sugar, stirring occasionally.  Once it starts to boil, remove from heat and add chocolate chips.  Pour in a bowl and place in the fridge to thicke .  Frost cookies.

Store in covered container. 

Thanks for stopping by today!  Wishing you a day filled with love, peace and joy.