Whippersnapper Cookies

I recently made some Baked Chocolate Donuts from a Joanne Fluke murder mystery.  I like her mysteries.  I love the recipes that she includes in each book.  This time I tried one of her Whippersnapper recipes.  These recipes are made using cake mix and Cool Whip.  You change up the flavors by changing the flavor of the cake mix.  I decided to try them

 

She has different ones in several of her books, but I had never tried one before.  The most recent guests at our B&B really liked them.  I made a dozen, but they only got about 8 of them.  I had to keep some for us to try.  You can't serve cookies you have never tasted!  The rest are frozen in dough balls to be thawed and baked for the next guests.

 

Salted Cashew and Milk Chocolate Whippersnapper Cookies

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 large egg
2 cups thawed Cool Whip
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped cashews

1/2 cup powdered sugar
18 to 24 maraschino cherries

 

Don't preheat the oven.  These need to chill for at least one hour after mixing.  They are too sticky to handle when first mixed.

 

Chop the cashews and set aside.

Whisk the egg in a medium sized bowl.  Add the Cool Whip and stir gently.

 

Place about one half of the cake mix from the box in a large bowl.  Fold in the Cool Whip mixture, being careful not to stir too vigorously and stir all the air out of the Cool Whip.

 

Place the cashews and the chocolate chips on top and fold them in.  Don't over stir.

Sprinkle the rest of the cake mix on top and mix this in.  Use a large rubber spatula and scrape up from the bottom of the bowl and bring it to the top. Mix only until combined.

Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Don't get the cookies out next.  They need to stay cold until the oven is ready.

 

While it is heating, drain the cherries and cut them in half. 

 

Fill a small bowl with the powdered sugar.  Spray the cookie sheets with Pam or use parchment paper.  I used a Silpat.

 

Then get a cookie scoop and start your assembly line.  Scoop up a ball of cookie dough and place it in the powdered sugar. Roll to coat and place it on the prepared cookie sheet.  I used my thumb to make a small indentation for the cherry half.  Before I did this, they tended to fall or slide off.  Place the cherry with the rounded side up.

 

Only make as many dough balls as you have room to bake at onetime.  Place the rest of the dough back in the refrigerator until you can place them directly on a cookie sheet.

 

Bake for 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 2 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. 

 

When cool, store them between waxed paper in a cool dry place.  Not the refrigerator.