Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Guys…I have discovered the holy grail of cookies. I have made four batches of these cookies in the last FIVE days and every single person who tried them has melted into a little puddle of happy.

The recipe is from People.com and was created by Sally of Sally’s Baking Addiction which is a great site filled with lots of fantastic recipes.

Sally’s Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 18 cookies

1 ½ cups + 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature.
¾ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ tbsp. liquid red food coloring
1 cup white chocolate chips (plus a few extra for after baking)

1. Toss the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Switch the mixer to medium speed and beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once mixed, add the food coloring and beat until combined. Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed. Beat in more food coloring if you’d like the dough to be redder. On low speed, beat in the white chocolate chips. The dough will be sticky.

3. Cover the dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours (and up to 4-5 days. Make sure you let the cookie dough sit out at room temperature for about 45 minutes before baking if chilling the cookie dough for more than 1 day.). Chilling is mandatory for this sticky cookie dough.

4. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

5. Scoop 1.5 Tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Place 9 balls onto each baking sheet. Bake each batch for 10-11 minutes. The cookies may have only spread slightly; simply press down on the warm cookies to slightly flatten and form crinkles. Stick a few white chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies – that’s optional and only for looks.

6. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days. Baked cookies may be frozen for up to 2 months. Cookie dough balls may be frozen up to 2 months. Bake for 1-2 extra minutes (do not thaw).

Maybe Martha’s Notes

I mixed the dry ingredients together for the first double batch I made and added the dry ingredients separately after mixing the wet ingredients the second time. I didn’t notice a difference and I preferred not having to clean up another bowl.

I used margarine instead of butter and don’t think it affected the taste or texture. I tend to bake with margarine more often than butter because it is what I use the most around the kitchen and don’t usually find anything to be missing. The one place that I will never sub margarine for butter is in buttercream icing, but when it’s in the title you know it’s important.

I didn’t use any extra chocolate chips on top and even found the full cup of chocolate chips to be a bit too much. I used 3/4 of a cup and found it to be the perfect amount (trust me, the dough is so delicious you don’t need it to be totally jammed with chocolate), but to each their own!

I mentioned before that I just kind of plop dough in vaguely ball-shaped lumps to bake. However, this recipe said to roll them and for some reason I actually listened this time…and thank goodness! Absolutely roll the dough into balls and then flatten them out with your spatula when they are done baking if you feel the need. By baking them in the balls, the cookies remain doughy and fluffy like you wouldn’t believe. I had one person comment that they never dreamed a cookie could be that texture!

Mine didn’t turn out as red as the original recipe pictured. I don’t think all red dye is created equally and clearly mine was not as strong as Sally’s. It didn’t bother me too much and the slightly red tint was all I needed.

I hope you enjoy these fabulous cookies as much as I have! They are definitely going to be one of my go-to recipes from here on out.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

There is no better holiday (completely commercialized or not) than Valentine’s Day to bust out a delicious sugar cookie, and that is exactly what I did this year for my co-workers. My family has been using this sugar cookie recipe since I was a little girl and it is still my go to when I want something easy, delicious and cute.

My favourite use of the cookies so far was for my sister’s wedding shower a few years ago when we gave them as favours. My mom and I found a wedding cake cookie cutter and I hand iced each one. I wouldn’t recommend using the star method if you are worried about time, but I think it turned out beautifully so if you have time, go for it!

For today’s cookies, I used a heart shaped cookie cutter, a relatively liquid icing and pink and red sparkles to create a Valentine’s theme. Are they my most attractive cookies? No. But when you are awake on a Thursday icing cookies at midnight, they tend to go a little wayward. Plus, I think they have charm! Right…?

Sugar Cookies

6 tbsp butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cup flour
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla on medium speed until smooth.

Add flour, baking powder and salt. Beat on lowest speed until moist.

Chill in fridge for 2 hours or overnight.

Roll the dough to 1/8 of an inch (or 1/4 of an inch if you prefer a thicker cookie). Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Recipe makes 18 heart shaped cookies (2 inch width).

Icing

Icing sugar
Milk
Vanilla extract

This icing is all about personal preference. I never use measurements for this particular recipe, so just mix to your hearts content!

I would start by mixing about 1/2 cup of icing sugar with 1/2 tbsp milk and a teensy splash of vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly and go from there.

Once cookies are cooled, use an icing bag or spoon to decorate the cookies as you would like (or just dunk them top down into the bowl of icing if you’re a little bit lazy like me!)

Maybe Martha’s notes

When checking to see if the cookies are done, the edges should just be browning. If you have good bakers instinct and can take them out just before that point, even better! But don’t wait until the entire bottom is brown.

The thicker the icing, the more flavour it will add to the cookie. If you’re adding sugar crystals or any kind of sprinkles, you may want a thinner icing that acts more like a glue (this is what I did above)  but if the icing is going to be the star of the show, add some dye and make it thicker!

Be sure the icing is thoroughly mixed before adding any more ingredients. A couple of times last night, I had my hand on the icing sugar to thicken up the icing but with a few more “stirs” it ended up much thicker than I originally thought it would be.

Do NOT purchase those overpriced containers of sprinkles at the grocery store or Michael’s. Bulk Barn has a great array of decorations for very good prices and you only have to buy as much as you need. It is my number one baking and cooking supply store these days!

Happy Valentine’s Day!