Red velvet cookies
We’ve turned the popular cake into chewy cookies, complete with cream cheese icing. Baking them is much cheaper than buying a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day, and something homemade is always appreciated. Box them up to give as a gift, or make a batch of dough to keep in the fridge so impromptu guests can enjoy freshly baked cookies.
MAKES 16-18 PREP 20 mins plus chilling COOK 15 mins EASY G dough only
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
For the drizzle
2 tbsp soft cheese
6 tbsp icing sugar 1 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.
2 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. 3 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.
4 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.
PER BISCUIT 268 kcals • fat 12g • saturates 7g • carbs 36g • sugars 26g • fibre 1g • protein 3g • salt 0.3g