• Heat oven to 350° F. Prepare a cookie sheet by spraying with cooking spray, lining with parchment paper, or using a silpat liner.
• Sift the cake mix by placing a sifter over a large mixing bowl.

  * If you do not have a sifter then you can dump the cake mix into the mixing bowl you are using and stir it well with a wire whisk to break up the clumps.
• In a mixing bowl with a handheld mixer, or use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the sifted cake mix, eggs, all-purpose flour, oil, and sour cream. Beat together for 1-2 minutes or until it's well combined.

  *Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed, to ensure that everything gets mixed together.
• Put the granulated sugar into a small bowl.
• Use a cookie scoop (I use a #50 from the brand OXO), or grab about 2 tablespoons of dough, and roll into a ball. Roll the dough ball in the sugar coating all sides. Place it on the cookie sheet. Repeat until you have 12 cookies per cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8-12 minutes. Cookies should look puffy, thick, and still be very pale in color. If the cookies are golden brown at all then they are overcooked.
• Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 15-20 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cookies are completely cooled you can frost them if wanted.
• Leftover cookies will keep well at room temperature, in an air-tight container, for several days. These cookies can be made ahead of time too. Frost them right before you serve them.

Frosting

• Beat the butter in a mixing bowl until it's creamy (this should only take a few seconds if the butter is well softened). Add the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and almond extract. Beat until thick and it forms frosting.

  * At first the mixture will seem powdery but keep beating it and after 1-2 minutes it will form into a thick frosting.

  ** If you use anything else besides heavy cream start at 1 tablespoon and work from there. Heavy cream has a much higher fat content so you will need more if it. If you use low-fat milk then you may only need about 1 tablespoon.

  *** You can also add food coloring to the frosting with the other ingredients. It's best to use the gel food coloring as it's thicker. The liquid food coloring can thin out frosting slightly so be careful not to use too much.