Red Velvet Kiss Cookies

Red Velvet Kiss Cookies - made December 12, 2015 from The Cafe Sucre Farine

I'm blogging out of order but I want to get the more Christmas-themed treats up first or else, at the rate I'm going, I'll be blogging about Christmas cookies well into March, I'm hopelessly behind. I actually have been baking, nowhere near the level of holiday baking I normally do, but baking nonetheless.

The funny thing is, much as I (used to) bake, I don't actually make a lot of traditional Christmas cookies. I've already laid bare my deficiencies at cookie decorating so no fancy snowflake cookies will emerge from my kitchen and I don't really like the more traditional holiday flavors so I don't have any special holiday cookies I make for the season.

 I'm indifferent to gingerbread or ginger molasses cookies, I don't like eggnog anything, and we shall not speak of fruitcake...ever. I like peppermint but only by itself, like in gum. Never with chocolate. That's just wrong.

But I did give in to self-imposed peer pressure to have somewhat of a holiday-themed cookie with these red velvet kiss cookies. I'd made a version of these last year that were more in line with Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies but colored red. This time, these were "real" red velvet, meaning chocolate sugar cookies rolled in red sanding sugar and pressed with a candy cane Hershey's kiss.

Candy cane kisses. Shudder. I'm not a big fan of white chocolate either much less white chocolate combined with peppermint. But I figure I wasn't actually going to be eating more than one of these cookies and they did look festive, not to mention holiday appropriate. So sometimes my baking soul has to make compromises in the name of aesthetics.

As for flavor, I did like the cookie itself as a red velvet cookie with a moist, fudgy interior. Surprisingly, I wasn't repelled by the candy cane kiss either. High praise, I know. In any case, I do think these are pretty to bring to a holiday cookie swap or for giving away as a holiday food gift. The cookies look aesthetically pleasing without taking up any decorating time in your busy holiday baking schedule.

14 tablespoons butter
1 3/4 cups (219 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (88 grams) cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (350 grams) brown sugar, packed
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon req liquid food coloring
1 cup (175 grams) mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup red sanding sugar
1 12-ounce bag Hershey's Hugs for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, melt 10 tablespoons butter. Cut the remaining 4 tablespoons butter into 6-8 pieces, add to the melted butter and stir; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. 
4. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, red food coloring and salt to the melted butter. Stir well to combine. Add the egg and egg yolk; stir until smooth.
5. Add the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until combined and flour is incorporated. Add chocolate chips and mix just until incorporated.
6. Put red sanding sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll the dough into balls, about 1 1/2 tablespoons for each cookie. Roll the balls in the sanding sugar until well coated and place on prepared baking sheets.
7. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until they have puffed and have cracked running through the top, about 12-14 minutes; do not overbake.
8. Upon removing cookies from the oven, immediately place a Hershey's Hug in the center of each cookie, pressing down to adhere the candy into the cookie. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.