Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

These red velvet cookie sandwiches are soft and chewy and filled with everyone’s favourite cream cheese frosting! These heart shaped cookies are perfect to share - anytime!

I am so excited to share this recipe with you. When I started planning what I wanted to make for Valentine’s Day this year cookie sandwiches immediately came to mind. I knew I wanted my cookies to be heart shaped, so I needed a dough that would hold its shape and since everyone loves cream cheese frosting I knew it would be the perfect filling.

Red Velvet Cake has that hint of cocoa flavour and is incredibly moist. I wanted to make sure that my cookies shared the same characteristics while still holding their shape. The cookies have a true red velvet flavour. They have just enough cocoa powder and the addition of sour cream really helps to bring home that red velvet flavour and texture.

There are a few key things that you can do to keep the cookies from spreading while baking. It all comes down to properly chilling your cookies. Chilling them before you roll them out and before they go into the oven really helps them keep their shape.

The cookies are delicious straight from the oven but they taste even better the next day in my opinion. The cream cheese frosting keeps the cookies nice and soft, and that extra day gives all the flavours a chance to meld together.

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

Makes: 2-3 dozen individual cookies or 1-1.5 dozen sandwich cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies

1 c butter

1 c sugar

1 tsp vinegar

1 egg

Red Gel Food Colouring

2 c flour

¼ c cocoa powder

½ tsp baking soda

2 tbsp sour cream

For the Frosting

8oz cream cheese, at room temperature

½ c butter, at room temperature

3 c icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-3 tbsp heavy cream (optional)

Directions

For the Cookies: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vinegar and food colouring  to butter mixture. Mix until combined. Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. On slow speed, add in flour mixture. Finally, mix in sour cream. Mix until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for minimum 1 hour

Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to desired thickness. Cut out cookies using desired cookie cutters and transfer to parchment lined baking tray. Chill cut cookies in fridge for 15 minutes before baking. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until cookie edges are light golden brown.  Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, over medium to high speed, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and creamy. On low speed, mix in icing sugar, one cup at a time, until incorporated. Mix in vanilla. Whip on medium to high speed for 1-2minutes or until light and fluffy. Add heavy cream until desired frosting consistency is reached.

To assemble: Pair up similar sized cookies. Pipe frosting onto cookies and sandwich together. Store cookies in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Sugar Cookie Decorating Kit

This sugar cookie decorating kit is the perfect gift for anyone on your list. Give the gift of cozy Christmas cheer!

Um how is Christmas already just a week away!! Time is flying! I thought I would share a fun, last minute gift today. If you area already making cookies why not package a few undecorated ones up to share. I love the idea of a sugar cookie decorating kit. Its such a fun way to gift cookies to friends and family. Let them have the fun of decorating the cookies any way they please! This would be a great afternoon activity for kids or its a fun activity to do while watching your favourite Christmas movie. Its perfect to get into the festive spirit.

To Make the Kit

I used a wire basket lined with a Christmas tea towel as the base of my kit. In the kit, for the cookie decorating I included: some fresh baked cookies, royal icing in a squeeze bottle, and some fun festive sprinkles. Of course I had to include some fun extras too. Homemade hot chocolate mix (recipe below), a holiday mug and a cute spoon round out my cookie decorating kit. I cellophane the entire kit and added a cookie cutter - just incase they want to make more cookies themselves! You could also include some homemade marshmallows, a fun ornament, pipping bags and tips, a fun spatula… the possibilities are endless!

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Ingredients

1 c cocoa powder

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 c mini chocolate chips

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, powdered sugar and mini chocolate chips. Use a funnel to transfer mix into a small mason jar.

For One Hot Chocolate: Heat one cup of milk with 1 tbsp of pre-made hot chocolate mix. Stir until all of the mix has dissolved.

Sugar Cookie Decorating Kit with Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

8 Tips for Decorating with Royal Icing

Tis the season for sugar cookies! I love sugar cookies because they are perfect for any occasion, however, I definitely make more than usual around the Christmas season. I thought I would share some of my tips for decorating with royal icing. I shared my recipe for royal icing in a previous post but I thought today I would take the time to share some more tips for decorating with it. I know it can be super frustrating when the image you have in your head doesn't quite translate into the perfect looking cookie. These are a few things I try to keep in mind when decorating cookies - year round.  

Tips for Decorating with Royal Icing 

 1. Icing consistency is key

Your desired icing consistency will depend on if you are flooding, outlining or adding detail to your cookie. Add additional water slowly (think 1/2 a teaspoon at a time) until your desired consistency is reached. I typically use a 10 second consistency icing to outline and flood my cookie. I will use a slightly thicker consistency when adding detail to my cookies.

2. Keep your icing covered when not in use

Royal icing drys out quickly, be sure to keep it covered either with plastic wrap or a clean damp tea towel. This prevents it from crusting over or drying out.  

3. Use gel colours to tint your royal icing

Gel colours will not effect the consistency of the icing.  Remember a lot goes a long way. Your icing will also darken over time so you will need even less then you think you do. I add my gel colours to my icing using a clean toothpick. Be sure to use a new clean toothpick each time as you don't want to contaminate your gel colours.

4. Always make more of a colour than you think you'll need

It is really difficult to exactly match a colour that you have previously made. Making more of a colour than you think you will need eliminates the stress of running out of a particular colour of icing and having to try and match it. Save yourself the headache and just make a bit more to begin with. 

5. Sketch or write out a game plan

If I am creating multiple different cookies in a set I will often sketch out a rough idea of how I am going to decorate my cookies. This allows me to see how many different colours I will need to make and the number of steps 

6. Simplify when possible

Once you create your game plan, look for ways to simplify your design. I always look to see if I can eliminate a colour or step and still achieve the overall results that I am looking for.  I try to limit my designs to 3-4 colours. I find this creates a more cohesive set and as a bonus it reduces the amount of colours & piping bags I have to create 

7. Give yourself enough time

While you could make and decorate your cookies all in one day, I like to space it out. I work backwards from the number of steps in my game plan to determine how many days I will need to make my cookies without going crazy! Ha. I typically take 3 days to make a set. One day to make the dough and bake the cookies, one day to flood the cookies and another to add the detail. Trying to add details to soon or flood a warm cookie just leads to frustration.  

8. Storing your Royal Icing

If you ran out of time, or made more icing than you need. Not to worry. You can store your icing. Royal icing made with meringue powder stores wonderfully, in an air tight container on the counter. I put a layer of plastic wrap directly on top of the icing to keep it from crusting over, and then put my lid on top. It will last for over a week on the counter. The icing will start to separate and probably won't be at a perfect consistency when you go to use it again. Just pop it back in your mixer for a few minutes for it reincorporate and add small amounts of additional water as necessary to get it back to your desired consistency.

Happy decorating!