Our Easter is going to be jammed packed with all kinds of activities. My son is very excited to hunt for Easter eggs and see what the Easter Bunny brings him in his basket this year. It won’t be too much, because the Easter bunny stopped by Early last week and dropped off a baby Cockatiel for my son. We think she’s a girl. We finally all agreed on the name Honey Bell (because of her orange cheeks and it’s our favorite variety of oranges. My son has been begging for a bird for nearly a year now, so he is over the moon excited. He’s been caring for her, handling her constantly (thank goodness she doesn’t bite) and trying patiently to teach her to talk.
Since we have so much planned this weekend, I thought I would start my baking early. Today I made these easy little cake mix cookies. I started with simple yellow cake mix and added a package of instant yellow pudding. The pudding mix adds moisture and gives vibrant color and amazing flavor. After I scooped the cookie dough, I dropped it in shredded coconut and rolled it around to coat well. Then I just popped them in the oven for 12 minutes until the coconut was browned and the cookies were set.
I usually add 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup oil to my cake mix cookies, but a reader asked if they could be made with just milk, so I tried it with this batch, and I can barely tell a difference. I used almond/coconut milk, but you can use any type of milk you have on hand.
Yield: Serves 6
1 package yellow cake mix
1 (3.9 oz) package instant lemon pudding mix
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 tablespoon Dixie Crystals powdered sugar
Heat oven to 350°. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, egg and milk in a large bowl. Mix well to combine. In a separate bowl, combine coconut and sugar. Mix well. Spoon cookie dough by the tablespoon into coconut and roll around. Place cookie on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Continue rolling all cookies. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes, or until coconut has browned and cookie is set. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.
