Vampire Cookies

Yay!! Its Friday! Its been an incredibly long week at work but the weekend is nearly here, the weather is gorgeous and one of my best friends is visiting for the weekend.

And it turns out that she too is in the middle of my current literary obsession, the Twilight book series. We’ve been having a great time comparing thoughts on our favorite characters. Its amazing how many of my friends have recently picked up…and have hardly been able to put down…these silly books!

My book club has been reading the series as well, and though there were a few outlyers, the majority of us had already sped through most of the series and had a great time discussing. We met this past Monday and I couldn’t resist bringing a vampire-inspried treat. Just looking at the picture, I’m sure you can see why these cookes seemed so appropriate. The the blood-red color is a start and, at least to me, the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts are incredibly fang-like. Now despite the fact that they look a little off-putting (my friend Jen declared that they resembled raw hamburger meat…right before she devoured a second one)…the are surprisingly delicious and very, very easy to make.

I found recipe at a fellow blogger’s site, the Courageous Cook, which I encourage you to check out for both her incredible photography, quirky fun posts and really intersting recipes. The recipe for these cookies is based on red velvet cake mix…which I had a HECK of a time trying to find in Chicago. Next time I may try to make these using a homemade cake base, just to give it a try in case I can’t find the mix, but using the boxed stuff really does make this easy if you can find it. Her recipe called for some sort of white chocolate macadamia chips she’d found at her store — again, the stores in Chicago are kind of weak, so I just subbed in chips and nuts and that worked out fine for me. Also, the recipe calls for mayo (don’t freak out, its great for keeping cakes and cookies super moist) and I used light Hellman’s and they turned out great.

These would make a great recipe for Halloween and SO, SO simple…I hope you’ll give them a try. Unless you’re scared….bwha, ha, ha!

Vampire Cookies
Adapted from the Courageous Cook’s Red Velvet Cookies
About 2 dozen cookies

1(18.25 ounce) box red velvet cake mix
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup mayonnaise (light mayo works fine)
2 eggs
2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Drop from a tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until firm but don’t overcook. Let the cookies cool on their sheets for a few minutes to firm before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store tightly covered.