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Home » Food, Kids and Allergies

Egg-free Cherry Wink cookies

Submitted by Debra on Tuesday, 9 December 2008 3 Comments
The world knows this Christmas cookie as Cherry Winks. I call them Becki's D*** Cookies.

Becki is the daughter of a former co-worker who also happens to be one of the genuinely sweetest people on this planet. Or any planet, for that matter. Which means that every Christmas, Becki's mom was at the top of my cookie tray list.

Once Becki tried the Cherry Winks, though, no one else in the house stood a chance at getting one. And I was stuck baking them every year. Did I mention that Becki is a dandy hair-dresser in addition to being one of my best friend's daughters? It pays to keep the stylist happy.

But I hate Becki's D*** Cookies.

It's not that they taste awful. It's that they're the most labor-intense cookie ever created. Chopping raisins -- I tried a food-processor short cut once and wound up with a sticky mess. Chopping maraschino cherries -- how can something that was so delicious Mom had to hide them when we were kids taste like formaldehyde now? Crushing corn flakes.

Yet I make them every year, because even though Becki is 3,000 miles away now there's always someone around who loves them. I might even like them, too, if the recipe made more than two and a half dozen. That's a small return on 45 minutes invested in raisin-chopping agony.

When last I saw Becki a few years ago, she mentioned that she now bakes them every Christmas. "But I refuse to chop the d*** raisins."

If I did like them, I'd like the egg-free recipe better than the original. It's slightly denser -- that tends to happen with my egg-free cakes, too -- and the bottom had a nice crunch to it. I think the next time I might try dried cherries instead of maraschino. The cookies won't be as colorful, but we can all do with a little less formaldehyde in our lives.

Becki's D*** Cookies
  • 1 c. butter or margarine
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 2 tbl. egg replacer beaten into 4 tbl. warm water, then cooled. I've tested the recipe with Bob's Red Mill only. If you use Ener-G egg, use 1 tbl. replacer. That's two eggs for the non-allergic crowd.
  • 4 tbl. milk -- leave this out if you're not allergic to egg.
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 1/4 c. flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 c. chopped maraschino cherries
  • 1 c. chopped raisins. Hint: Use kitchen shears
  • 1 c. chopped pecans - I leave these out due to Big Guy's nut allergy.
  • Crushed corn flakes -- use either a food processor or if you hate to clean it as much as I do, a heavy-duty plastic bag and a rolling pin.
Cream butter and sugar; add milk, egg replacer and vanilla. Combine dry and mix well. Add raisins, cherries and nuts if used. I'm lazy and use the mixer instead of hand-stirring. It makes the batter slightly pink, but that's actually kind of cute.

Roll a teaspoon of the dough in the corn flakes. Boots was able to help with this once he learned that patty cake was not the object of the game. Top with a quarter of a maraschino cherry.

I use half a cherry instead of a quarter, which means you should call my version Cherry Startleds instead of Cherry Winks.

Or you could just call them Becki's D*** Cookies.

More egg-free cookies

Copyright 2008 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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3 Comments »

  • Melissa White said:

    I don’t know if I will ever make these cookies, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post…thanks for the smile with my morning coffee.

    - 10 December 2008 at 6:10 am
  • Genevieve said:

    ROFLMFAO!! I love these cookies already!

    - 10 December 2008 at 6:49 am
  • Debra said:

    Thanks, folks!

    Aside from the fact that I love baking and the guys are having a blast “helping me” — they can’t wait to put on their matching apron and Boots proclaims daily “I a good baker” — it’s been so neat to unearth the memories in my recipe boxes. And most of my older recipes do have stories behind them.

    I hadn’t thought of Becki’s D*** Cookies in years until I unearthed the ancient index card the other day. But now I get to relive all those happy times again.

    - 10 December 2008 at 9:19 am