RED VELVET COOKIES

Red velvet cookies image

Turn the popular cake into chewy cookies, complete with cream cheese icing. Box them up to give as a gift, or make a batch of dough to keep in the freezer

Provided by Anna Glover

Categories Afternoon tea, Dessert, Treat

Time 35m

Yield Makes 16-18

Number Of Ingredients 12

Ingredients

175g soft salted butter
200g light brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
½-1 tbsp red food colouring gel, depending on strength
225g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g white chocolate chips or chunks
2 tbsp soft cheese
6 tbsp icing sugar

Steps:

Beat the butter and sugars together with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and food colouring until you have a bright red batter. Sieve over the flour, cocoa and bicarb. Fold everything together to make a stiff evenly-coloured dough, then fold in the chocolate chips.
Put the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, fold the parchment over the dough and mould into a sausage shape about 6cm wide. Chill until ready to bake. Will keep for a week in the fridge or one month in the freezer.
Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Cut the cookie dough into 1cm thick slices using a sharp knife and arrange on two large baking sheets lined with baking parchment well-spaced apart so they have room to spread in the oven. Bake in batches, keeping the unbaked cookies on the sheet in the fridge while the rest are baking.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 13-15 mins until the cookies are crisp at the edges, but still soft in the centre. Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Beat the soft cheese in a small bowl to a loose consistency, then stir in the icing sugar. Use a piping bag or spoon to drizzle the icing over the cookies. Un-iced cookies keep for five days in an airtight container, or two days iced.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 268 calories, Fat 12 grams fat, SaturatedFat 7 grams saturated fat, Carbohydrate 36 grams carbohydrates, Sugar 26 grams sugar, Fiber 1 grams fiber, Protein 3 grams protein, Sodium 0.3 milligram of sodium