Valentine's Day Cookies

Cookies can be a simple, sweet way to say I love you. Or, they can be time consuming, messy and just no fun to make. On Valentine's Day, tell your sweetie you care while still enjoying the baking experience. These cookies are fairly simple to make but look divine. The chocolate cherry elegance of these cookies makes them perfect for Valentine's Day. These are an decadent adult cookie rather than a cookie to take to your child's classroom. Serve these with a bit of vanilla ice cream for a truly wonderful Valentine's Day dessert or pack them for your partner's lunch or afternoon snack. Make up a batch and package them inside an empty box of chocolate covered cherries as a homemade surprise for your friends or family members.

Ingredients

1 chocolate cake mix (8 ounce)

3 Tablespoons of milk

1 teaspoon of almond extract

10 maraschino cherries, rinsed, drained and cut in half.

2 Tablespoons of white chocolate chips

½ teaspoon of vegetable oil

cooking spray

powdered sugar (optional)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Mix together the cake mix, milk and almond extract in a medium sized bowl. Beat on low speed. Increase the speed to medium when the mixture starts to look crumbly. Beat for 2 minutes or until a smooth dough forms. The dough will be very sticky.

Coat your hand with cooking spray and shape the dough into 1 inch balls. Place the balls about 2 ½ inches apart on the baking sheets. Flatten each ball slightly and place a cherry half in the center of the cookie. Put the rounded side of the cherry up.

Bake the cookies for 8 - 10 minutes or until the cookies begin to lose their shininess and the tops begin to slightly crack. Do not over bake. Remove the cookies and place on wire racks to cool. Cool completely.

Place the white chocolate chips and the oil in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave at high for about 30 seconds and stir. Repeat until the chips are melted and the oil is incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Drizzle the white chocolate mixture over the tops of the cookies and let stand to set.

Instead of the white chocolate, you could shake a fine layer of powdered sugar over the tops of the cookies like snow!

If you are not fond of the almond flavor, you can replace the extract with vanilla.

Makes approximately 20 cookies.