Recipes

[Carol1229]

When grocery shopping, I always hit the baking supply aisle to see what's new on the shelves. While at Super Walmart a few months ago, I spotted Pink Lemonade Cake mix and cookie mix. I'm not one to get cookie mix in a box but do like to have miscellaneous cake mix flavors on hand to mix up one of our favorite cookies-Gooey Butter Cookies.

I've had this recipe for years-I got it from a Cookie Club newsletter. The original calls for yellow cake mix.......they're good.......but I much prefer using different flavors of cake mix for them. I saw Paula Deen do a chocolate version on one of her shows.....the chocolate are really good but our favorites are the ones made with coconut cake mix-something VERY hard to find these days here-and ones using lemon cake mix.

I picked up a couple boxes of the Pink Lemonade cake mix-THANK YOU PILLSBURY for keeping your cake mixes 18.25 ounces-with every intention of using one of them to try these cookies.

I went with the recipe I use for the Lemon Gooey Butter Cookies and also used the trick I found during the holidays for rolling the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar BEFORE rolling them in confectioners' sugar. The confectioners' sugar doesn't melt into the baked cookies as quickly as when you just roll them in confectioners' sugar. It had been raining pretty much all week so there was a lot of humidity in the air-the confectioners' sugar did eventually melt into the cookies after a few days but you know what? That's OK-they're STILL delicious.

I normally like cookies that are crisp/chewy-these are an exception. They're a lovely pink color and the cookies are velvety soft-they almost melt in your mouth.

I'm so happy I stumbled upon this cake mix flavor. Since buying it at Walmart-I also found it at my regular grocery store so I bought a few to tuck away in the freezer for another day.

If you're a lemon lover like I am-the next time you're grocery shopping, take a peek in the baking needs aisle and see if you can find this cake mix flavor-I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Carol

PINK LEMONADE GOOEY BUTTER COOKIES
(Source: adapted from a recipe found in a Cookie Club newsletter)

1 (18.25 oz.) pkg. Pillsbury Pink Lemonade cake mix
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. lemon extract
Grated zest of 1 large lemon
Granulated sugar for rolling
Confectioners' sugar for rolling

Cream butter until soft and creamy. Add cream cheese; beat until smooth.

Beat in egg, lemon extract and lemon zest until combined.

Add cake mix; beat until well mixed. If dough is too soft to roll into balls, refrigerate 1-2 hours until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll dough into 1 1/4-inch balls; roll balls in granulated sugar to coat, then drop them into confectioners' sugar to coat well. Place the dough balls 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets; flatten slightly.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes. DO NOT overbake. Take cookies out of the oven when they look a little underdone.

Let the cookies cool on the pan for 1-2 minutes; remove to wire racks and cool completely. Store in an airtight airtight. Makes about 2 1/2-3 dozen.