Cool Whip Cookies...Who Knew?

Last week, pretty much the entire East Coast was getting ready for Hurricane Irene, including me. The newscasters, mayors, governors, and everyone else were all going into complete panic and as a Mom, instead of being excited...well, I went into panic too.

After stocking up on water, running out to buy unscented candles (do you know how hard it is to find UNSCENTED CANDLES!!! I mean, really...scented candles are nice, but I don't need the house to smell like vanilla boiled crisped linens dried on grass in the clouds when there's a MAJOR storm coming), gathering all flashlights and batteries, moving outdoor crap indoors, tying down the larger outdoor crap, and cursing Irene who I renamed "The Bitch".....after all that, I remembered that I needed to make ice, in case we needed to use a cooler. In order to make ice, I needed room in the freezer.

I have one of those side by side refrigerators where nothing fits. It's the only regret I have when it comes to my kitchen. I love EVERYTHING about my kitchen, I designed it myself. It's large, it's fun, it's colorful, it's different (who else has a jukebox in their kitchen?)...but that fridge? That fridge looks so big, but fits nothing. Biggest kitchen related mistake I ever made. If anyone out there is thinking of buying a new refrigerator, do NOT get the side by side fridge/freezer. You won't be able to fit a darn thing. Especially if you either have a large family or like to entertain most holidays and celebrations, like I do.

As I was rummaging through the freezer and trying to decide what to toss, what to make my kids eat, and what to defrost to make dinner, I came across a big tub of Cool Whip that was just taking up unnecessary space that I needed for storing ice. I remembered reading a long time ago that you can make cookies out of Cool Whip and Cake Mix.

I took it out to defrost and did a quick Google to see if I remembered correctly and if I needed anything else. I'm almost always stocked up on Boxed Cake Mix, because I'm not much of a baker. So I figured: it's rainy, I don't want to waste the Cool Whip, the kids are bored, we can have cookies to snack on during our little Hurricane Party.

After googling, I was right. Cool Whip Cookies are a real thing. All you need are:
a box of the cake mix flavor of your choice
8 ounces of Cool Whip
1 egg
powdered sugar
2 bored kids stuck in the house on a rainy day (optional)

I had a large tub of Cool Whip (16 ounces), so with two bored kids, it made sense to make two batches. I let them choose what flavor cake mix each, and off we went to have some kitchen fun while we awaited Irene's Wrath.

This is a GREAT project for kids because it's so simple. It's also quick, so they won't get bored with it. And they taste great!!

First, mix the Cool Whip with the egg. Then dump in the cake mix of your choice. Mix it all together and you will have a really sticky, almost glossy dough. It's really, really sticky. So we stuck the bowl of dough in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes to firm it up a bit.

Then, with a cookie dough scooper (or very small ice cream scooper) we scooped out little balls of dough and dropped them in a bowl of Powdered Sugar. Gave the dough ball a little roll, then moved it to a cookie sheet.

We baked them for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. When we took them out, we transferred the cookies carefully to a cooling rack (the cookies are very soft). On the rack, they firmed up a bit more.

They look great. All crackled like old fashion, home baked cookies. And they taste great. I thought the rolling of them in Powdered Sugar was a bit of an overkill, so next time, I'm just going to give the cookies a light dusting of sugar and call it a day.


The kids LOVED them! The funny thing is, my daughter chose to make the Yellow Cake Mix and she really liked the Devil Food Mix that my son picked who in returned loved the Yellow Cake Mix that my daughter picked....did you get that?


You can tell two different "chefs" made them too. The vanilla ones are bigger and spread out more. The chocolate ones were higher and smaller. I wonder why?

The cookies are soft cookies. Very moist. Almost like a cross between a blondie/brownie and a cookie. They go awesome with a cold glass of milk. And the best part (besides being an awesome snack) the home baked smells and taste were so comforting. They made the house feel safe and cozy even with a big storm headed our way.