White Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies

 

(This recipe was originally posted in conjunction with the Meijer ad week of 2/10/13 - 2/16/13)

These cute, yummy treats come just in time for Valentine's Day!  I was inspired to try these after reader Karen commented on Facebook that she was going to try these lemon cookies using a Cherry Chip cake mix.  I wanted to make them a little bit different than the lemon cookies, so instead of dipping the dough into powdered sugar, I drizzled the cooled cookies with white chocolate.  The result was a super soft, chewy cookie with a little bit of crunch from the sweet white chocolate drizzle.  The drizzle "fancies up" the cookies...but although they might look professional, they're really quite easy to make.
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 (15-16.25 oz...sorry, don't know the exact size, but it's just the regular, double-layer size cake mix) box of Cherry Chip cake mix
1 egg
2 1/4 C Cool Whip or generic brand whipped topping
5 drops of red food coloring, optional
Drizzle:
1 1/2 C white chocolate chips
3 tsp shortening

Directions:
Beat together the cake mix, egg, and Cool Whip.  Dough will be very sticky.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Use a cookie scoop or two spoons to drop batter (1-1 1/2 Tbsp for each cookie) onto a parchment paper-covered or greased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees.  Remove cookies to wire rack and cool.  Drizzle:  Melt white chocolate chips with shortening (Microwave in a glass bowl on 50 to 70 percent power for 60 seconds.  Stir well, being careful to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.  Microwave on 50-70 percent power for 30 seconds.  Stir, scrape, and repeat process until chips are melted).  Drizzle over cooled cookies.  Store in an airtight container.  Yield:  3-4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies.

Options and Tips:

• If you want puffy cookies, just bake the cookies according to the instructions above.  If you prefer your cookies to be a little bit flatter, then use a fork or clean fingers to carefully flatten the scoops of batter before baking.  You don't have to smash them completely, but just flatten the top a little.
• White chocolate burns easily, so be careful when melting!  If the chips are REALLY close to being melted, just keep stirring instead of microwaving again. 

This is (sort of) an orginal recipe.  I adjusted the recipe for Lemon Snowflakes to come up with this concoction.