Clean-out-the-Pantry Week: Sugar Cookies

I can say it until my face turns blue: I don't get the same satisfaction from baking straight from a mix as I do when following a recipe of some sort. I don't want to be making the same cake/cookies/whatever that my neighbor is.

But, alas, baking mixes seem to appear randomly in my pantry. While some of them don't do what they were intended, some are just going to have to be plain ol' cookies and muffins.

We've had some handymen doing some work on our windows over the weekend. Apparently, my mother promised them homemade cookies. So, with a Pillsbury Funfetti Cookie Pop Kit sitting there, dangerously close to its “best by” date, I decided to take the shortcut. After all, I'm not going to be eating them. Scratch that. I won't be eating too many.

It's not easy to mess up a mix if you don't mess with the recipe. A stick of butter, an egg, and the mix. I did note that it took a minute longer than called for on the package to get brown around the edges. That might have just been my oven on that day.

I opted not to make them as cookie pops. These are for adults. I also didn't ice all of them – again, it's adults eating them, and they may not appreciate icing and sprinkles (That and the first icing pouch ran out with not that many to go, so I decided to save the other icing pouch for a microwave cake).

Anyway, they came out nice and soft and wonderful, like good sugar cookies are. The guys didn't say anything (come on, they're “manly men”) but so be it. Two thumbs up, because it's hard to mess up a mix.

At least my next clean-out-the-pantry project involves one of my new toys...stay tuned!