Paying up

Anyone that knows me well, knows I don't gamble. The few rare times I have been to a casino, I parked it in front of a nickel slot. In my opinion the chance of walking away with more than you came with isn't worth it. I could think of a lot of ways to spend $100 (trust me people, I know how to stretch a dollar), but lay it on the line in hopes of walking away with more than you started with is just plain silly to me. That being said, I am willing to make a friendly wager now and again. This time I lost and what I owe is cookies. Mwahahahahaha (that's my evil laugh) - its a win win for me. If I won, well, I won, and losing means - OH NO!, I have to bake. BTW-If that last run on sentence made you cringe, you should know that there are plenty more where that came from!

The bet was on American Idol. We each picked a contestant and whoever went the farthest won. I picked Brooke White, after David Archueleta was already picked. Its seem that "ladies before gentlemen" is not honored in Canada, because my pal Derek picked David before I had a chance to choose. The nerve.

The winnings included Double Peanut Butter cookies (I posted those previously), M&M cookies, and lemon crinkles. As I was making the lemon crinkles, it occurred to me that I have not yet shared this trusty, easy, and oh so good recipe with you all. Or you one, since it seems no one reads this darn blog.

By the way, please forgive the lack of the peanut butter cookie in the picture. Those don't last long around here. As a matter of fact, I had to pry them from Jims death grip to mail to my Canadian pal.

Lemon Crinkles

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or 1t of lemon extract)
  
• Zest of one lemon (omit if using extract)
  
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon juice until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet. ***Note - I prefer to refrigerate the dough for about 15 minutes and then roll into balls before rolling in powdered sugar.
   
3. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

You can vary this recipe by switching up the cake mix and extract flavors - Be creative!
Try:
*Chocolate cake mix and one teaspoon almond extract
*Strawberry cake mix and one teaspoon vanilla extract
*Chocolate cake mix and one teaspoon peppermint extract

P.S. - Don't you love that plate! Thanks Grandma!