I was in need of a cookie. A chewy cookie, a good cookie.

I teach my brothers piano and had an inspired thought. I would do a fun lesson with them. They are still struggling a little with the notes and with the desire to play. So I thought I’d break things up a bit and help them see the fun in piano, while teaching them notes at the same time.

So, what we did is frosted cookies! I know, right? What does that have to do with piano?! Not much, but we frosted them to look like faces. If you’re familiar with music you know the treble cleft notes on the spaces spell FACE. Then we made our cookies into airplanes and had gummy bears drive them. The bass cleft notes on the lines spell Gummy Bears Do Fly Airplanes. So we did a fun, interactive cookie lesson to help them remember. Helping them get one step closer to learning notes. If they can learn the notes their self-efficacy can improve, too.

The problem I ran into was TIME. That’s usually the case. I had other things going on that day and I thought, “How am I going to have time to make sugar cookies with ingredients I don’t have, chill the dough, roll the dough, cut the dough, and have them cooled before they get here?!”

Then I remembered my cake mix cookie recipe (I’ve shared it with you before). That is the simplest cookie recipe I know. You use a box! They problem is they’re not ideal for frosting, and I haven’t loved them in the past because they aren’t chewy enough for me.

I was on the hunt. I hunted that internet. (Come on internet, give me a good, chewy cookie that can still give me that yummy cake batter flavor!) Viola. Found it.

It was on a popular site (thanks Sally!) so many of you may tried or read it before, but let me share a few tips about cookies she shares:

-If you roll the dough into more of a cylinder shape, the cookie is taller and spreads less during baking

-If you chill dough before (even if the recipe doesn’t call for it) it helps you make a firmer ball and it also will spread less.

These cookies aren’t as simple as my other recipe, but they are much better and they work great for frosting.

P.S. Mine came out fairly flat (which was great for the purpose I needed them for. They were chewy, though, and it might have been because I left out the chocolate chips or that I’m at a different elevation. Not sure why, but they were still a success.

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