Nothing beats a classic peanut butter cookie, and nothing really hits the same mark when you’re craving ’em. If you’re getting ready to bake up your favorite batch, lend me your ear for just a second. Let’s talk about a secret tool you may already have in your arsenal that will make baking peanut butter cookies even easier: yellow cake mix. Grab some out of your pantry or pick up your favorite box from the store and let’s get started.
Box cake mix is great to bake with. You have all the necessary dry ingredients in one place, no mess, no fuss, and no having to second-guess your measurements. While there are tons of simple, two-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipes, they all have a similar chewy, super moist texture. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but sometimes, you just want a nice and fluffy batch of peanut butter cookies — ideally without the full hassle of baking. So what will you need for this cookie recipe? Simple. Box cake mix, eggs, creamy peanut butter (though you can use chunky if you really want), and canola or vegetable oil. Use a cup of peanut butter, two eggs, 1/2 cup of oil, and the whole box mix for one batch.
Baking a better box cake mix cookie
Even when you’re using box cake mix, the order of ingredients and how you mix them is still important. First, you’re gonna want to take your wet ingredients — that’s your eggs, peanut butter, and oil — and stir it all together until it’s smooth. Add your dry ingredients next. You can sift it for an extra fluffy dough. Some people suggest adding the cake mix in batches, but I just dump the whole thing in go since it reduces the risk of over-mixing the first scoops you shovel in there. Your dough should be tacky, moist, and relatively smooth with a somewhat crackly texture unless you opted for chunky peanut butter.
Once you’ve got yourself a dough, you can immediately roll it up into little balls and place them on a baking tray. The great thing about these cookies is that they’re already nonstick thanks to the peanut butter and oil, so you don’t have to worry about greasing the sheet. Press the balls down with a fork, doing that fancy little crisscross pattern we all know and love. Then, bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around 10 to 15 minutes until the edges are browned. Even if the center is still soft, don’t worry; that continues cooking after you take the tray out of the oven. With that, you’re done! You’ll have a fresh tray of deliciously warm and ultra-fluffy peanut butter cookies that take basically no effort to put together and bake. In terms of lazy day recipes with maximum tasty results, it’s a real game changer.
