Pineapple Raisin Whippersnapper Cookies

## Ingredients

* 8-ounce can crushed pineapple
* 1 cup golden or regular raisins
* Approximately ¼ cup water or drained pineapple juice
* 1 box *(approximately 18 ounces)* spice cake mix, the kind that makes a 9-inch by 13-inch cake
* 1 large egg, beaten
* 2 cups Original Cool Whip, thawed *(measure this—a tub of Cool Whip contains a little over 3 cups and that's too much!)*
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* ½ cup powdered *(confectioners')* sugar ***(you don't have to sift it )***
* small jar of maraschino cherries, drained and cut in half vertically ***(optional for decorating)***
* Use a strainer to drain the pineapple

## Directions

* DO NOT preheat oven yet. This dough has to chill before baking.
* Place the raisins in a microwave-safe measuring cup that is large enough to contain the raisins with room to spare for the water.
* Pour the water or pineapple juice over the raisins.

* Heat the raisins and the water or juice for 1 minute on HIGH in the microwave. Let the cup sit in the microwave to plump the raisins for an additional minute.
* Remove the cup to a folded towel or pot holder on the kitchen counter. Give the raisins a stir and then cool the cup to room temperature. DO NOT drain the raisins yet. Leave the liquid in the cup.
* Pour HALF of the dry cake mix into a large mixing bowl.
* Use a smaller bowl to mix the two cups of Cool Whip with the beaten egg and the vanilla extract. Stir gently with a rubber spatula until everything is combined.
* Add the Cool Whip mixture to the cake mix in the large bowl. STIR VERY CAREFULLY with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir only until everything is combined. You don't want to stir all the air from the Cool Whip.
* Pat the crushed pineapple dry with paper towels and then add it to the large mixing bowl.
* Drain the raisins, pat them dry with paper towels, and add them to the large mixing bowl.
* Sprinkle the rest of the cake mix on the top of the fruit and gently fold everything together with the rubber spatula. Again, keep as much air in the batter as possible. Air is what will give your cookies soft and give them a melt-in-your-mouth quality.
* Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and chill the cookie dough for at least one hour in the refrigerator. It's a little too sticky to form into balls without chilling it first.

* When your cookie dough has chilled and you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350°F and make sure the rack is in the middle position. DO NOT take your chilled cookie dough out of the refrigerator until after your oven has reached the proper temperature.
* While your oven is preheating, prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or lining them with parchment paper.
* Place the powdered sugar in a small, shallow bowl. You will be dropping cookie dough into this bowl to form dough balls and coating them with the powdered sugar.
* When your oven is ready, take your dough out of of the refrigerator. Using a teaspoon from your silverware drawer, drop the dough by rounded teaspoonful into the bowl with the powdered sugar. Roll the dough around with your fingers to form powdered-sugar-coated cookie dough balls.

* Place the coated cookie dough balls on your prepared cookie sheets, no more than 12 cookies on a standard-size sheet.

* If you decide you want to decorate your cookies, press half of a maraschino cherry, rounded side up, on top of each cookie before you bake them.

* Bake your Pineapple Whippersnapper Cookies at 350°F for 10 minutes. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, and then move them to a wire rack to cool completely. ***(This is a lot easier if you line your cookie sheets with parchment paper—then you don't need to lift the cookies one by one. All you have to do is grab one end of the parchment paper and pull it, cookies and all, onto the wire rack.)***
* Once the cookies are completely cool, store them between sheets of waxed paper in a cool, dry place. *(Your refrigerator is cool, but it's definitely not dry!)*

Yield: 3 to 4 dozen soft, delicious spice and fruit cookies, depending on cookie size.