Crumbl copycat Pink Velvet Cookies from Cooking with Karli

Crumbl copycat Pink Velvet Cookies - made dough October 30, 2022 from Cooking with Karli

1 1/2 cups salted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons cake batter flavoring

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

pink food coloring

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

milk to thin if needed

1. Cream together butter and sugar until well combined, light and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
2. Beat in eggs and cake batter flavoring until combined. Add two drops of pink food coloring.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Add in 3 additions to butter-sugar mixture, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined. Add a few drops of food coloring as you mix until desired color is achieved.
4. Scoop dough into 1/3 cup portions and roll into balls. Flatten slightly into thick discs. Cover and chill while oven preheats.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheet with parchment paper. Evenly space chilled dough discs on baking sheets. Bake 9-11 minutes or until middles no longer look raw. Do not overbake. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
6. While cookies are cooling, make frosting: in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and cream cheese until well combined and creamy. Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating after each addition. Thin with milk, a teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is achieved. Frost cooled cookies.

As you can tell from the pictures, I didn't make the frosting recipe I included above and instead kept these cookies (or rather, this cookie as pictured since it was the taste test cookie) as plain/unfrosted. Mainly because I planned to mail the rest of the batch in care packages and I can never send cream-cheese-frosted cookies anywhere that's going to take more than a day to arrive, even in the coldest temps of winter. Too much risk of it going bad before arrival.

These cookies also turned out more pink than I intended. I was going for a pastel pink and overshot it by a couple of drops. When coloring your dough, try to add the food coloring early in the mixing process, primarily before you add the dry ingredients. The subsequent mixing helps spread the food coloring more evenly throughout the dough. You just can't have too heavy a hand (oops). 

Regardless, I loved this cookie. I don't know exactly what pink velvet is supposed to taste like - I said the same thing when I tried the original Crumbl version - but if it means a damn good sugar cookie that's colored pink, then here you go. I liked the thickness, the slight crispness at the edges and, best of all, the soft chewiness and texture of the middle. I'm sure this would taste good if it was frosted but it holds its own without the frosting as a great cookie.