Red Velvet Cookies

So...

I don't normally bake cookies.

But it takes so very little for me to become obsessive that merely digging my cookie sheet out of hibernation yesterday made me desperate for more cookies. 

That, and I've finally filled my cookie jar.  That empty, lonely, ceramic cookie jar that sits on my countertop each and every day, making visitors believe that I'm domesticated enough to bake cookies on a whim.  With no purpose.  Simply, because I love baking.

Silly, because I totally hate baking for no reason.  It's probably tied into my self-esteem or something.  

Like, I need for people to eat my baked goods and tell me how amazing they are so I can feel good about myself.  Making cookies just to make cookies seems like a total waste of time.  People can't know 
what a culinary genius I am if I make cookies just for the sake of filling a sad, little cookie jar!

How lame.

I think I totally redeemed myself this week, though,  Cookie jar is full.  The household is happy.  And, I'm learning that hoarding your homemade cookies makes it way easier to eat them all yourself. 

That won't be a great thing down the road... but right now, it's absolutely fantastic.

And, since I'm a cream cheese frosting nut,  adding cream cheese to the mix just about made my day.  
Let's just say there was a fair amount of dancing and other assorted varieties of hyperactive activity in my kitchen during the batter-eating and cookie-eating phases of this recipe's development.

If you love red velvet with cream cheese frosting, these cookies will give you a chewier and more easily transportable option.

Plus, no one will judge you for eating with your hands like they do when you're chowing down on cake.

Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cookies

(adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod)

1 boxed red velvet cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling/Frosting:

1/2 brick cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract


In a stand mixer, combine all of the ingredients for the cake mix until smooth, starting with the dry ingredients.  Form the dough into a log and wrap in plastic.  Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

For the cream cheese frosting, beat together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.  Use a spoon and scoop out a 1 tsp of the mixture.  Place the ball of frosting on a plate and form into a small disc as much as possible.  Try to keep a little left over for frosting.  Freeze the discs for 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven 350F.

Take 1/4 cup of the red velvet mixture and flatten out.   Place a cream cheese disc in the summer and wrap the cookie dough around the disc until it's completely covered.  Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool completely.

With any frosting you have left over, add milk 1/2 tsp at a time until you get a creamy consistency.  Drizzle the frosting over the cooled cookies.

If you don't feel like doing the cream cheese frosting as a filling, you can use it just as a frosting after the cookies have cooled.





Listening to:   Kelly Osbourne - Papa Don't Preach