by Erin Walgamuth
Happy New Year to all of my KHTS friends!
It was a wonderful, if not slightly crazy (so what’s new?) holiday season. I worked quite a bit, which of course, was a good thing, but always makes everything more complicated!
We have hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house for as long as I can remember, and this year the guests list fluctuated from 28, to 26, to 24, to a finale count of 21 over a period of five days! I was reminded of a favorite saying “Stay calm and carry on!”
I took a moment on Christmas Eve (while making the gravy) to look around the family room at our guests and observed everyone talking and laughing. What a wonderful moment of sight and smell it was; the candles flickered, Christmas lights twinkled, the smell of roasted turkey wafted through the house and our dear friends and family were gathered together in one place. I knew in my heart that all
the work it took to prepare for this evening was very much worth the effort!
My husband’s Aunt Ruth spent the holidays with us and it was a joy to have her! I don’t know that she would agree that our 7 ½ hour prep day the day before Christmas Eve was a joy, but she helped right alongside me and we did have some good conversation and laughed quite a bit too!
Ruth brought along a recipe that she had gotten from the Sacramento Bee, for cookies made with cake mix. I had never heard of this concoction before, but thought I would pass it along as she said they are very good, and of course, super easy to make. I think we all would appreciate “easy” right about now!
Enjoy!
Makes approximately 36 cookies
Pre-time is about 5 minutes
Bake time 13 minutes
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees as you prepare the batter
You will need-
A greased cookie sheet
Large mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Note: Ruthie suggested putting nuts and raisins in a carrot cake mix, lemon zest and coconut in a lemon cake mix and chocolate chips in a chocolate cake mix.
1 box cake mix (any kind and any flavor you wish)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Mix together all ingredients in the large bowl.
Drop batter by teaspoonful’s onto the greased cookie sheet and bake.
Erin Walgamuth has been an assistant Food Stylist for television and print for the past 26 years and writes this column using her own recipes. Check out her other creations in our Hometown Recipe section.