First Attempt at Cake Mix Cookies

Add together Pinterest and my sweet tooth and you get this late night snack...

I have had these Lazy Cake Cookies from I'm a Lazy Mom pinned for a few weeks and decided on a whim last night at 9:30 p.m. to throw them together.

With just four ingredients and not much liquid, I decided to read through the comments to see what others said about them. Several said the batter was much drier than they thought it should be. One said to bake it longer than the recipe said. A few others talked about using different size pans.

Overall the comments were positive and the original blogger answered most of the questions asked so I just went for it.

I dumped a box of white cake mix into a mixing bowl and added 5 Tablespoons of melted butter and started stirring and stirring and stirring. It was really dry!

Oh no!! Had I been duped by a recipe too simple to be true?

No...I forgot to add the 2 beaten eggs to the mix! Oops.

Once I added the eggs and mixed it well (keep going when you think you've mixed enough) the batter resembled cookie dough. It definitely was NOT a "wet" batter nor did it look like cake batter! In went a bag of M&Ms and the batter was ready to go.

I spooned it into a greased 9x13 glass baking pan and pressed it down into the pan.

20 minutes in a 350 degree pre-heated oven and I had a pan of warm cookies at 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night.

They had a unique flavor to them - thanks to the cake mix, I think.

I liked them. I liked them a lot - probably too much. So I did what any gal who is already having trouble zipping her jeans would have done, I took them into the office this morning and sent an email to my coworkers and let them help me save my waistline!

I will definitely use this recipe again when I'm craving something sweet or need a quick dessert for a pitch-in or family dinner.

Lazy Cake Cookies from I'm a Lazy Mom

Box of White Cake Mix

5 T. melted butter

2 eggs, beaten

2 c. M&Ms (or chocolate chips or Reese's Pieces or butterscotch chips or ...)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish (I used a glass dish).

Combine the cake mix, butter and eggs. Mix well. Add in M&Ms and stir.

Bake for 20 minutes (edges will brown). Cool, cut and serve with a glass of milk!!

Food Blogger I Am NOT: Chocolate Chip Pie

I was looking through the photos on my computer recently and I came across a couple of shots I caught on my iPhone and ran through Instagram. 

I am fairly certain that my intention was to share the photos and recipes on this very blog.

However, as the title of this post indicates, I am not a food blogger (not really sure what kind of blogger I am) for so many reasons. So forgive me for the less than stellar photos of my kitchen creations.

I did get a shot of my After-Easter Trifle before I took it into work to share with my cellmates coworkers.

I just adapted the double chocolate trifle recipe on my blog and used some left over chocolate cake (icing and all) and Easter Reese's Cups instead of strawberries and brownies. That's what I love about trifles...as long as you have pudding and whipped topping, you can make a trifle with just about any fillings.

As for the next photo, I did indeed want to share this recipe with you but forgot to even get a photo of the Chocolate Chip Pies before I took them to my family to share. So, I had to call my sister and ask her to get a shot on her iPhone and send it to me.

This recipe is a favorite of my family and members of said family have been known to request this pie instead of birthday cake.

It's rich. It's gooey. It's really easy to make.

Chocolate Chip Pie

1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. margarine or butter, softened
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 t. vanilla
1 c. nuts (we use pecans)
1 c. chocolate chips
1 unbaked 8-9 inch pie shell

Beat together flour, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees F for one hour.

I put my pie shell on a cookie sheet just in case of spillovers.

If you don't like nuts, leave them out and add some more chocolate chips! It's good either way.

Duck Fried Rice

I was really bummed when I missed the first Iron Chef Challenge featuring Maple Leaf Farms duck so I knew I had to participate when Ott, A brought it back this month.

I was craving some fried rice so I decided to see if I could create some Duck Fried Rice.

It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.

Here's what I started with...

I used a Maple Leaf Farms Rotisserie Roast Half Duck, though you could use the regular Roast Half Duck or even their Ready to Cook Duck Breasts.

I defrosted the duck and divided it in half. I set aside one part to enjoy later and cubed the other half. It's already seasoned but I put a few dashes of Soy Sauce on it and set it aside.

I fixed the package of SteamFresh rice and veggies as directed and put it in a skillet with a little bit of oil. I cooked it for 3-4 minutes.

As the rice was cooking, I steamed the snow peas. They came in a great package that I just had to pierce and throw in the microwave for 2 minutes.

When the rice was cooked, I separated it in the middle and added an egg. I cooked the egg with the rice.

Once the egg was cooked, I added in the duck and snow peas.

While that started to warm, I melted a 1/4 cup of butter and a teaspoon of minced garlic. Once melted, I added it to the duck fried rice mixture and stirred.

Then serve it up with some soy sauce and enjoy! This made two large servings or three smaller ones.

It was good take on traditional Chicken Fried Rice and the duck added a lot of flavor. If you don't care for garlic, you could use stir-fry sauce or soy sauce or teriyaki sauce instead of the butter/garlic mix.

Here's the recipe...

Duck Fried Rice

Half of a Maple Leaf Farms Rotisserie Roast Half Duck (or their Roast Half Duck or a Duck Breast), cubed or shredded
Package of SteamFresh rice with vegetable (cooked as directed on package)
1 egg
Package of snow peas  (cooked as directed on package) or other vegetables of your choice
Soy Sauce
1/4 cup butter
1 t. minced garlic

Add 3-4 dashes of soy sauce to the shredded or cubed duck and set aside.

Heat a skillet with some oil and add the rice with vegetables. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Make room in the middle of the skillet and add the egg. Stir until the egg is cooked. Add snow peas and duck.

While egg is cooking, melt the butter and minced garlic. Add to the rice mixture and stir until heated through.

Serve with soy sauce and enjoy.