Cherry Winks

I know this is a very common recipe, but my mom made a few minor changes that make this a family favorite so I need to document it here.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 2 tablespoons cherry juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup diced maraschino cherries

Mix the first two ingredients with a kitchen mixer until well blended.  Add cherry juice, vanilla and eggs until well mixed.  Add remaining ingredients until well blended.

Topping:

• 1 1/2 cup smashed cornflakes
• 14 maraschino cherries, cut into quarters

Create cookie balls and roll in the corn flake mix, then add one quarter cherry on top, continue until all dough is finished.

The beauty of this recipe is the cookie turns pink with the juice and makes a really pretty cookie.  We've omitted nuts due to personal preference.  

Set over to 375 and bake for 13-15 minutes.  Mine seemed done at 13 minutes but it's a very soft cookie due to the shortening so it may seem like it needs longer, but it seems to stiffen up after cooling down.