Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Today I tried a new cookie recipe, and I loved it. The cookies are easy to make, they are delicious to eat, and to top it off, they are pretty. My grandson Landon came in after swimming today and tried them. He gave them his seal of approval, so this recipe is a keeper.

This recipe was adapted from the Favorite Name Brand Cake Mix cookbook.

Chocolate Cherry Cookies
1 package (9 ounces) chocolate cake mix
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
10 maraschino cherries, rinsed, drained and cut into halves

Icing
2 tablespoons white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon canola or vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Beat cake mix, milk and almond extract in medium bowl with electric mixer at low speed. Increase speed to medium when mixture looks crumbly; beat 2 minutes or until smooth dough forms. (Dough will be very sticky.)

3. Coat hands with cooking spray. Shape dough into twenty 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 1/2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Flatten each ball slightly. Place cherry half in center of each cookie.

4. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until cookie tops begin to crack. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

5. Place white chocolate chips and oil in small microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 30 seconds; stir. Repeat as necessary until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Drizzle white chocolate mixture over cookies. Let stand until set.

I had to make a trip to the grocery store before I made these cookies, because the original recipe called for an 8 ounce cake mix. I didn’t have any mixes that small in my pantry. When I looked at my local grocery store I found one brand in a 7 ounce mix and another brand in a 9 ounce mix. I opted for the 9 ounce mix to make this batch of cookies, and it seemed to work very well.

I was curious about what kind of dough I’d have by only adding 3 tablespoons of milk and 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the dry mix.

The dough was sticky and stiff, but it worked very easily into the 1-inch balls.

I then slightly flattened each ball of dough with the flat side of a measuring scoop and placed half of a maraschino cherry in the center.

My cookies baked for 8 1/2 minutes.

Then I cooled them on a rack.

While they were cooling, I melted 2 tablespoons of white chocolate chips with 1/2 teaspoon canola oil.

Then I drizzled the icing over the cookies.

I can’t believe these pretty little cookies came from a cake mix.