Pillsbury’s Old Fashioned Cornflake Cherry Winks
The Pillsbury classic, Cornflake Cherry Winks are a loved holiday cookie. Filled with chopped pecans, dates and cherries, these cookies are rolled in coarsely crushed cornflakes and baked until lightly browned.
Cherry Winks are a buttery and chewy cookie made with chopped dates and pecans, rolled in crushed cornflakes and topped with a quarter of a maraschino cherry.
The Pillsbury company held a baking contest in 1950 with Ruth Derousseau from Rice Lake, Wisconsin submitting (and winning with) the well known Cherry Wink cookie recipe.
Cherry Wink tweaks from the original
The original recipe from the 1950s calls for 3/4 cup of shortening but most updated recipes these days use butter instead, which is exactly what I did. I opted to top mine with half of a maraschino cherry instead of a quarter of one, simply because I love cherries os much.
My changes for next time around
- I didn’t quite coat my cookies well enough with cornflakes so I would do a better job of that next time.
- I used all butter in this recipe but I saw a recipe on Imperial Sugar that uses a combination of 1/2 cup butter and 4 Tablespoons shortening. The butter is for the flavor and the shortening is for texture. I would love to try that out. If you happen to, please let me know how that goes.
Storage Info
- Cherry Winks can be stored on the counter for 5-7 days. The cookies can be baked and then kept frozen for 3 months.
Looking for more holiday cookies?
- Soft & Thick Cut-Out Sugar Cookies w/ Frosting – The ONLY sugar cookie recipe I use. It is incredible!
- Sparkling Chewy Molasses Cookies – Full of bold spices and rolled in sparkly sugar for a pretty effect.
- Soft Chew Rum Crinkle Cookies – buttery and full of that wonderful rum flavor. A unique and tasty cookie for the holiday cookie tray.
Pillsbury’s Old Fashioned Cornflake Cherry Winks
Equipment
- Small Cookie Scoop (1 Tbsp.)
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper Sheets or Silpat Liner
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup salted butter
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour fluff it up so it isn’t packed
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup finely-chopped pecans or 1 cup walnuts
- 1 cup finely-chopped dates
- 1/3 cup finely-chopped maraschino cherries
- 3 cups cornflakes coarsely crushed
- 15-18 maraschino cherries cut into quarters, drained (I prefer cutting in half so it would take extra cherries that way)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375-F degrees. Line baking sheets with a Silpat or parchment paper.
- In large bowl, combine sugar, shortening, milk, vanilla and eggs; beat well.
- Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pecans, dates and 1/3 cup chopped cherries; mix well. Dough will be sticky, which is what we want so the cornflakes stick.
- Using a small cookie scoop (or 1 Tablespoon), scoop dough and shape dough into balls. Roll in crushed cornflakes, coating well and place onto prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Lightly press maraschino cherry piece on top of each ball.
- Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. See notes.