Cookies: Mixing it up

For special holiday cookies, Provo author offers '101 Things to Do With Cake Mix'

By Valerie Phillips
Deseret Morning News food editor

Christmas cookies made with a yellow cake mix and embellished with red and green M and Ms, perfect for the holidays. [Jason Olson, Deseret Morning News]

'Tis the season for baking cookies and other goodies. And for people to stress out when they're trying to sandwich their holiday baking in between all the other things on their "to-do" lists.

Stephanie Ashcraft of Provo, author of "101 Things To Do With a Cake Mix," has streamlined her Christmas cookie-baking by using — what else? — cake mixes.

"A neighbor came over with a plate of cookies for us, and she said she had been in the kitchen for four or five days making them," said Ashcraft. "I thought, there's got to be an easier way. You can save time by using a cake mix, and you have 20 different kinds of cookies."

When the Deseret Morning News first wrote about Ashcraft in the spring of 2001, she had just self-published her book and was teaching classes at Macey's stores, showing how to use cake mixes to make muffins, cobblers, cookies and other desserts. In August, the Layton-based publisher Gibbs Smith released a national edition of the book. In mid-October, the book hit No. 9 on the New York Times Best Seller List for paperback advice books.

Quite a feat for a homemaker with two young children.

"We originally put the book together as a way to save money on Christmas gifts, because we both have large families," said Ashcraft. She and her husband, Ivan, gave the book to all their siblings that year and sold copies to people who attended her classes at Macey's.

Stephanie Ashcraft, author of "101 Things to Do With a Cake Mix." [Jason Olson, Deseret Morning News]

"We live in a two-bedroom apartment, and we were printing them on a copy machine in our bedroom, then assembling them in our living room," Ashcraft said. She sold about 7,000 copies through her Web site, Deseret Book and word-of-mouth before seeking a national publisher.

"We've sold about 40,000 copies since mid-August," said Alison Einerson, marketing director at Gibbs Smith. "Last week, 850 copies were sold through Barnes & Noble."

Ashcraft plans to follow up with a cake-mix sequel and has co-authored another book due out in September, "101 Things To Do With A Slow-Cooker" (or "Crock-Pot," if the Rival Company allows her to use its trademarked name).

Her holiday classes have been popular at Macey's, where she shows how to make Christmas cookies with a cake mix. (If you've missed them, you can catch her Dec. 12 demonstration in the Bosch Kitchen Store, 8940 S. 700 East, Sandy; register at 562-1212.)

The basic mix recipe makes a dough with a Play-Doh like consistency. Then you can dress them up by adding chocolate, butterscotch and other flavored chips, colored sprinkles, candies and so on. For soft, chewy cookies, don't overbake, she cautions. Take them out of the oven when the edges start turning golden brown, but the tops are still pale. The residual heat from the pan will finish baking them.

There are many ways to package cookies and their ingredients including jars, canisters and festive holiday bags. [Jason Olson, Deseret Morning News]

If you prefer a more traditional approach, we've got recipes for two Christmas favorites, gingersnaps and sugar cookies. The gingersnap recipe comes from Dianna Barton of Kaysville — it's a family tradition passed down from her mother, Judy Woodland. The sugar cookie uses sour cream to make them softer than the usual brittle decorated cookie. It also uses cream of tartar, an acidic white powder, which acts as a leavening agent with the soda.

For those who are short on time, here is Ashcraft's basic Christmas cookie recipe, with a list of options. You can also consider making bar cookies, which are less labor-intensive.

How to package them: Consider fancy plates from second-hand stores, small baskets, cellophane gift bags tied with ribbons and decorated tins. Another idea: pack them in a glass pie plate or casserole dish with the recipient's name sand-blasted on the bottom. Laura Jenkins at Handy Hollow Creations, Fruit Heights, will personalize clear glass pans with names and/or a design. Cost is $2.50 to $20, depending on the type of dish and the labor involved 801-444-0939 or sandblasterz@hotmail.com.

HOLIDAY COOKIES

Basic dough:

1 box yellow or chocolate cake mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs

Mix all ingredients well. Drop by spoonfuls using small cookie scoop. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees or until done.
Divide the dough in fourths or sixths, and make 6-8 cookies of each variation.

1. 1. Add chopped nuts; knead into dough.
2. Mix one part cinnamon and four parts sugar in small bowl. Drop balls of (yellow cake mix) dough into mixture and shake around before baking. These taste like snickerdoodles.
3. Wrap scoop of dough around candy bar pieces, such as Andes Mints, caramels, Hershey's Treasures, bite-size Snickers, Milky Way, etc.
4. Knead M&Ms, other other mini-candies, chocolate chips, vanilla chips or other flavored chips into the dough.
5. Roll dough with hands into snake ropes. Drop into red sugar crystals and intertwine with yellow cake rope and make candy canes. Or use green and make wreaths and decorate with Red Hot candies.
6. Add a little lemon or orange zest (grated peel) into dough.
7. Roll out and make sugar cookies with cookie cutters. Sprinkle with colored sugar crystals.
8. Make sandwich cookies. Take two cookies and place frosting in between. Chocolate stars with sugar on top and lemon-zested frosting (vanilla canned frosting with added lemon zest) in between are really good.
9. Make a filled cookie by placing the filling between two layers of dough, cutting and sealing the edges. Fill with strawberry or apricot preserves.
10. Wrap chocolate dough around a maraschino cherry.
11. Make cookie tarts with a mini-muffin pan or tart shaper. Fill dough with miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, or chocolate chips, and bake. Or fill baked empty tarts with a mousse or pudding.
12. Make a bar cookie in a 9-by-13-inch cake pan.
13. Use plain dough in a cookie press. Recipe from Stephanie Ashcraft.

GINGERSNAPS

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening (Crisco)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cloves (ground)
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons soda
3 1/2-4 cups flour

Cream together butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, soda and flour. Roll in walnut-size balls. Bake 6-7 minutes. Do not overbake. Sprinkle with sugar. Remove from cookie sheet to cool. Recipe from Judy Woodland, Dianna Barton.

SOFT SUGAR COOKIES

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (or real margarine, not a spread)
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream together sugar, butter, sour cream and vanilla. Add eggs, mixing well. Add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt, and mix until combined. Cover the dough and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight. Roll dough out on a floured surface and cut into shapes, using cookie cutters (or a ring from a canning jar lid for circles).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 7-8 minutes on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper, or that are greased or sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Don't over-bake; these will just be tinged with brown on the edges. Allow to cool and decorate as desired.