Best.Cookies.Ever

Frank and I have been doing a lot of weekend traveling for various events, and it seems like no matter our destination, we generally end up in York visiting our good friends Jenny and Colin.  They have been so kind as to host us for various occasions, and we feel so lucky to have them in our lives.  Since we visit so frequently, I have decided that it is a must to show up at Hotel McConnell with two important items - snacks and booze. 

Recently we were guests of Hotel McConnell before our awesome trip to Maine.  We drove to York on Friday after Frank got off of work so we could squeeze in a visit before our Saturday flight from Baltimore.  Upon arrival, we were greeted with an awesome spread of various delicious snacks, including some of the best cheese that I have had in a long time. 

Since it is summer and I have off on Fridays, I patiently waited for Frank by baking the best cookies that I have ever made.  (Okay, maybe not as good as my big, soft ginger cookies, but a very close second).  I found the recipe on Paula Deen's website, and knew immediately from the name that I had to make these cookies as soon as possible.  I mean, really, who could resist making something called Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies?  (The tagline on the site even says "If the word 'butter' is in the title, you know it's gonna be good" - oh Paula.)  The reason that these cookies are so easy to make (and stay soft and awesome) is because they call for a box of cake mix.  While the recipe says chocolate, you can use any flavor cake mix.

After reading through the recipe just once, I literally got in my car, drove to the market, got the ingredients, and started baking.  There are only 5 ingredients needed, and the directions are so easy that I stopped what I was doing several times to double check that I wasn't missing a step.  As soon as they came out of the oven, I couldn't resist having one (or a few).  Frank and I had several more on the 4 hour drive to PA, and when we reached our destination they were a great dessert for our wine and cheese, as well as an awesome late-night snack.  Since I had made a chocolate and a lemon batch, we had plenty of leftovers for the airport, and Jenny even took some on a work trip to Canada, where the cookies got great reviews.

Paula Deen's Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Check here, Ya'll

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
1   (18 ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
1   (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1   egg
1   stick of butter, room temperature

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner’s sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and gooey. Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

I made the cookies a little larger and next time will make sure that they are smaller.  The key to the batter is to make sure that the cream cheese and butter are both very soft.  I used an electric hand mixer, but by the time that all of the cake mix was added, it was too think for the mixer and had to finish blending by hand (one day I will have one of these and life will be so much easier).  Also make sure to refrigerate the batter for at least an hour, otherwise forming the balls will turn into one big sticky impossible mess.  Since these cookies are so soft, I found that it is best to store them somewhere durable, otherwise they will crumble very easily.

I forgot to take pictures of the cookies since I was so busy stuffing my face, but here is a pic of the four of us at Punkin' Chunkin' '10, along with our friends Adam and Tonia, as well as some creepers in the background.