suemunzlinger's Recipe

Cherry Winks

Category: cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (a bit more if you are using Kosher salt)
3/4 cup butter (or shortening, if you prefer)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup finely chopped dates
1/3 cup chopped maraschino cherries, plus an additional 30 or so halved cherries for garnish
3 cups crushed corn flakes

1 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2 Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until all ingredients are well incorporated, and set aside.
3 In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together
4 To the mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Beat until you have a well-blended mixture.
Add pecans, dates, and chopped cherries, mixing until all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
5 Add the flour mixture and beat until well blended.
6 You can cover and refrigerate the dough at this point (put dough in an air tight container if you are refrigerating overnight) and bake the cookies later, if you prefer.
7 When ready to bake, drop rounded teaspoons of dough into the crushed cornflakes and coat cookie very well.
8 Place the cookies on cookie sheets, allowing an inch of two of space between cookies. Use cookie sheets that are lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats if you do not have liners, you can lightly grease the sheets with butter.
9 Lightly press a 1/2 cherry on top.
10 Bake for about 12 minutes. Cookies are done when they just start to brown. Do not overbake.



The original recipe specified shortening, but these cookies taste better when made with butter.
In fact, almost everything tastes better when made with butter :)

The Washington Post has an interesting alternative recipe for Cherry Winks that includes almond extract but not dates. It also calls for toasting the pecans, which is an interesting idea.

The original recipe was created by Ruth Derousseau of Rice Lake Wisconsin, who won the Junior First Prize for these cookies in 1950 at the second Pillsbury Bake-Off contest.