Recipe: Cherry Vanilla Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box vanilla cake mix
• 4 oz (1/2 brick) cream cheese
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 20 maraschino cherries
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3-5 Tablespoons maraschino cherry juice (or grenadine)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Mix together cake mix, cream cheese, butter and egg.
• Portion into 1 1/2 Tablespoon-sized balls (I used a cookie scoop to help with this). You should end up with approximately 20 cookie balls.
• Take one ball and flatten it in your hand. Place the cherry on top and fold the cookie dough around the cherry (carefully) to cover it completely.
• Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until cracked and no longer glossy.
• Cool the cookies on a cooling rack as you prepare the drizzle.
• Mix together the sugar and maraschino cherry juice – starting with 3 Tablespoons and adding more to get a runny yet still somewhat thick texture.
• Drizzle the pink cherry drizzle over the cookies and allow to set before serving or packaging.