Monday, October 24, 2011

Gooey Butter Cake Cookies

Gooey Butter Cake Cookies

It's been over a month since I've last posted, and it's not for a lack of cooking. Or photographing my food. It's just that whole problem of either having a good recipe or having a good photo, but rarely both. And then being pressed for time. Or writing half a post and never posting it because by the time I finish it, I've forgotten what I did if it's something I came up with, or if it's something I adapted, I can't find the original recipe and/or forgot my modifications.

But I'm not posting now to tell you all the things I haven't done, but to tell you what I have done. To remind myself of what I've done, I made an album on flickr of food I've made at school. Sure, it dates back to stuff from freshman year, but now it's organized! So if you see anything there that looks tasty and lacks a link back to this blog, then pester me and I can try to figure it out and post about it! Most of them say coming soon, but that might be a lie. I may never blog them because I'm forgetful (and, in the case of this cake, I found it underwhelming.)

And then, when I'm not cooking or baking (which definitely doesn't happen enough) I'm either in class, watching The OC with my roommate, studying, writing papers, or doing stuff for My Car And My Guitar or something. I'm not going to provide you with some exhaustive list you don't want, because that's just less time I can spend talking about these cookies. Which are an abomination by the way.
Gooey Butter Cake Cookies


Yeah. See those ingredients? I seriously can't believe I made them. Not only that I made them, but that I've made them four times. Or maybe it's five. They're easy, affordable, and comforting. A twist on that St. Louis classic, Gooey Butter Cake, in cookie form! And they're not too expensive or anything, especially when cake mix is on sale and you can get it for $1 or less, and then the 75 cent stick of butter, the 20 cent egg, and the $2 cream cheese. I keep forgetting about powdered sugar, but it's like 45 cents of that probable. Five bucks and an hour of my time (including clean up) isn't too bad for around 3-4 dozen cookies!

And okay, I forgot some ingredients in the picture above. So here's the correction:
Gooey Butter Cake Cookies

But I never use the vanilla anyway.

But, like I said: Easy. Simple. Quick. Crowd-pleasing. So what are you waiting for?

Gooey Butter Cake Cookies
Gooey Butter Cake Cookies
Makes 3-4 dozen cookies

1 box yellow cake mix
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1 stick (4 oz) butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line 2-3 cookie sheets (or just bake in batches!) In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in egg. With a spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the cake mix. It will be very thick, and may take a while.

Gooey Butter Cake CookiesGooey Butter Cake Cookies

Pour powdered sugar into a small bowl. Roll heaping teaspoons of dough into balls and coat one side with powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet face up. Flatten slightly.
Gooey Butter Cake Cookies

Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes, or until bottoms are browned and tops are crackly and dry. Enjoy!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Omelet for One

Sunday Morning Breakfast


If there's one thing I love about having a kitchen, it's being able to eat breakfast on my own schedule on the weekends. I don't have to worry about carrying pans and food to a dorm kitchen to cook, eat in a too large room by myself, and then immediately clean up. There's nothing relaxing about that, and that's something breakfast should be on a weekend morning.

With two of my roommates out of town, and another not allowed to eat until after her blood work, I took my time and made myself a nice breakfast. While making my dinner the night before, I'd cubed some potatoes and sauteed some half-frozen mushrooms that had stuck to the side of our fridge with garlic. I chopped up some onions, threw them in a pan, and cooked them up with potatoes. Having recently learned how to cook potatoes, I'm still really excited by this. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I do. I think I just poke them until I think they're done. Meanwhile, I reheated the mushrooms, adding in some spinach with them.

In a small bowl I beat together my eggs with some milk, and poured it into a nice small pan, lifting the egg up as it cooked to let the runny egg flow underneath. Once it seemed almost cooked, I added the mushrooms, spinach, and some cheese, put a lid over the pan for about 30 seconds to let it finish cooking. I removed the lid, folded over the omelet, and slid it onto my plate along with some potatoes. Then it was time for Sunday Morning. Bon Appetit!