This weekend is our annual Girls Weekend with my friends from high school/college.  I cannot wait!  Once a year for the past 13 (14?) years, the five of us travel from our respective geographic locations to convene at one of our homes for what we lovingly refer to as “Foodfest”.  We basically pick a “when” and “where” a few months in advance, then spend countless email hours planning the most important part–the menu.  Sometimes we pick a theme for our cuisine (e.g., make-your-own-pizzas, Mexican, finger foods/appetizers, etc.) and sometimes we just wing it (like this year).  We may or may not have also incorporated certain party themes in years past (e.g., New Kids on the Block, Totally ‘80s, Michael Jackson’s “Black or White”) to the embarrassment of our husbands/significant others.  No matter what, the food is always the focus of the weekend!

For whatever reason, this year’s menu was all over the place.  We waited until the last second to plan (despite the fact that we picked the date 4 months in advance), then none of us could decide what to bring (and there was no theme for guidance).  To make life easier, I went with two old standbys:  chocolate chip cookies (at the request of my good friend, Katie) and funfetti cookies (to satisfy my own craving).

The first time I had funfetti cookies was on Easter around 5 years ago.  I live 5 hours away from my family, so I never go home for Easter since it’s on a Sunday.  My husband is Jewish, so his family doesn’t celebrate.  That leaves us alone for the holiday, and I always do my best to make it special.  That year, we invited our friends Sara (a member of the Foodfest crew) and Jordan over for Easter dinner.  I made lasagna and all the fixings, and Sara brought dessert, introducing me to funfetti cookies for the first time!  I was in love.  Deeply.  We all know I love cake.  And frosting.  And now I can have cake and frosting packaged in a neat little cookie that I can make in less than an hour.  I am forever in your debt, Sara!

Funfetti cookies are seriously simple.  Four ingredients.  Mix, bake, frost, eat.  That’s it.  You can even go the super-lazy route and just drop the cookies onto the cookie sheet instead of rolling into balls and flattening with a glass.  The super-lazy route gives you a thicker, less uniformly shaped cookie.  They are delicious either way.  Confession:  I almost always take the super-lazy route, but today I did the flattening thing so I could decorate the cookies for Halloween.

The other great thing about funfetti cookies is the price.  You can almost always find the cake mix and frosting on sale, so you only need to spend a few dollars to make cookies everyone will love.  Plus you can buy an extra cake mix and frosting when they are on sale to have on hand for unexpected baking occasions (you know, like Saturdays).  I think Pillsbury caught onto this, because they now sell a specific “Funfetti Cookie” mix, which costs more than the funfetti cake mix and doesn’t make as many cookies.  Don’t fall for their trap–just buy the cake mix.

Note:  This was the first time I used chocolate frosting on funfetti cookies.  I used it for looks and because I had a can of chocolate frosting open already in the fridge.  Chocolate frosting is my favorite, but I am proclaiming that funfetti cookies are better with vanilla frosting.  That’s just my humble opinion though.  Try both for yourself!

Funfetti Cookies

Print

Yield: 24 cookies

Serving Size: 1 cookie

Ingredients

• 1 pkg Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 (15.6 oz) can Pillsbury Funfetti vanilla frosting
• Decorations—candy, sprinkles, food coloring, etc.

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Stir with a rubber spatula until thoroughly moistened.
3. Using your hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Dip the flat bottom of a glass in flour and use it to flatten each ball, dipping in flour as needed.
5. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.
6. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then remove to wire rack and cool completely.
7. Once cookies are completely cooled, decorate as desired using frosting and sprinkles.

Notes

Instead of rolling the dough into balls and flattening with a glass, you can drop the dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. This gives you thicker, less uniformly shaped cookies. They are delicious either way.

Adapted from Pillsbury Funfetti Cookies

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http://www.sweetsbeforeeats.com/funfetti-cookies/