Cooking with Kelly: Party Popper Cake Mix Cookie Recipe

Happy almost Christmas! 'Tis the season for cookie exchanges, office parties and kid get togethers. We've had our fair share here, and in addition to Girl Scouts meetings and school parties, there's Santa to consider too. I hear he prefers dark chocolate and barrel-aged stouts, but the small ones insisted cookies are more his speed.

Luckily, I had a box of Pillsbury Purely Simple White Cake Mix from my December DeGustaBox, so it was basically a short cut to homemade cookies for all the festivities. It was so easy, my 7-year-old stepdaughter did most of it solo.

I used three different types of sprinkles, which made the final cookie reminiscent of the inside of the party poppers you see around New Year's. I would suggest using sprinkles instead of something like sanding sugar, which would just blend in with the cookie. I went with multiple colors, but you could easily coordinate these with holiday colors or a party theme.

Another bonus of these cookies is that the dough doesn't need to be chilled before baking. Start to finish, these take 20 minutes and rely on pantry staples.

Party Popper Cake Mix Cookie Recipe

1 box white cake mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the cake mix and baking powder. Mix together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, the stir to combine. Once you've formed a dough, fold in the sprinkles gently to avoid color bleeding.

Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for nine minutes, then rotate the pans and bake for another three minutes. Remove when the cookies are set and slightly toasted, but not brown.

Cool on the baking sheets for five minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.