CK's Kitchen: Easy strawberry crinkle cookies

These Valentine's Day-inspired cookies wooed me earlier in the month but I wasn't willing to make a move until I was facing down a Girl's Night In this past weekend. I had been asked to bring a dessert. Since it was still within seven days from the everything pink-red-love holiday, I knew my friends would embrace my efforts to bake something at the last minute. With four ingredients, these cookies did appear to be "easy" (foreshadowing here), and ideal with only a couple hours to whip something up. I'm sucker for these powder-sugar coated cookies, first falling for fudge crinkles several Christmases ago. I have since grown fond of lemon crinkles. I knew I still had room in my heart…maybe strawberry crinkles and I would make a love connection, too. Scoop it It was my first time buying a strawberry cake mix, only $1.34 — wow! And then it was under $3 for Lite Cool Whip. These cookies were turning out to be quite economical. I splurged on a new bag of confectioner's sugar and decided to forgo the sprinkles. We are grown women after all! The batter took quite a lot of mixing to fully incorporate the dry cake mix with the eggs and whipped topping. This is where things got tricky. The recipe writer said "if you decide to make these cookies, be sure to remove your rings first — They are messy and very gooey. The powdered sugar helps make them less sticky, but you'll want to keep a bunch of paper towels handy. It's fun, though!" I followed her suggestion and took off my three rings. After two misshapen cookies and pink coated hands, I switched to using a cookie scoop! Fancy friend The scoop really worked wonderfully. I dropped each cookie ball into the bowl of powdered sugar and used two spoons to gently, but thoroughly, coat the dough in white stuff before transferring to the greased cookie sheets. No mess and much more uniformity in size. Since my scoop was larger, my cookies took between 14-15 minutes to bake. I kept checking them until the crinkles looked fully baked through, and lighter in color. They were quite gorgeous all crackled and pink. And it had only taken about an hour, start to finish. I proudly proclaimed that I had did make a homemade dessert when I arrived at the Girl's Night. "Of course, you did!" they exclaimed in stereo. I also brought some mimosas, I said, removing the bottles out of my reusable bag. "Of course, you did!" After that, I was told multiple times that night that I was the "fancy friend". I don't know about being fancy or not, but I do know that these cookies were fun (once I used a scoop), and surprisingly yummy. Good crinkle cookies are always a bit chewy, more like a brownie texture, and these did not disappoint. While perfect for Valentine's Day, these stunners are ideal for any girlie get together or spring soiree. Contact Chrissy Kadleck at ckadleck@sbcglobal.net. Easy strawberry crinkle cookies 1 box strawberry cake mix any brand 1 8- oz tub of whipped topping thawed 1 egg Powdered sugar for rolling cookies Decorative sprinkles Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease baking sheets and set aside In a large mixing bowl, slightly beat the egg, and then add the cake mix and whipped topping Mix ingredients well, and roll small portions into powdered sugar until well coated Place cookies on greased baking sheets, about 1 inch apart, and add sprinkles Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are firm but not brown Let cool, and enjoy Makes 32 NUTRITION: Calories: 80; Carbohydrates: 15g; Protein: 1g; Fat: 2g; Saturated Fat: 1g; Cholesterol: 5mg; Sodium: 120mg; Potassium: 20mg; Fiber: 1g; Sugar: 9g; Vitamin A: 15IU; Calcium: 42mg; Iron: 0.3mg Source: meatloafandmelodrama.com