Old Fashioned Cherry Winks – A Cherry Winks with Cornflakes Recipe
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Old Fashioned Cherry Winks is a vintage recipe from Kellogg’s back when cornflake cereal was commonly found in everyone’s pantry. Making these Cherry Winks with Cornflakes Recipe is a welcome blast from the past.
Our family loves cookies and it’s not unusual for there to be a tin of homemade cookies on my counter for the kids to snack on after school. My love of baking stems from my mom, as well as both my grandmas. We have a long line of cookie bakers in the family!
While cookies are a year-round treat, we may go a bit overboard at Christmas time cranking out cookies at record speed during the weeks leading up to the holiday. When I was over at Mom’s one day in December, she had all of her cookie recipes scattered across the table. To find a list of our favorite Christmas Cookies, check out this post.
Old Fashioned Cherry Winks
During that visit, she pulled out an old looking recipe to show me for these Old Fashioned Cherry Winks. Mom has fond memories of our granny (her mom) making these around Christmas. Mom says these cherry winks with cornflakes were her favorite as a child.
Cherry Winks with Cornflakes Recipe
This vintage cookie recipe is unique with dried dates, chopped maraschino cherries and nuts mixed into the batter.
Then, to make them extra special and give a little crunch, these cherry winks are rolled in coarsely chopped cornflake cereal, and then topped with a tiny slice of maraschino cherry for decoration.
If you’ve never had a maraschino cherry, you can find them in the baking aisle at the grocery store or on Amazon. These canned cherries are particularly pretty with the vibrant red color (perfect for Christmas baking).
What do maraschino cherries taste like?
Maraschino cherries have a really sweet flavor with notes of almond or almond extract, even though there are no almonds in the ingredient list.
Cherry Winks Cornflake Cookies Ingredient List
Margarine, softened
White Sugar
Eggs
Milk
Vanilla Extract
Flour
Baking Powder
Salt
Chopped Pecans
Dried Dates, chopped
Maraschino Cherries, chopped fine
Cornflake Cereal
How to Make Cherry Winks with Cornflakes
For the full ingredient amounts and recipe steps for old fashioned cherry wink cookies, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Preheat oven to 375 degree F.
- Cream softened margarine and white sugar.
- Add eggs, and mix well
- Mix in milk and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; mix into wet batter.
- Stir in chopped pecans, dates and chopped maraschino cherries.
- Roll into small balls (approximately 1 tablespoon of batter) into coarsely chopped cornflakes.
- Place on a cookie sheet; press a small piece of maraschino cherry lightly into the top.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove from cooking sheet immediately.
Notes About Cherry Drop Cookies
- Use stick margarine, not tub margarine. Let soften first.
- Butter can be substituted for margarine; soften first.
- Drain off the liquid from the maraschino cherries before using.
- Save yourself trouble by purchasing your dates already cut fine.
- Chopped walnuts would be a good substitution for chopped pecans.
- The original cherry wink recipe called for coarsely chopped cornflakes. Place the cornflakes in a resealable plastic bag, and crush with a rolling pin.
- These cherry drop cookies can easily brown on the bottom. To prevent this, bake on a piece of parchment paper or be sure to use a cookie sheet pan that isn’t darkened from use and time.
- Remove the baked cookies immediately from the pan after baking.
Vintage Cherry Recipes
Darn If I Know Cake (Cherry Almond Dump Cake)
Old Fashioned Cherry Winks - A Cherry Winks with Cornflakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup margarine, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup finely cut, dried dates
- 1/3 cup finely chopped maraschino cherries
- 2 2/3 cups cornflakes, coarsely crushed
- 15 maraschino cherries, cut into quarters
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, and beat well.
- Mix in milk and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture slowly to wet mixture, and mix until combined.
- Stir in chopped nuts, dates and cherries.
- Scoop approximately 1 tablespoon of dough for each cookie. Place in crushed cornflakes, and roll into balls.
- Place a quartered maraschino cherry in the center of each cookie, barely pressing down. Place on cookie sheet, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove from cookie tray immediately.
Notes
- Use stick margarine, not tub margarine. Let soften first.
- Butter can be substituted for margarine; soften first.
- Drain off the liquid from the maraschino cherries before using.
- Save yourself trouble by purchasing your dates already cut fine.
- Chopped walnuts would be a good substitution for chopped pecans.
- The original cherry wink recipe called for coarsely chopped cornflakes. Place the cornflakes in a zip lock bag, and crush with a rolling pin.
- These cherry drop cookies can easily brown on the bottom. To prevent this, bake on a piece of parchment paper or be sure to use a cookie sheet pan that isn't darkened from use and time.
- Remove the baked cookies immediately from the pan after baking.
- Have extra maraschino cherries? Try this Cherry Rhubarb Crisp.
