SPICE GOOEY BUTTER COOKIES

For me, the taste of Fall may be found in apples, citrus, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves....all of those lovely and rich fragrances and flavors.  In my son's eyes (and tongue) - nothing is better than a spice cake or spice cookies.

I'd been working on new recipes for weeks and finally decided I needed to just make something quick and easy for him.  He's not too keen on the "creations" most of the time - he likes the familiar and beloved.

Last Fall I made a Paula Deen cake-mix-in-a-box cookie recipe that he enjoyed so I decided to make a spice version of it for this week's "thank you for putting up with my kitchen experiments" offering.  I think he will be very happy!

I've been making Ooey Gooey Butter Cakes for YEARS before any of us ever heard of Paula Deen...but we didn't call them that.  They were, however, the same recipe!  My grown children and my husband always expected them on the Christmas goodie trays!  They were always bar cookies and I got the recipe, originally, from a woman I worked with in the 70's.  I really liked those chocolate cookies though - so here's my spice version.

Spice Gooey Butter Cookies
Adapted from Recipe at FoodNetwork.com courtesy of Paula Deen

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 18-ounce box moist spice cake mix
Sifted confectioners' sugar, for rolling and dusting

Directions:
In a large bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth. 
Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth and incorporated. 
Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract.
Beat in the cake mix, scraping down the sides and the bottom, center of the bowl to insure all ingredients are well-mixed. 
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar.  
It's easiest to do these in batches - roll 12 and drop them into the confectioner's sugar, then clean your hands and then roll the cookie dough balls around to coat in the sugar. 
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart (I used a baking mat).
Gently press with the palm of your hand to make them less ball shaped and more cookie shaped.

Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey". Cool completely and sift more confectioner's sugar over the top after cooled.

Out of the oven - cooling on rack

Makes about 3 dozen cookies when using a 1 Tbsp volume cookie scoop (that's my small one).

Cooled and re-sugared - delicious!

A simple, but delicious, moist cake-like cookie, much adored in our home.  The spice flavor was indeed a hit!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

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