Lollipop Cookies

Listed as "Cookie Pops" in Anne Byrn's The Cake Mix Doctor, I made these fun and easy cookies to take to my daughter's class on her birthday. They were a hit with her classmates!

Lollipop Cookies
shortening for greasing the pans
1 package (18.25 oz) plain yellow cake mix
1 cup flour
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 cup colored sprinkles
48-55 wooden craft sticks

Preheat oven to 375° and lightly grease two cookie sheets with shortening. Place cake mix, flour, melted butter, honey, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix on low for another minute. The cookie dough will be thick.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. (I have a spring-loaded cookie scoop that I used to get the dough out of the bowl. It must be a 2-inch scoop, though, as I found it necessary to cut each scoop in half. Still, I think this helped me to make more uniform balls than I would have on my own.) Pour the colored sprinkles into a shallow bowl and roll the balls in them. (I didn't measure my sprinkles before starting, but it used up more than I expected and I finished the batch with a mix of green and pink colored sugar crystals--anything would work.)

Place the dough balls two inches apart on the greased cookie sheets. I staggered the rows of balls to allow room for placing the sticks (see below).

Bake the cookies until the edges are light brown, 8-12 minutes (10 minutes in my oven). Remove the pan from the oven and immediately insert a craft stick halfway into the side of each cookie. (This was much easier than I expected.) Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for 1 minute.

Carefully remove the cookies (also easier than anticipated) with a spatula and place on wire racks to cool completely, 30 minutes. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough!

Note: The Cake Mix Doctor says you can replace the yellow cake mix with a chocolate or devil's food cake mix. I'm sure any cake flavor would work.