I don’t usually bake with cake mix. I’m not judging you if you do – seriously, we all have different levels of interest in scratch baking, abilities in the kitchen, and demands on our time. Sometimes my friends bake and say, sheepishly, that they used a boxed cookie mix, or refrigerated dough, or a cake mix-based recipe their mom used back in the day. I’m cool with that. Your outcome is far more important than whether you made something from scratch.

These strawberry chocolate chip cookies, which I found over at Sally’s Baking Addiction, use a boxed strawberry cake mix for their base. While I suppose I could have prowled the internet for one that used butter and flour and strawberry puree, I went with the mix version and ended up with some very tasty treats. The strawberry flavor is subtle, but that’s not a bad thing. These fun treats will soon make their way to my goddaughter Mo and her family in Maryland for Valentine’s Day.

Ingredients

• 1 box strawberry cake mix*
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

*I used Pillsbury Moist Supreme Strawberry cake mix.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and baking powder.

In a small bowl, combine oil, eggs, and vanilla; beat to combine, then pour into dry mixture.

Stir very well, until all pockets of dry ingredients are gone, then stir in chocolate chips. I used my hands (messy, but effective) to fully incorporate the chips into the batter.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of dough onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes; do not let cookies brown. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets for 3 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.