Zebra Cake, Using Marble Cake Mix

I'd been intrigued by a cute Duff zebra cake mix. (Love those stripes!) But it was so much more expensive than household names like Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, and Pillsbury. In googling"zebra cake", I found a wealth of resources—especially how to create the stripey effect.

A particularly easy, non-Duff way to make a yummy zebra cake with using only one box of mix is getting marble cake mix. My store carried marble cake mix from only Duncan Hines. Surprisingly, Pillabury and Betty Crocker seem to have ceded the marble cake market to Duncan Hines, as googling those mix products indicates.

My pixstrip shows the following image areas:

1. ingredients
2. equipment
3. prepared pans (spray oil with parchment paper)
4. mixed cake batter, pre-cocoa powder
5. scooping of 2 C batter into another bowl
6. mixing of chocolate cake batter
7. dispensing of batters into the pans, alternating colors
8. baked cakes
9. parchment paper removal
10. frosted cake
11. frosted cake with slice showing zebra effect

Ingredients

• 1 box marble cake mix
• ingredients for recipe, using the box info for guide
  • eggs
  • cooking oil
  • water
• spray oil
• frosting of your choice

Implements

• mixing bowls
• measuring cups for oil and water
• 1/4 C measuring cups for dispensing different color batters
• rubber spatula(s)
• electric mixer
• 2 round cake pans
• cooling rack(s)

Additional (straggler) items

• parchment paper as desired
• knife for spreading frosting
• cake plate

Instructions (Have the cake mix box handy! And watch the YouTube video for more details.)

1. Preheat the oven (350°).
2. Prepare baking pans. (I used parchment paper and cooking spray.)
3. Prepare the batter as instructed on the box, up till blending in the cocoa powder. (I mixed wet ingredients, then mixed in the cake mix powder.)
4. Pour 2 C of the batter into a smaller bowl.
5. In the bowl of remaining batter, pour the cocoa powder and blend together.
6. Use the two 1/4 C measuring cups to alternate pouring light and dark batters into the two pans. (Afterward, if desired, weigh the two filled pans to confirm the amounts are close to equal. Adjust as desired.)
7. Bake for about 22 minutes. YMMV
8. Test cake(s) for doneness with toothpick.
9. Remove the pans of cake and place on cooling rack(s) for about 15 minutes for cooling.
10. Decorate as fancy as you wish. Conventional, not-too-fussy decorating is as follows:
    1. Place one layer upside down on a plate and decorate the exposed side
    2. Place the other layer right side up on the first layer.
    3. Frost the sides.
    4. Frost the top.

Post-recipe Thoughts
Seems I wound up with slightly more chocolatey batter than white batter. Maybe next time I'd set aside slightly more of the lighter color cake batter. Maybe the cocoa powder wound up adding more bulk to the chocolate batter than I anticipated.

November 19, 2016: Visit "Zebra Cake, Using Two Half Boxes of Mix" for another zebra cake methodology. It requires only slightly more effort, but has a lot more flexibility for flavors and brands.

Confetti Cupcake Bites

My recipe makes half-size cupcakes, using nonpareils and jimmies in two half batches during one baking session. Contrast the results of the sprinkle types, and decide on your own single or duo sprinkle-type morsels. I've been dancing around using both kinds of sprinkles for cake mix cookies in a couple of previous recipe articles. This time, I'm talking about using cake mix for actual cake.

In case you're unfamiliar with differences between nonpareils and jimmies, "Sprinkles, Demystified: An Explanation of All Types" explains a main difference as shape—round for nonpareils and cylindrical for jimmies.

Round Sprinkles: These can more specifically be referred to as nonpareils. These are those teeny-tiny round balls that can come in a single color or in rainbow.

Cylinder Sprinkles: Sprinkles with a cylinder shape are made by mixing up a paste ...a little slower to “bleed” color than the nonpareil type of sprinkle. ....In some parts of the United States, particularly Pennsylvania and the Northeast, this type of sprinkle (the chocolate type in particular, it seems) are referred to as “Jimmies”.

Caution: Nonpareils "bleed" rather readily in moisture, even more so with cake batter than with cooky dough as in my "Rainbow Nonpareil Cake Mix Cookies" recipe. Thus, minimize time and effort when stirring nonpareils into batter.

My pixstrip shows the following image areas:

1. Implements
2. Ingredients
3. Mixed cake mix batter
4. Batter divided into two Pyrex bowls—with nonpareils in the left bowl and jimmies in the right bowl
5. Each batter type in separate cupcake pans
6. Baked cupcakes
7. Cut sample cupcakes for visual contrast
8. Some cupcake bites arranged in a tin

Implements

• Mixing bowl
• Electric mixer
• Cup for eggs
• Measuring cup(s) for dispensing batter
• Tablespoon measuring spoon for measuring sprinkles
• Spatula for scraping batter
• Same-size bowls if making separate batches of nonpareil and jimmies batter (If making only one kind of cupcake, skip using these two bowls.)
• Cupcake pans

Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Golden Vanilla.)
• Eggs (as listed on box)
• Cooking oil (as listed on box)
• Water (as listed on box)
• Sprinkles as follows (option a, b, or c—pixtrip shows option "a".):
  1. 2 T nonpareils for 1/2 recipe, 4 T jimmies for the other 1/2 recipe
  2. 4 T nonpareils for a whole recipe
  3. 8 T jimmies for a whole recipe
• Spray oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Spray pans with oil.
3. Follow box instructions for mixing powder, eggs, oil, and water together.
4. If making separate nonpareil and jimmies recipes, divide the cake batter equally into two bowls. (I used two Pyrex bowls and evened out the weights.) If making a batch with only one type of sprinkles, skip this step.
5. Add the sprinkles.
• When using nonpareils, measure and very lightly stir them into the batter to minimize color "bleed".
• When using jimmies, measure and stir them into the batter, but don't worry about color "bleed".
6. Scoop the batter into the pan wells, each about 3/4 full. (For more crunch in the nonpareil version, sprinkle an additional pinchful over each well after dispensing the batter.)
7. Bake for about 17-20 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick.
8. Remove the baked cupcakes. Tilt them in the wells or place them onto a cooling rack to cool.
9. Frost if desired. Beware of extra effort required and added calories in gilding the lily.

Post-Recipe Thoughts
Interestingly, the heat seemed to cause the jimmies to diffuse. That is, after baking, the jimmies looked wavy instead of retaining their rod shapes. But the jimmies morsels didn't bleed and change the cake color like the nonpareil morsels did.

When working with nonpareils, remember that they're itty bitty spheres. When I first opened the jar, I tilted it. Out came several orbs, rolling freely on the table, a challenge to easily stop their willy-nilly, runaway movements.

Cake mixes that already contain jimmies are available. When I made the jimmies version of cake mix cookies, using Betty Crocker's Party Rainbow Chip mix, I didn't think to sift it to measure the amount of jimmies. Maybe some day I'll break down and buy another box, remembering to check out the amount of jimmies before baking something.

Rainbow Nonpareil Cake Mix Cookies

Multicolor sprinkle decorations for packaged cookies, cakes, and cake mixes tend to more often be jimmies than nonpareils. These cookies vary from the ones I made when I used the Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip cake mix. Instead of using cake mix that already includes multicolor jimmies, I used basic cake mix and added rainbow nonpareils. (Wilton's product name is Rainbow Nonpareils.)

"Sprinkles, Demystified: An Explanation of All Types" explains a main difference as shape—round for nonpareils and cylindrical for jimmies.

Round Sprinkles: These can more specifically be referred to as nonpareils. These are those teeny-tiny round balls that can come in a single color or in rainbow.

Cylinder Sprinkles: Sprinkles with a cylinder shape are made by mixing up a paste ...a little slower to “bleed” color than the nonpareil type of sprinkle. ....In some parts of the United States, particularly Pennsylvania and the Northeast, this type of sprinkle (the chocolate type in particular, it seems) are referred to as “Jimmies”.

My pixstrip shows the following image areas:

1. Implements
2. Ingredients
3. Stirred cake mix and nonpareils (dry ingredients)
4. Stirred eggs and oil (wet ingredients)
5. Blended dry and wet ingredients in the larger bowl
6. Raw dough in pan
7. Baked cookies in pan
8. Cookies on a cooling rack (some flipped back to right side up)

Implements

• Cooky pan(s)
• Pastry blender
• Mixing bowls (one medium-large, one small)
• Measuring cup (optional for cracking eggs individually before pouring them into bowl)
• Tablespoon for measuring out cooky dough
• Spatula for scraping dough onto pan
• Cooky spatula for lifting and transferring baked cookies
• Cooling rack for baked cookies

Ingredients

• 1 box vanilla cake mix (I used Betty Crocker French Vanilla.)
• 4 Tablespoons Wilton Rainbow Nonpareils
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup cooking oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Use the pastry blender to stir the cake mix powder and nonpareils together in a medium-large bowl.
3. Use the pastry blender to stir the eggs and oil together in a small bowl.
4. Pour the eggs and oil mixture into the larger bowl and combine the ingredients.
5. Use a round tablespoon to scoop the dough. Shape to rounded, level, or concave height.
6. Drop the spoon's dough onto the cooky sheet, using the rubber spatula to ease out each lump.
7. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.
8. Use the cooky spatula to lift and transfer the done cookies onto cooling rack.

The batch made 38 cookies, ~65 calories each.

Post-Recipe Thoughts
Those nonpareils in these cookies "bled" slightly into the dough during mixing, turning the dough a light bluish gray. Interestingly, enough of the nonpareils' texture remained so that after baking, the cookies still had some crunchiness within the soft texture. Eh, at some time, I should try another cooky batch with jimmies in an egg-oil-powder dough to see if the jimmies bleed.

A few months ago, I actually did bake a jimmies version, using Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip cake mix, but I used butter instead of oil. Looking at pix I had taken of the process for "EZ Buttery Confetti Cake Mix Cookies", the jimmies did not bleed and tint the egg-oil-powder dough.

The nonpareils came free with a supermarket promotion. Normal price would run about $1.75 for the 3-ounce jar. The four tablespoons amounted to over half the jar, thus, about a dollar's worth. Cake mix tends to run slightly more than a dollar for a 15.25-ounce box. The oil cost about 30¢, and the eggs cost about 34¢.

If I calculate the cookies as having free nonpareils, each cooky comes to a little over 4¢. If I include nonpareil price, each cooky comes to about 9¢. Sure, a big price difference. OTOH, you make them fresh instead of buying them from a store or bakery. Yum—freshness and lower cost!

For a quick reference to price of eggs and oil, scroll to the bottom table at "Whataburger Pancakes, Mix, or Scratch". (I calculated costs of scratch pancake ingredients, an egg and oil being two of the items.)

Baking Cookies with Trader Joe Cake MIx

I was visiting a relative and wanted to bake some cookies using cake mix, eggs, and oil. She showed me her two boxes of cake mix, a Trader Joe's Golden Yellow cake mix, and a Duff's Zebra cake mix. I chose TJ's. This baking experiment produced results that differ from my standard cake mix cookies.

Standard cake mixes from Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, and Pillsbury weigh 15.25 ounces each these days. (Grrr! They used to weigh 18.25 ounces apiece.) The Trader Joe mix was 28 ounces. Funny thing, though, is that the pan and well sizes all claim the same thing—2 8" or 9" round layers, 9" x 13" rectangle sheet, or 24 cupcakes.

Wasn't sure I wanted to double my usual added ingredients (2 eggs and 1/3 cup of oil) for making the cookies because TJ weighed nearly twice as much as DH, BC, or Pillsbury. So I hedged my bets. My relative had larger eggs on hand than I usually do, so I used three. For the oil, I upped the amount to 1/2 cup. I should have taken TJ's cake ingredient requirements to be added into account—3 eggs, 1 cup water, 1 cup oil. BC, DH, and Pillsbury each call for 3 eggs, 1 cup or so water, and 1/2 cup oil—half the oil that TJ calls for.

Forged ahead with making the cooky dough with the pastry blender, then shaping cookies onto pans and baking at 350° for about 12 minutes each pan. The yield was 56 cookies. They tasted ok for not having additional enhancements.

Post-Baking Thoughts

• The cookies stuck to the pan, requiring scraping with a spatula. Would put in 2/3 cup total oil AND spray the pans with spray oil.
• I was correct to use more oil and eggs than normal, and ignoring TJ's yield prediction of same amount as BC, DH, and Pillsbury. TJ's yield was 56, compared to the other brands of about mid- to high 30s.
• Would put in maybe 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract for extra zing.
• Would add chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, or combinations for additional textures.

My Non-TJ Cake Mix Cooky Recipes (Try 'em!)

• EZ Buttery Confetti Cake Mix Cookies
• Minty Choco Chip Cake Mix Cookies
• Diff Kinda Choco-chip Cake Mix Cookies
• PC Cookies
• Cake Mix Macaroon Cookies
• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch--German Chocochip Bites
• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch--Easter
• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch

EZ Buttery Confetti Cake Mix Cookies

This recipe features Betty Crocker Party Rainbow Chip cake mix. Over the years, seems that companies have used labels like "party", "birthday party", "funfetti", and "confetti" for including the colorful, sugar mini-rod decorations. Hmmm, BC's webpage shows a Rainbow Chip cake mix, but omits "Party" from the product title and URL.

I'd been curious for a long while about using butter instead of cooking oil in my cake mix cooky recipes. (Try "cookies" in the search field at the upper left.) Rather than use a single-flavor cake mix, I decided on the confetti-ish mix. Interesting contrast between using butter and oil. The process is slightly different with softening the butter first. The buttery cookies came out softer and fluffier than cookies that I used oil instead.

My pixstrip shows the following image areas:

1. Implements
2. Ingredients
3. Softened and slightly stirred butter
4. The butter and two eggs
5. Blended butter and eggs
6. Blended butter, eggs, and cake mix
7. Raw dough in pan
8. Baked cookies in pan
9. Cookies on a cooling rack (some flipped back to right side up)

Implements

• Cooky pan(s)
• Pastry blender
• Mixing bowl
• Measuring cup (optional for cracking eggs individually before pouring them into bowl)
• Tablespoon for measuring out cooky dough
• Spatula for scraping dough onto pan
• Cooky spatula to lift and transfer baked cookies
• Cooling rack for baked cookies

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup soft butter (2/3 stick)
• 1 box Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip cake mix

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Soften the butter in the microwave oven as necessary.
3. Combine the butter and eggs.
4. Use the pastry blender to stir the cake mix powder into the butter and eggs mixture.
5. Use a round tablespoon to scoop the dough. Shape to rounded, level, or concave height.
6. Drop the spoon's dough onto the cooky sheet, using the rubber spatula to ease out each lump.
7. Bake for about 9 to 10 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.
8. Use the cooky spatula for lifting and transferring the done cookies onto cooling rack.

The batch made 39 cookies, ~57 calories each. I did spot some other cake mix recipes using the Betty Crocker Party Rainbow Chip cake mix, but several added frosting atop the cookies. Adding the frosting seems to be gilding the lily, adding more calories and sweetness, in addition to using more time and effort. Assuming a hypothetical distribution of an entire 16-oz can of Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Vanilla frosting, each cooky would have an additional ~47 calories—13 servings x 140 calories/serving ÷ 39 cookies = 46.7 calories/cooky.

Post-Recipe Thoughts
Another time, I'll try making cookies that emulate my "Krusteaz Choco Caramel Squares" from my previous article. However, I'll try making individual round cookies instead of a single slab that I cut up later. Haven't decided whether to use tablespoon/spatula method or use my cooky shooter to dispense the dough.

Fresh-Shred Zucchini Mini-Muffins (Square)

My previous article was a recipe for round mini-muffins, which I initially thought came out a little crier and chewier than I expected. I wondered if maybe vertical-side wells might make a difference. For this batch of 36 mini-muffins (same volume as 12 regulars), everything's the same except for using square silicone pans.

My pixstrip shows ten image areas:

1. Dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar)
2. Wet ingredients (eggs, oil, vanilla)
3. The wet ingredients, plus grated zucchini
4. Implements
5. Partial view of the implements, plus spray oil
6. Bowl of stirred dry ingredients, bowl of stirred oil, eggs, and vanilla, and jar with shredded (or grated) zucchini (Yes, you do need to pre-process some zucchini for this recipe.)
7. Bowl of stirred dry ingredients, bowl of stirred oil, eggs, vanilla, and the grated zucchini
8. Bowl of the ingredients (now batter), stirred together
9. Batter in square silicone pans (using only 1 and a half pans), which I sprayed oil on before filling with batter
10. Baked square mini-muffins

Implements

• square silicone mini-cupcake-volume pans
• large mixing bowl
• medium small mixing bowl
• pastry blender or wire whip
• measuring cup
• measuring spoons
• cooling rack for done muffins

Ingredients

• Dry, listed in the order that the 2nd pic shows
• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 3/4 C sugar
• Wet (and also zucchini), listed in the order that the 3rd pic shows
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 C oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 1/2 C fresh, shredded or grated zucchini

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Measure and pour the dry ingredients into the larger mixing bowl, blending them together with a pastry blender or wire whip.
3. In the smaller bowl, mix the wet ingredients, then stir in the zucchini.
4. Pour the mixed wet ingredients with zucchini into the larger bowl and stir the ingredients until they're moistened.
5. Spray oil into the pan wells.
6. Scoop about a rounded tablespoon spoonful of batter into each well.
7. Bake for about 13 to 17 minutes or until the muffins are lightly browned. (Use toothpick test for doneness if desired.)

Post-Recipe Thoughts
Gee, they came out sooo cute! And they popped out of the flexible pans so easily. I turned each pan upside down, flexed it, and gently pressed from the back. I did pulled some from the topside, but the effort seemed a lot easier and faster than extracting the morsels from aluminum pans.

Another upside about silicone pans, besides easy fall out (grin), is each pan compactly having 24 wells, while my aluminum pans have only 12 wells. Mini-muffin pans with 24 wells are available, but I myself am not inclined to replace pans I already have. A downside to the silicone pans, because of its floppy nature, is needing a rigid pan underneath for physical support. On the other other hand, one of those rigid pans was convenient for flipping the freshly baked square mini-muffins into.

Were these square mini-muffins more moist and less doughy than the round ones? I thought so. My co-worker who brought me the zucchini wasn't sure, but then, he had liked the round mini-muffins fine. Another friend whom I gave some square mini-muffins to was very enthusiastic about them. Well, gotta do a followup experiment where I use both pans!

That batch will be a 3/4 recipe (3 eggs and appropriate proportions that are based on the Betty Crocker and Paula Dean amount of ingredients for zucchini bread). I'll put batter in both types of pans. The only other difference will be using shredded zucchini that I have stored in the freezer. I'll try not to crush or squeeze the thawed squash.

Will also see if the material (silicone) could itself could affect the outcome. One site has commenters talking about time required. Another site talks about odors.

8/21/2014—Published today! I contrast zucchini mini-muffins for round (aluminum pan) and square (silicone pan), pan positioning in the oven, and using previously frozen vs. fresh-shred zucchini. This article is the followup to July 2014 zucchini mini-muffin recipes, complete with pixstrip.

Fresh-Shred Zucchini Mini-Muffins (Round)

Make use of the abundance of zucchini! These round mini-muffins are 1/3 the volume of regular cupcakes. They're good for snacking when you don't want to commit to eating a larger unit. For potluck events, the small size helps spread the goodies around, particularly if lots of other desserts are available.

I wanted to find a zucchini bread recipe that fulfilled the following conditions:

• Easy to make
• Reasonable number of ingredients that are easily btainable
• Easily convertible to mini-muffin portions
• Recipe yield that could be easily downsized if appropriate

The Betty Crocker recipe fulfilled the conditions, and more.

• Bread pan sizes, with baking times
• Cupcake pan usage, with baking times and instructions
• Recipe deviations, including substituting canned pumpkin
• Nutritional stats
• Easy-to-follow numbered steps

In poking around the web for zucchini bread recipes, I noticed most yield two loaves. Because the Betty Crocker recipe conveniently noted the cupcake quantity yield, I decided to hunt for recipes that easily divided by half. BC filled the divisibility condition with the call for four eggs. Numerous other recipes called for three—not so easily divided.

I wasn't totally sold on using only the BC recipe. I didn't want to add nuts, cloves, raisons. I also wanted to find recipes that called for nutmeg, which is something I use seldom and have a lot of. Paula Deen's recipe calls for nutmeg and four eggs. Convenient! She does also call for water, lemon juice, and nuts (option), which I skipped in my recipe.

The two recipes varied from each other for quantity of main ingredients—zucchini, oil, flour, sugar, salt. My version of the recipe is for mini-muffins (36). Based on the Betty Crocker recipe, however, you can consider that the yield equals one loaf or 12 cupcake-size muffins. (Refer to the BC recipe for those baking times.)

My pixstrip shows ten image areas:

1. Dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar)
2. Wet ingredients (eggs, oil, vanilla)
3. The wet ingredients, plus grated zucchini
4. Implements
5. Partial view of the implements, plus spray oil
6. Bowl of stirred dry ingredients, bowl of stirred oil, eggs, and vanilla, and jar with shredded (or grated) zucchini (Yes, you do need to pre-process some zucchini for this recipe.)
7. Bowl of stirred dry ingredients, bowl of stirred oil, eggs, vanilla, and the grated zucchini
8. Bowl of the ingredients (now batter), stirred together
9. Batter in mini-muffin pans, which I sprayed oil on before filling with batter
10. Baked round mini-muffins

Implements

• mini-cupcake pans
• large mixing bowl
• medium small mixing bowl
• pastry blender or wire whip
• measuring cup
• measuring spoons
• cooling rack for done muffins

Ingredients

• Dry, listed in the order that the 2nd pic shows
• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 3/4 C sugar
• Wet (and also zucchini), listed in the order that the 3rd pic shows
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 C oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 1/2 C fresh, shredded or grated zucchini

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Measure and pour the dry ingredients into the larger mixing bowl, blending them together with a pastry blender or wire whip.
3. In the smaller bowl, mix the wet ingredients, then stir in the zucchini.
4. Pour the mixed wet ingredients with zucchini into the larger bowl and stir the ingredients until they're moistened.
5. Spray oil into the pan wells.
6. Scoop about a rounded tablespoon spoonful of batter into each well.
7. Bake for about 13 to 17 minutes or until the muffins are lightly browned. (Use toothpick test for doneness if desired.)

Post-Recipe Thoughts
I thought the mini-muffins seemed a little chewy (doughy?) and drier than I expected. I brought some in to share with the co-worker who gave me the zucchini. He thought they came out great! I speculated pan well shape might affect the texture and moistness outcome. My next recipe article describes using square mini-muffin-capacity silicone pans instead of the round aluminum pans.

I recall Paula Deen's recipe calls for 1/3 cup (5 1/3 T) of water in her double recipe, which would be 2 2/3 T for a half recipe like mine. I might try adding some water in a future batch.

8/21/2014—Published today! I contrast zucchini mini-muffins for round (aluminum pan) and square (silicone pan), pan positioning in the oven, and using previously frozen vs. fresh-shred zucchini. This article is the followup to July 2014 zucchini mini-muffin recipes, complete with pixstrip.

Also look into the square mini-muffin version—same ingredients, but using square-well silicone pans.

Zucchini Overflow?

Good harvest of zucchini lately? Gotten a bunch from people who have been harvesting them? An explanation for the overflow might be from wiseGEEK's "What is zucchini?" site. "Many markets carry this squash in the summer, and it is also a snap to grow at home, although some caution is advised, as the plants can produce way more fruit than one would think is physically possible."

A few times this month, a co-worker brought some gargantuan ones, and I've gleefully partaken of them, and passed on buying any in the store for awhile. I've grated or sliced these homegrown ones for recipes, or bagging and freezing after shredding and slicing, As of a week ago, I've baked two half batches of zucchini mini-muffins, varied by well shapes, and one batch of crustless ham-swiss-zucchini quiche.

For the next few articles, I'll publish three recipes for zucchini mini-muffins and one for the quiche.
The two half-batches of mini-muffins I baked last week had the same ingredients and baking time. The pans differed—aluminum round vs. silicone square—because I wanted to test my theory that one type of pan would yield moister results than the other pan.

My third batch of mini-muffins will again use the same ingredients, but the amount will be a 3/4-recipe batch, using both types of pans. I'll be using zucchini that I grated, froze, bagged, then let thaw. I'll not squeeze, as thawed zucchini is watery when squeezed.

I consider mini-muffin sizes to be a bit more appealing than regular cupcake size—more units that are available for distributing in a social environment. The amount of batter for making one cupcake-sized goodie is the same amount as for three mini-muffins. (At a potluck event, people can more easily pick up a small, self-contained morsel than commit to a larger item or something that requires slicing, particularly a pie.)

The Betty Crocker recipe has lots of details, including baking times for various pans. The Paula Deen recipe includes nutmeg, a spice I'd like to use in more recipes than I do. The most appealing reason I like these two 2-loaf recipes, besides relative ease of the process, is the even number of eggs. Making half-recipes is a lot easier when dividing four eggs than three eggs.

Some additional zucchini links:

• Zucchini History
• Vegetable Dictionary - Zucchini
• Zucchini nutrition facts
• My veggie pasta recipe, which calls for zucchini as one of the four veggies. (Other veggies are celery, carrots, and yellow squash--all 1/2-pounds each, and Salad-Shooter sliced.)

Cake Mix Macaroon Cookies

How about a macaroon cooky that tastes a lot better than a gluey coconut clump? How about a cooky that chews like a softish cooky and has dominant coconut texture and flavor? Use a cake mix for the dry-ingredient base.

Most of my recipes are about minimal process and few ingredients. Most recipes I read lose me if I see more than six ingredients or multiple steps or time investment, or a combination of those conditions. Some of my ingredients at home drive my baking choices. One item I had was a bag of coconut I got free with a purchase of something else. I also had a box of white cake mix that I wanted to use up.

I based my recipe mostly on the ExclusivelyRecipes.com French vanilla macaroon bars recipe. A main deviation was mixing 1/3 C cooking oil into the wet ingredients instead of cutting in 1/3 C butter into the cake mix powder. I decided to try making individual cookies instead of shaping the dough into a pan and cutting it into bars after baking. I omitted the chocolate to keep the recipe simple.

Another recipe I consulted was the Chocolate Chip-Coconut Macaroons from the Betty Crocker Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook. I deviated from the recipe as follows: I used only 2 T water instead of 1 C, used half as much coconut, used 1 egg instead of 3 egg whites, and omitted the chocolate. The recipe is online except that they omitted the quantities for the ingredients, which they want readers to request by email. Smart cookies will be able to infer the quantities, based on this paragraph and my list of ingredients. :-)

My pixstrip shows three images:

1. Implements
2. Ingredients, dry and wet
3. Baked cookies

Implements

• cooky pan(s)
• pastry blender
• medium-large mixing bowl
• small mixing bowl or large cup or jar
• fork or similar item for mixing wet ingredients
• measuring cup
• measuring spoons
• cooky spatula to lift and transfer baked cookies
• cooling rack for done cookies

Ingredients, dry

• 1 1/2 C flaked coconut
• 1 18ish oz. white cake mix

ingredients, wet

• 1 egg
• 1/3 C cooking oil (Replace 1 T with sesame oil if desired for flavor twist.)
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 T water

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pour the coconut into a medium-large mixing bowl, breaking up the lumps.
3. Pour the cake mix powder into the coconut, using the pastry blender to blend together.
4. In a bowl or large cup, combine the oil, egg, vanilla, and water. For a more aromatic flavor, exchange 1 T of the oil with 1 T sesame oil.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the larger bowl and use a pastry blender to stir the ingredients together.
6. Use a round tablespoon to scoop the dough. Shape to rounded, level, or concave height.
7. Drop the spoon's dough onto the cooky sheet.
8. Bake for about 12+ minutes until the edges are lightly browned.
9. Use the cooky spatula to lift and transfer the done cookies onto cooling rack.

Shaping the dough slightly concave yielded 45 cookies, calculated to about 80 calories each. YMMV.

Additional Past Cooky Recipes

• A Convenient Triple-dose Pnutty Butter Cooky Batch
• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch [Valentine]
• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch--Easter
• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch--German Chocochip Bites

A Convenient Triple-dose Pnutty Butter Cooky Batch

AHOT (Austin Heart of Texas) Event

AHOT, an organization for printed circuit board design professionals, recently held its annual Vendor Day. It was well-attended—maybe 100ish. Renowned speaker Tom Hausherr, EDA Library Product Manager at Mentor Graphics Corporation, delivered 4 different presentations. The event had 16 sponsors this year, up from 12 last year. You can download the announcement pdf with hyperlinks to the sponsors and speaker if you are on LinkedIn.

Cooky Musings

I decided to take in cookies as I did last year. I'd been wanting to try out a boxed peanut butter cookie mix. Both Krusteaz and Betty Crocker put out a peanut butter cookie mix. Each brand's box contents weigh 17.5 ounces and call for 1 egg, 1 T water, and 3 T oil. The standard yield is 36 2-inch diameter cookies. (I myself wound up with 44.)

I like PB cookies okay, but think of them as somewhat boring. I decided to turbocharge the peanut flavor. I started out mixing the batter according to the box instructions, then added peanuts and Wilton Peanut Butter Flavor Candy Melts—for sale at bakery supply stores and craft shops. Other than dose up the flavor with chopping up and mixing in the two additives, I didn't modify the box recipe.

After I removed a baked batch out of the oven, I was surprised that the chopped candies seemed to have disappeared. I anticipated they would be like chocolate chips or chocolate chunks and be visible. I'm not that knowledgeable about the Wilton candies, but it's possible that they might have a lower melting temperature than chocolate chips and just melted into the cookies during baking. In any case, I received rave reviews for the hefty peanut flavor.

It did take me awhile to settle on a name, although I kicked around other titles, such as "Xtra P-nutty PB Cookies", PB and Pnutty Madness Cookies", "P-nut Trio Cookies", "Triple P-nut cookies", and "P-nut Trilogy". Ed E, a Vendor Day attendee and enthusiastic praiser of my cookies, was the one who suggested "P-nut Trilogy".

Ingredients

To keep the recipe looking uncomplicated, I've listed a somewhat compressed list of ingredients. People experienced enough with cooky baking will have no problems whipping up a batch. Novices might need to peruse the list a little more closely.

• 1 pkg peanut butter cooky mix, ingredients stirred together per instructions (usually requiring combining of water, egg, oil)
• 4 oz. peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 4 oz peanut butter flavored candies, coarsely chopped (e.g., Wilton brand)

Equipment

• cooky pan(s)
• pastry blender
• bowl
• measuring cup
• measuring spoon(s)
• small rubber spatula
• cooky spatula to lift and transfer baked cookies
• cooling rack for done cookies

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Pour the cooky mix powder into a medium-large mixing bowl.
3. In a cup, combine the egg, water, and oil.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the larger container and use a pastry blender to stir the ingredients together.
5. Stir in the chopped peanuts.
6. Stir in the chopped candies.
7. Use a round tablespoon to scoop the dough, then level it.
8. Use the spatula to turn and drop the spoon's dough onto the cooky sheet. (This dough was very dense. After a few dollops, I put on vinyl gloves to shape and dispense the dollops individually.)
9. Flatten and spread the dough using the bottom of a glass.
10. Bake for about 8 minutes.
11. Use the cooky spatula to lift and transfer the done cookies onto cooling rack.

Additional Past Cooky Recipes

• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch [Valentine]
• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch--Easter
• A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch--German Chocochip Bites