Cake Mix Cookies

I haven't talked a whole lot about my educational journey. For my 4 years at Ohio State I was sure I wanted to be a marriage and family mental health counselor. I volunteered at the suicide hotline for a year and realized that my patience and control was not at the level it needs to be for that field. When I actually helped people, I felt wonderful but man was it a frustrating experience.

I then took American Sign Language for my foreign language requirement. I had always wanted to learn and had an interest in deaf culture. I was born hard of hearing and have worn hearing aids since second grade. Kids would always ask me if I knew ASL and I would pretend I did because I really wanted to! So, in a way, I have always wanted to be a sign language interpreter, but never knew as a youngster that it was something I could grow up to be!

After taking ASL, I fell in love. I'm truly passionate about the language and the culture. It really is a beautiful and amazing thing. I never realized how ignorant, myself included, people are about deafness. So now I am working towards getting an Associates degree in American Sign Language interpreting and I cannot wait until I attain that goal.

I bring this all up because last night I experienced my first real ASL social outside of class. It took place at a restaurant/bar in a suburb of Columbus where deaf people and ASL students alike meet up to conversate. I did not really get to communicate with any deaf people but the observations I made and being in the "conversational" environment was eye-opening. I was nervous about approaching a deaf person I don't know because I want to be so good and so fluent but I am not there yet, nor am I supposed to be, but I feel embarassed. Hopefully next time I will get the courage to make some deaf friends.

This has nothing to do with cookies but it is just something on my mind :)

Moving away from things irrelevant to cookies...I had boxed cake mix left over after making the cupcake and funfetti bark and needed to do something with it. I decided to try out cake mix cookies. I have heard about them but never tried it. They turned out pretty good. It's a different thing you can do with cake mix and theres a lot of room to play around with it. You can throw sprinkles in the batter or if you have some frosting you can make cute little cookie sandwiches (which is what I did).

Cake Mix Cookies
Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2 1/4 cup dry cake mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Mix together cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl. If it seems a little too dry, add a tablespoon or 2 more vegetable oil. Make little 1/2-1 inch balls with the dough and set on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees F  for 4 - 10 minutes.