When Laziness Pays Off: Store-Bought Baking Mixes

On hectic, frigidly cold weekends like these, there's nothing better than "baking," by which I mean the kind of baking that involves sitting on my duff with my feet up in the air, smelling the aroma of baked goods wafting through the house and waiting for the timer to ding.

I admit it: sometimes, I love store-bought, easy-to-make baking mixes. I've turned to the ease and comfort of Pillsbury and Betty Crocker more than once, and I'm sure I will do it again.

Of course, there are plenty of sweets that should never be baked via mixes. I've learned from hard, hard experience that spice cake, carrot cake, and red velvet cake mixes are always horrible disappointments, not to mention instant "cheesecakes" of all brands and varieties.

But some things do work, and they work extraordinarily well! Here are three of my favorite lazy-woman's baking mixes:

1) Krusteaz Cinnamon Crumb Cake: Krusteaz's crumb cake is so damn good that it's been mistaken for my grandmother's coffee cake, and that's saying something! The cake is sweet and dense and vanilla-y, and the crumb is, like all coffee cake crumbs, a fantastically bad-for-you-but-so-delicious-you-don't-care mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar. I made this last week when I was dead on my feet but set on something sweet for breakfast the next morning.

2) Simply . . . Chocolate Chip Cookies: Normally, I would never have bought these, but I had a coupon and a hankering for a lazy cookie. Simply . . . cookies are Pillsbury's attempt at making a refrigerated dough that isn't completely stuffed with preservatives. My thinking is that if you're interested in a "healthier," less chemical-ridden cookie dough, you should just mix it up yourself!

But after trying these, I would recommend them to anyone. They turned out perfectly round and neat-looking, and they tasted way better than regular refrigerated cookie dough. I think that they even tasted better than my chocolate chip cookie recipe! I was flabbergasted but very, very pleased.

3) Duncan Hines Milk Chocolate Brownies: Yes, yes, I know, it's so easy to make brownies, but sometimes I don't want to do anything more to a batter than mix, pour, and walk away! More importantly, sometimes I'm at Charlie's house and he has nothing to work with but a half-empty bottle of vegetable oil, four eggs, a non-stick cake pan, and a single mixing bowl. And so the brownie mix comes out!

Besides, let's be honest: as easy and as flexible as homemade brownies are, sometimes I just want that rich, dark, soft, tender, wonderfully homogeneous brownie mix sort of taste. Charlie loves them "cake style," with an extra egg in the mix, and I have a particular passion for that papery little crust that forms on the top of a well-made mix brownie! Mmmmm, you can see it in the picture . . .

Reader, do you have any baking mixes you would recommend? C'mon, spill your secrets! I promise not to tell at the next potluck or family reunion . . .   ;)

Also, didn't this guy at the Heat Eat Review have a fantastic idea for a blog? Why didn't I think of that!