Red Velvet ... Cookies!

I can't account for the growing popularity of red velvet. For whatever reason, it's turning up everywhere. But while you most often see it in the form of cakes or cupcakes (and even cake balls!), I have yet to see a red velvet cookie!

This genius idea is all thanks to my BFF Nicole. She claimed to have eaten a red velvet cookie somewhere in Denver and wanted to recreate them. So I did a little research and found a lot of red velvet whoopie pies ... not what I was looking for. Whoopie pies are essentially disassembled cupcakes and, at least in my point of view, don't fall into the cookie category. But after a little digging, I finally came across something that sounded like what I was looking for. And with just a couple minor modifications, it became my PERFECT vision of what a red velvet cookie should be!

Red Velvet Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon red food coloring (plus or minus a couple drops)
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (which is more like 350 for my oven). Spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa together. Add to butter mixture in even increments, mixing well between each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add food coloring, adjusting amount to achieve the redness you desire, and mix until dough is evenly colored. Stir in chips.

Using a medium dough scoop, scoop cookies onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing them evenly apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (mine were perfect after 10 minutes and 30 seconds!), rotating sheets halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.


These cookies are soft, chewy, buttery, cocoa-y and delicious! The original recipe I found actually called for milk chocolate chips, which I thought was odd ... white chocolate chips just seemed like a natural addition. They mimic the traditional cream cheese frosting associated with red velvet cake, so the cookies look like a deconstructed version of the real thing and taste almost just like it (especially when they're warm from the oven and the chips are still a little melted ... mmm!).