Gooey Choco-Mint Cookies (two ways)

Soft pillows of delicate minty goodness - what more need I say to convince you to make this recipe? In my opinion…‘nuf said.

Ingredients

1 (8 oz.) brick cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18 oz.) boxed chocolate cake mix (choose a “moist” variety)
1 theater-size box of Junior Mints
6 mini candy canes, crushed

Instructions

Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Once that is combined, add in the egg and vanilla extract. Continue mixing.

Slowly add in the boxed cake mix, 1/3 at a time. Mix thoroughly between additions.
Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and put the bowl in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, until the dough is firm enough to roll into balls.

*the dough will be very sticky*

After 2 hours of chilling the dough, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll small walnut-sized balls of dough and place them on the cookie sheets. Bake them for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, remove the pans from the oven and top each with a Junior Mint (or two).

Return the cookies to the oven to continue baking for 2-3 minutes.

Remove your cookies again from the oven. Allow the cookies to rest on the cookie sheets for about 3 minutes before trying to move them to a cooling rack. The cookies will still be gooey in the middle. They are done though, trust me!

For a variation on the mint flavor, before baking your cookies, dip the dough balls in crushed candy canes. Bake them a full 12 to 13 minutes.