Chocolate-dipped Orange Cookies

What a busy week this has been! I was offered the opportunity to make treats for a WEDDING! Now granted, they're being served at the tail-end of the reception, after the cake has been served, but still! The woman (whose son is getting married) said she'd take pictures of the treats on display at the wedding and send them to me, so hopefully I'll get those and be able to post them here, too!

I decided to make three different treats. I made my Cinnamon Pinwheels, Cookies au Creme, and a new recipe: Cake mix cookies! Specifically, chocolate-dipped orange cookies.
I got the recipe from a friend of mine, Nikki (who is amazing in the kitchen). The recipe is reaaally simple. I did an orange cookie, half-dipped in chocolate. I wanted something with a little extra sass, that was also unusual, for people to "ooh" and "ahh" at at the wedding. I think I succeeded with these!

Everybody that I fed these to as samples LOVED them. Not one person thought they were less than amazing!

The great thing about the recipe is that you can use ANY boxed cake mix. Because I couldn't find an actual box of orange cake mix, I used white cake mix and added 4tsp of orange extract. Yummm!

I also used a box of strawberry (See below!) but it had that artificial-strawberry flavor. I've come to the conclusion that strawberry cookies should not exist.

Now, the first time I made these I used my KitchenAid. I also rolled out the dough and cut it into shapes, which probably had to do with why I didn't add any extra flour to the dough itself.

The second time (when I made a batch for work) I used a hand held mixer, and I had to add a LOT of flour to get it to be a good texture. When I scooped them, I used a 1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon to get them the same size.

Cake Mix Cookie Recipe:

• One box cake mix (any flavor)
• Two eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• Flour (Not sure how much-- it varies)
• 4tsp orange extract (if you go for the orange cookies)
• One bag chocolate chips, melted (you pick what sort!)

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 300
• Beat together the cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil.
• If needed, add enough flour to get it to a cookie dough-like consistency.
• Either roll out and cut cookies into shapes, or drop onto cookie sheet.
• If dropping onto cookie sheet, press down so they're about 1/4" thick. They don't seem to spread at all, or VERY little.
• Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until just firm to the touch.
• Leave to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
• Serve plain, or dip in melted chocolate-- or drizzle with melted chocolate.

Note: I used milk chocolate for the orange cookies, and dark chocolate for the strawberry. Try mixing it up!