Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies (Frugal Food Thursday)

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At the end of last year, I picked up some 2 boxes of cake mix and 2 cans of frosting on sale with coupons.  I used one box of cake mix to make cake pops with my youngest daughter as a special mom/daughter project.  (I'll have to post pictures of that another time!)  But the other cake mix and two cans of frosting remained in the stockpile.

That is, until my eldest thought it would be a yummy snack to spread the frosting on homemade challah bread and eat it.  And then she showed her youngest sisters the snack. Very quickly, the two cans of frosting disappeared.

So, I had one box of cake mix, but no frosting.  Sure, I could have whipped up some frosting to put on a cake.  But instead, I decided to use the cake mix to make something else - cookies!

I was out of snacks for the kids' lunches today, and while wondering what I should make, I saw the box of Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix with a recipe for Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies on the side of the box.  I decided to give it a try, as I had all the ingredients on hand except for lemon zest, so I left it out. (Lemon zest in a chocolate cookie?  Okay...)

The cookies came out, well, cakey.  But still delicious! 

The powdered sugar didn't stick to the cookies quite as well as they did in my Chocolate Crinkles recipe.  But then again, that recipe had the dough made one day and baked the next, whereas these were done in less than half an hour.  It's a tradeoff I'll take.

Another down side: the red dye from the cake mix got all over my hands while I was forming the dough balls.  It was a bit of a mess, I must admit.  But it washed off.

Here's the recipe!

RED VELVET CRINKLE COOKIES
(from Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix box)

6 tbsp butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 box Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place the butter in a microwaveable bowl and microwave for 1 minute or until melted.  Allow to cool.  In a small bowl, combine the confectioner's sugar and cornstarch.

In a large bowl, add the melted butter, cake mix, and eggs.  Mix until a dough forms.  Form dough into 1" balls and cover with the powdered sugar.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.  Continue until all the dough is used up.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to cool completely on wire racks.

Makes about 30 cookies.

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