Gooey Butter Cookies

So, I'm on this St. Louis pride kick.  Maybe it's the fact that I'm realizing I will never permanently live there again and I am subconsciously devastated about it. Hahaha.  Or maybe it's that I am procrastinating packing up the entire contents of my apartment, and cooking distinctive foods that I grew up with for the sir in my life seems a reasonable distraction.  I'm guessing the latter.  Definitely the latter.  Plus, after looking up a recipe for gooey butter cookies and seeing how simple they are, I couldn't not make them.  These gooey little cookies really do possess everything so awesomely divine about the cake version, that chewy golden crust, a sticky sweet center, and the crackle dusted with powdered sugar all so synonymous with the real thing.  So, try them at least once and make another St. Louisan proud ;)

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 box yellow butter cake mix (18.5 oz)
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

The sad, but necessary cooling time

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add cake mix, and stir until well blended. Roll into 1inch balls and roll the balls in the powdered sugar. Place 1 inch apart onto a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.
3. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

 Notes:

• These cookies are best served cool or cold.  I keep mine in the fridge in a sealed container.
• Do not allow the cookies to get golden.  They will continue to bake when removed from the oven, and you want a gooey center.
• You can sub in chocolate cake mix for chocolate gooey butter cookies, or basically any other cake mix :)

Yields ~45 cookies.