A Valentine's Day Treat

Red Velvet Sweet Heart Cookies




This is my inaugural blog posting! These cookies are the cutest Valentine's Day treat. I made a batch that I sent to family and friends, a batch for our organization's bake sale and a batch for my husband. I was inspired by the following post: http://www.heidisrecipes.com/2011/02/peanutty-valentine-cookies-recipe.html. It is such a cute idea to use chocolate hearts instead of kisses to make these festive cookies. I also L-O-V-E Red Velvet Cake more than anything, so I thought I would combine the two for a wonderful Valentine's Day treat!

First, remove all the candy hearts from the foil wrappers. I always seem to forget this step until my cookies are almost ready to come out of the oven. I am left frantically tearing foil and demanding help from anyone in earshot!



I used Dove Dark Chocolate hearts. I tried the ones that had cherry and it just clashed with the red velvet so I wouldn't recommend it. I also found a generic bag of milk chocolate hearts at CVS that were cheaper. Plus my husband prefers milk chocolate, and this is his Valentine's treat after all.



My tip for today (and for any cookie you are baking) is to beat the butter and sugar correctly. Use room temperature butter, NOT melted butter! If all of your sticks are in the fridge, put a stick in the microwave for 5-7 seconds and then turn it over 180 degrees and microwave for another 5-7 seconds. That's it! Don't let it melt. Beat the butter for about a minute and then add the sugar gradually. Continue beating until the butter and sugar are light in color and fluffy. Watch it as it beats and you will witness this transformation and you will know what to look for next time you make cookies!



Ahh...my favorite part is watching it turn this beautiful red, cocoa hue!




Using a small ice cream scoop is key to nice, neat, uniform cookies. It helped to cool the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes before scooping it onto cookie sheets.



Make sure the oven is preheated before you put the dough in to bake. If it is not hot, the butter you were so careful to beat up will melt and the cookies will spread more than you want. 

Finally, press the heart shaped chocolate in the center as soon as they come out of the oven. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for a while. If you move them too soon, you will jar the melty heart candy and it will look more like a blob than a cute little heart.


Enjoy!

Red Velvet Sweet Heart Cookies

Ingredients:

1 C butter (I always use light butter, but regular unsalted is fine)
1 ½ C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ t vanilla
¼ C cocoa powder
1 T red food coloring
1 T white vinegar
¼ C strong black coffee
2 ¾ C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1 ½ t baking soda
½ t salt
36 Dove (or any brand) chocolate hearts

Directions:

Unwrap the chocolate hearts
In a mixer bowl, beat butter for one minute. Add sugar gradually and beat another few minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add in vanilla.
In a seperate bowl, mix together cocoa powder, food coloring, vinegar and black coffee. Add this to the mixer. 

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients in about 3 increments.
Chill dough for 30 minutes then scoop onto parchment or silicone-lined baking sheets. Bake at 375° 8-11 minutes depending on your oven (mine took 9-10 minutes). Remove from oven and press chocolates into the centers of the cookies. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 10-15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.

Happy Valentine's Day!