Red Velvet Whippersnappers

(from Ryan77’s recipe box)

Source: Joanne Fluke

Categories: Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 box red velvet cake mix, the kind that makes a 9-inch by 13-inch cake
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 2 cups of Original Cool Whip, thawed
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup semi-sweet MINI chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • small jar of red maraschino cherries, cut in half vertically and without stems

Directions

  1. DO NOT preheat your oven quite yet—this cookie dough needs to chill before baking.

  2. Pour HALF of the dry cake mix into a large bowl.

  3. Use a smaller bowl to mix the two cups of Cool Whip with the beaten egg and the vanilla extract. Stir gently with a rubber spatula until everything is combined.

  4. Add the Cool Whip mixture to the cake mix in the large bowl. STIR VERY CAREFULLY with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir only until everything is combined. You don’t want to stir all the air from the Cool Whip.

  5. Sprinkle the rest of the cake mix on top and gently fold it in with the rubber spatula. Again, keep as much air in the batter as possible. Air is what will make your cookies soft and have that melt-in-your-mouth quality.

  6. Sprinkle the cup of semi-sweet mini chips on top and gently fold the chips into the airy cookie mixture. Cover the bowl and chill this mixture for at least one hour in the refrigerator. It’s a little too sticky to form into balls without chilling it first.

  7. When your cookie dough has chilled and you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350°F and make sure the rack is in the middle position. DO NOT take your chilled cookie dough out of the refrigerator until after your oven has reached the proper temperature.

  8. While your oven is preheating, prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick baking spray, or lining them with parchment paper.

  9. Place the confectioner’s sugar in a small, shallow bowl. You will be dropping cookie dough into this bowl to form dough balls and coating them with the powdered sugar.

  10. When your oven is ready, take your dough out of of the refrigerator. Using a teaspoon from your silverware drawer, drop the dough by rounded teaspoonful into the bowl with the powdered sugar. Roll the dough around with your fingers to form powdered-sugar-coated cookie dough balls.

  11. Place the coated cookie dough balls on your prepared cookie sheets, no more than 12 cookies on a standard-size sheet.

  12. If you haven’t already done so, cut your maraschino cherries in half and place one half, rounded side up, on top of each cookie ball on your baking sheet.

  13. Bake your Red Velvet Whippersnapper Cookies at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes. Test for doneness by tapping them lightly with a finger to see if they’re “set.”

  14. Let your cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, and then move them to a wire rack to cool completely

  15. Once the cookies are completely cool, store them between sheets of waxed paper in a cool, dry place. (Your refrigerator is cool, but it’s definitely not dry!)

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