These cookies are a great idea for Christmas presents as they turn out bright red, and with white chocolate drizzled on top remind me of candy cane stripes! They look very festive and are deliciously chewy. I think quite a bit of preparation goes into these cookies so there's really no need to tell anyone about using a boxed cake mix... right?!

Adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod (Dec 2011)
Makes 10-12 cookies
Cooking time: 15 mins (plus 2 hours - overnight chilling time)
Ingredients:
1 box red velvet cake mix (Duncan Hines brand from the Stateside Candy Co, or Betty Crocker from any large supermarket)
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 medium eggs
125ml rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50-100g white chocolate (to melt and drizzle on top)

Cheesecake filling:
50g cream cheese
140g icing sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
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Directions
1. Pour the entire boxed cake mix into a large bowl. Add the flour and whisk to get rid of any lumps.

2. Add the eggs, oil and vanilla extract and mix until you get a lovely deep red, smooth dough. Wrap this in cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (I left mine for 2 days and it was absolutely fine, so you can prepare in advance). The dough will feel really oily when you come to take it out but don't worry!

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3. Mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar and flour to make the cheesecake filling. It will be quite runny but can now be put in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 175 C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Take about 1/4 cup size (large egg size) ball of dough and flatten in your hands. It may need a bit of kneading to come together if it feels too oily. Take a teaspoon of the cheesecake filling and put it in the middle of the flat dough. Wrap the dough around the filling, pinching the ends together so nothing leaks out during baking. Gently roll into a ball shape and put on the baking tray. You can fit 3-4 at a time on 1 tray as they spread out a lot in the oven.

5. Bake for approx 15 mins, until the tops of the cookies begin to crackle. Let them cool briefly on the baking tray then transfer to a wire tray to fully cool down. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave (or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water) then drizzle over the cookies.

You can keep these cookies for a day or 2 in an airtight container kept in the fridge.



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