Admittedly, you could decorate these cookies however you wanted, but this pregnant mama had a sweet craving and with St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner using Lucky Charms just made sense. Plus, I’d definitely say that Lucky Charms are my favorite [sugary] cereal so this choice was pretty much a no-brainer for me.
I was wanting something quick and easy so I opted for a cake mix cookie recipe (which I find always result in the dreamiest, softest cookies). I followed this recipe to make these cookies, but had to make a few adjustments which I will share below.
The recipe, as shared by the author:
INGREDIENTS:
– 1 box white cake mix (any brand)
– stick unsalted butter (melted)
– 1 tsp real vanilla extract
– 2 large eggs
– 1/2 container of frosting
DIRECTIONS:
– Preheat the oven to 350° F.
– While the oven is warming up you’ll melt 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) in the microwave or in a small saucepan.
– Once the butter is melted you can start making the cake mix cookie dough.
– Pour the cake mix into a stand mixer bowl.
– Add in the melted butter, 2 eggs, and 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract.
– Combine on medium speed until dough forms.
– Once the dough forms use a small cookie scoop and place the dough onto a lined baking sheet.
– Flatten the cookie dough balls with the palm of your hand.
– Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown on the bottom.
– Remove the cookies from the pan and then place on a wire rack to cool before frosting.
– Once the cookies are cooled down you can frost with your favorite frosting and add sprinkles.
Firstly, in the recipe above the author suggests using any box of white cake mix, but I think that different brands have slightly different formulas that could change the texture. The author used Pillsbury, but our local grocery store only had Betty Crocker and even though I followed the recipe exactly my dough was definitely a bit “wetter” than the way the author depicted / described. Admittedly, that could be due to the fact the Betty Crocker “Super Moist” white cake mix apparently includes pudding so I would recommend sticking with either Pillsbury or Duncan Hines brands to avoid a sticky mess.
The cookie dough I had to work with was definitely tougher to form, but I managed with a tiny sprinkle of flour and the flat bottom of a glass.
I also don’t own a cookie scoop, so I was only eyeballing the cookie drop amounts which meant that they are not all the same size. I tried to visually make sure the “balls” were roughly an inch and a half, but it was pretty tough to gauge without the aid of a cookie scoop if I’m being honest.
Even though the cookies differed in size I was still able to keep them all the same thickness and, fortunately, they all ended up baking evenly. The baking time was exactly right and the cookies puffed up beautifully (they did spread and the larger cookies ended up touching a little, but it wasn’t too bad). The cookies did deflate a tiny bit while cooling, but not in the way that a soufflé might when you get that dip in the middle — they stayed super even and were easy to frost.
The recipe also suggests that you will only need half of a container of frosting, but I ended up using the entire can of whipped vanilla frosting on the one batch of cookies. Maybe I was a bit generous in my frosting application or maybe the fact that the frosting was whipped (and therefore had more air incorporated?) meant that I would use more frosting, but I think that the recipe suggesting that you’ll only need half of a container of frosting is pretty misleading.
Now, for the decorations! I separated the Lucky Charms marshmallows from the cereal to garnish the cookies — and don’t worry, the cereal was definitely eaten! I absolutely love it even without the tasty marshmallows. I also decided to use my favorite organic sprinkles to accompany the marshmallows; I love their pastel shades!
Wow; I have to say that these cookies did NOT disappoint. They absolutely hit the spot and even my husband loves them! He has a major sweet tooth, but he’s also my toughest critic so I was definitely relieved to hear that he liked the results as well as I did!
I will say that these cookies will definitely keep well for a couple of days if stored in an air-tight container (stacked in layers separated by sheets of wax paper), but once the marshmallows have been applied to the frosting they will begin to absorb some of the frosting’s moisture and become soft instead of having their usual dry “crunch”. They still taste great and the texture wasn’t an issue for us, but I figured I should at least let you know.
The extra fun part about this cookie recipe is that you could really decorate them any way you wanted! You could add some food coloring to the frosting and / or use different candies or cereals to sprinkle on top… this recipe truly makes a very versatile cookie!
Can you believe that it’s been a full year of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.?! My first post of the pandemic was around this same time last year with a Shamrock [Protein] Shake recipe. 🤯 I re-read that post recently and my naiveté on how long we expected the pandemic to last is certainly laughable. 🤣
I hope you enjoy this festive recipe suggestion for St. Patrick’s Day —
Happy baking, friends!
xx, Natalie
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