Red Velvet Cookies

I never really got the red velvet thing. I mean, it's just a slightly chocolate cake...with a ton of red food coloring. Why? Not sure. But lately I've had a really good red velvet cupcake (or two.) And I'm coming around to it, at least for Valentine's Day. Plus it's traditionally topped with a cream cheese frosting, and I'm all for more cream cheese frosting in life. So when I came across this recipe for Red Velvet Cookies, the week before Valentine's Day, I caved. Everyone in Carrot Cake Murder just loved them so I had to try it!

And actually they're totally good. The chocolate chips do a lot to enhance the flavor, but the cookie itself is good - mellow, dense, yummy. You might even say velvety. The frosting is to-die-for. And I did one batch with the kick-it-up-a-notch step of brushing the cookie with melted raspberry jam before frosting. My test-tasters said they liked that as much or better.

So here is the quintessential Valentine's treat - it's sweet, it's red, it's chocolate. (The only thing it's not is heart-shaped.) Share a batch with someone you love.Red Velvet Cookies
2 one-ounce squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 T red food coloring
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheets with parchment or foil sprayed with nonstick spray.

2. Unwrap chocolate squares and melt in microwave for 90 seconds on HIGH. Stir until smooth and set aside to cool while you mix the dough.

3. Combine butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat them on medium speed until they're smooth. This should take less than a minute.

4. Add the baking soda and salt, and resume beating on medium again for another minute, or until they're incorporated. Add the egg and beat on medium until batter is smooth. Add red food coloring and mix about 30 seconds.

5. Scrape down the bowl. Add melted chocolate and mix again another minute on medium. Scrape down sides again. At low speed mix in half the flour. When flour is incorporated, mix in the sour cream. Add the rest of the flour; beat until fully incorporated. Mix in chocolate chips by hand.

6. Use a teaspoon to spoon the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets (I used my small - 1 inch - cookie scoop.) Bake the cookies at 375 for 9 to 11 minutes, or until they rise and become firm (about 9 1/2 minutes for me.)

7. Slide the parchment from the cookie sheets onto a wire rack. Let the cookies cool on the rack while the next sheet of cookies bakes. When the next sheet is ready, remove the cooled cookies to another rack or the counter, and slide the parchment with the hot cookies on it to the rack.

8. Once cookies are cooled, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. (OR brush the tops with melted raspberry jam, let dry, and then frost.) Makes about 3 to 4 dozen (mine made 4 1/2 dozen with a 1-inch cookie scoop.)

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 cup softened butter
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Mix the softened butter with the softened cream cheese and the vanilla until the mixture is smooth. Add the confectioners' sugar in 1/2 cup increments until the frosting is of proper spreading consistency.

I decided to keep them simple and decoration-free, but you could certainly work some sprinkles onto the frosting. Hazel made this one special for me and Ed to share, and she watched us like a hawk after dinner to make sure we did:
Recipe from Carrot Cake Murder by Joann Fluke