Black Forest Oatmeal Cookies

You'll probably see several posts this month because... IT'S CHRISTMAS COOKIE TIME! Yes, I'm excited. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the spirit of the holiday season... to decorate my home, listen to holiday music and most importantly to bake cookies. I not only love to bake but I really enjoy giving all of my fab creations away as Christmas gifts. I typically bake 10-12 different types of cookies each year keeping some crowd favorites on my to do list every year while adding new confections to my recipe collection. It seems that a simple tin of homemade cookies is the ultimate crowd pleaser. So, on the first day of December my Kitchen Aid mixer gave to me "Black Forest Oatmeal Cookies." Theses cookies are heaping spoonfuls of cocoa goodness, oats, dried cherries and chocolate chips. Guess what I learned when making them?

1. It's okay to 'cheat.' And by cheat, I mean to use packaged cake mix. That's right; you read that correctly. Packaged cake mix gives you all the chocolate base you need for this cookie version of Black Forest cake (which is a chocolate sponge cake with layers of morello cherries or cherry jam).

2. Mini Chocolate Chips v. Regular. I found that they do not equate in this recipe. Since you measure out the cookies into teaspoon-size scoops the a full cup of the mini chips blends well into the dough; a full cup of regular does not. If using regular size chips, reduce the amount to half a cup.

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Black Forest Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package Devil's Food cake mix

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup miniature chocolate morsels

1 cup dried tart cherries or cranberries

Yield: 44-48 cookies Prep Time: 20 mins Bake Time: 9-12 mins Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheint. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, blend half of the cake mix along with oil, eggs, and almond extract. Blend at medium high speed for 1-2 minutes until smooth and well mixed.

3. Stir in remaining cake mix, oats, chocolate morsels, and cherries or cranberries with a wooden spoon until combined. The dough will be stiff.

4. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

5. Bake 9-12 minutes or until set at edges and just barely set in center (try not over bake or the cookies will harden). Cool 1 minute on sheet, and transfer to wire racks. Enjoy

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