All-Occasion Cookies and Shortening?

[Chef Mary Rose]

These are my absolute favorite "go-to" recipe for cookies! Last year I made a boatload of cookies for my annual family gift baskets and the simplicity of the recipe was a HUGE help! (The Spice Cookies are one of my favorite variations! :thumbup: )

I know the recipe in the Celebrations Cookbook says to NOT use Vegetable Oil Spread. Call me thick, but does that mean Crisco?

I really want to bake some of these cookies today but I don't have the butter. I have some butter-flavored Crisco, regular Crisco, and some margarine. Has anyone used Crisco for these cookies (that uses a box cake mix)?

(keeping fingers crossed!)

 

[chefann]

Vegetable oil spread is like Shedd's Spread or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. They have a higher water content than margarine. Shortening is almost 100% fat, very little water in it at all.

 

[Chef Mary Rose]

Ah, Ann...you're a peach! Your description makes sense. I don't want a tough cookie, that's for sure!

Last year, one of the "big hits" with my dh was creating the All-Occasion Cookie using the Mint M&M's only available during Christmas. I chopped those babies up, added them to the mix (using the white cake mix) and baked. He was sneaking quite a few of those as I was trying to divvy them up for my baskets. I assured him I'd make some JUST for him but needed those for the baskets! (And I did.)

So. I may try these tonight. If not, definitely tomorrow and I'll let you all know how it goes using (gasp!) Crisco. So far I've only used butter.

Diet? What diet?

BTW, Ann, are you going to Leadership? If so, it would be great to meet you. From reading other posts, you're definitely a helpful resource. Thanks again for responding.

 

[chefann]

I am going - after a huge panicky moment or two when I was told I probably couldn't go. Glad I could help. Let us know if they're any good with the shortening.

 

[Kitchen Diva]

Where is the recipe for these easy and yummy sounding cookies?

 

[Chef Mary Rose]

Kacey,

Here you go: (And don't blame me if you get addicted to them! They are so easy and yummy!)

All-Occasion Cookies (From the "Celebrate" Cookbook)

1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) white cake mix
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 lb. (4 sticks) butter or margarine, divided (do not use vegetable oil spread)
Milk or beaten egg white (optional)
Optional decorations: colored sugar crystals, sprinkles, chopped nuts, decorator icing, melted chocolate or powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In Small Batter Bowl, microwave 2 sticks of the butter on HIGH 1 minute or until melted. Slice remaining butter into 1/2-inch pieces; add to melted butter, tossing to coat. Allow butter to stand 3-5 minutes or until softened.

2. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine cake mix and flour; blend well using Stainless Steel Whisk, breaking up any large lumps. Whisk butter until smooth and free of lumps. If necessary, microwave butter an additional 10-20 seconds or until creamy and pourable. Do not melt completely.

3. Pour butter all at once into dry ingredients, scraping butter from batter bowl. Mix until dry ingredients are incorporated and dough is smooth. (If dough is too stiff to stir, knead by hand until smooth.)

4. Form cookies as desired (either place in the cookie press, roll and cut out into shapes, or use a small scoop to make drop cookies). To decorate cookies before baking, brush unbaked cookies lightly with milk or egg white using Pasty Brush and sprinkle with colored sugar crystals, sprinkles or finely chopped nuts.

5. Bake cookies on the Baking Stone 15-17 minutes or until very light golden brown. Cool 3 minutes on baking stone; remove to Cooling Rack. Cool completely. To decorate cookies after baking, use Decorator Icing or Melted Chocolate, or sprinkle with powdered sugar using Flour/Sugar Shaker.

Flavor Variations:

Chocolate Cookies: Substitute one pkg. (18.25 oz.) devil's food cake mix for the white cake mix.

Peanut Butter Cookies: Substitute one pkg. (18.25 oz.) yellow cake mix for the white cake mix. Add 2/3 cup peanut butter to the softened butter in Step 2; whisk until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients as directed in Step 3.

Spice Cookies: Substitute one pkg. (18.25 oz) yellow cake mix for the white cake mix and add 1 tbsp. Pantry Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend. (NOTE: If you don't have the Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend, you can also use Pumpkin Spice.)

For Drop Cookie Variations: You can add anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the following (or a mixture): chocolate morsels, miniature candy-coated chocolate pieces, toffee bits, chopped nuts or candies, or dried fruit.

That's it! When I gave these cookies away last year, I was seriously acting like a goof as I told everyone the cookies were made with a box cake mix!

Sometimes the smallest things really crack me up!

 

[Kitchen Diva]

Thanks!!! And with 1 pound of butter how can I NOT get addicted?!?!?!

Paula Deen would be so proud of our butter content in these cookies!

Mmmm, I'm gonna try them this week- I just need some cake mix!

 

[Chef Mary Rose]

Kacey,

Heh..(on the butter content). When I describe these cookies to some folks, they get alarmed when I say 4 sticks of butter. But this recipe makes a pretty large amount of cookies.

Using the medium scoop, I usually get around 64 cookies.

 

[Chef Mary Rose]

Okay. An update:The taste of these cookies made with Crisco was phenomenal BUT...they are were flaky!I used a mixture of the butter-flavored Crisco and regular. This was the first time I ever made a cookie recipe with just Crisco. In the past, I have used a mixture of Crisco with butter for some chocolate chip cookies, which turned out beautifully - nice and soft with a very nice "crackled" appearance.My husband said to leave these cookies out and he thinks they'll get firmer. I actually used the small scoop, which is about 1 tbsp. of dough. The recipe made 52 cookies. They ended up being about 2 inches in diameter after baking.Although they were messy, I managed to inhale four of them... ETA: I tested one more. (heheh) Now that they cooled down, they're not flaking as much, so all is well. Still, I think I'd recommend the butter or margarine. I just happened to be short of those but had the Crisco and thought I'd give it a whirl.

 

[chefann]

Crisco has less water than butter or margarine, so it stands to reason that you had the opposite problem from using a spread that had too much water. (Does that make sense? It does in my head.) I bet you could use some shortening with some butter if you only had 2 sticks of butter in the house.

 

[Chef Mary Rose]

Ann,

At first when you mentioned the vegetable spread and I was thinking of water, I thought that more water would make a tough cookie. I don't know if I heard that somewhere, to be honest. With Crisco, I know it makes "flaky" crusts and now I know it can make "flaky" cookies, too!

If I've ever used Crisco with baking, it's always been a "half-and-half" thing and I've used butter. This just happened to be one of the rare times that I had absolutely no butter around, not even two sticks!

 

[chefann]

*gasp* No butter?!? Actually, I have to check my freezer, I think I'm out of salted butter (for toast) and have only unsalted (for baking).