Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Need a cookie recipe that is easy to make? Looking for something chocolaty and delicious?

Then look no further! Paula Deen’s Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies are easy to make and addictive. These cookies make me want to give Paula a big hug.

I was asked to bring a dessert to Easter dinner this year and I wanted to try a new recipe. A search through a few cookbooks and Pinterest helped me remember this Paula Deen recipe I had found online a while back. The only problem you will find with this recipe is that it’s hard to stop eating these cookies.

Ingredients

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

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl use an electric mixer to cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. (I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.)

3. Beat in the egg.

4. Next, beat in the vanilla extract.

5. Beat in the cake mix.

6. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours to firm up so you can roll the dough into balls.

7. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon size balls.

TIP: When I was about halfway through making the cookies I put the bowl of dough back into the fridge to chill again. If the dough starts to warm up the cookies will not hold their shape when they’re baking and will begin to spread out and flatten.

8. Next, roll the dough balls into confectioner’s sugar.

9. Place on to an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. (I sprayed my cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray.)

10. Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and gooey.

TIP: I always rotate cookies sheets from front to back and also switch trays between top and bottom shelves.

11. I removed the cookies immediately from the cookie tray and cooled on a wire rack.

12. Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioner’s sugar, if desired.

Paula says the recipe will make 2 dozen cookies but I was able to make about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

You can also find the original recipe on www.pauladeen.com