For me, there is no better activity for a snow day than baking cookies. After spending about five hours in the library working on my thesis, I was ready to head back to my townhouse and bake! Since Valentine’s Day is approaching, I had been saving red velvet recipes on my Pinterest board for a couple of weeks now. I bought new Valentine’s Day themed cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma (which I will be posting about next week), but in the meantime, I wanted a recipe that would be a little less maintenance but just as festive. Evan suggested red velvet and I found a super easy and incredibly fudgy cookie. Spoiler Alert: red velvet is just a chocolate cookie (or cake or cupcake or brownie) with red food coloring. That means you could make any sort of chocolate dessert, add red food coloring, and everyone would think you made something way more time intensive and fancy than you actually did!
This recipe is perfect for someone like me who 1) loves Red Velvet and 2) hates cream cheese frosting. Since that is a classic pairing, it’s hard to find a red velvet dessert that I can completely devour. These cookies hit the mark since they are COVERED in powdered sugar.
I always think there are only a few types of cookies out there- chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter but there are really SO MANY MORE THAN THAT! Red velvet, lemon, gingerbread, molasses, m&m, almond…stay tuned for many more cookie posts over and over again.
These cookies would also make a great present for friends, professors, coworkers…anyone who you just want to give a little something to! If you ever bake anything from scratch, you probably already have most of the ingredients in your cabinet and don’t even realize it. There are also some really amazing red velvet cookie recipes out there that are made with red velvet cake mix…I’ve never tried that kind but if you do, let me know if it’s worth indulging in the semi-homemade route.
Below is the recipe I used. The only rule I broke was refrigerating the dough for about half an hour rather than 4 hours…I was baking them later in the evening and wanted to eat them ASAP. I didn’t notice a difference, so don’t worry if time isn’t on your side and you need to take this shortcut.
Ingredients
1 2/3 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick® Red Food Color
1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
Directions
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, food color and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Add 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or miniature chocolate chips to the dough. Refrigerate 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in confectioners’ sugar mixture to completely coat. Place 2 inches apart onto baking sheets sprayed with no stick cooking spray.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are puffed. Cool on baking sheets 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
EAT AND ENJOY!
Kelly in the Kitchen 