Being a typical female, I have a decidedly intense love of chocolate. Combine that with cookies, and I’m a goner.
So when I was making those Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies for my husband, I thought I might make a batch of cookies for myself as well! Treat yo’self, right?
I did a bit of brainstorming and browsing of my best friend, Pinterest, and I came up with that holy combination of cookies and chocolate.
Think “peanut butter blossoms”, but with red velvet and Hugs.
Okay, I’m drooling.
I saw a lot of recipes on Pinterest calling for a red velvet cake mix, but I figured that if I was going to make my husband’s cookies from scratch, I might as well go the extra mile for myself.
Enter this recipe from yellowblissroad.com. While I wasn’t going to dip them in chocolate, the cookies themselves looked delicious!
And to switch it up a little bit from the traditional peanut butter blossoms (since we’ve already strayed so far!), I chose to use Hershey’s Hugs instead of Kisses. I’m a sucker for the yummy swirl of white and milk chocolate.
As was the case with the peanut butter cookies, they have quite a few ingredients. They all come together quickly though.
They include: butter, white sugar, brown sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, vinegar, red food coloring, all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, and Hershey’s hugs. (I attempted to amp up the Valentine’s Day cheer with the sprinkles and candy hearts, but I had a few issues with those, so I ended up not using them.)
I used my handy dandy KitchenAid mixer for these cookies as well. To start, I creamed together the butter and both sugars. The recipe calls for unsalted, but if you only have salted, omit the salt added later.
I then added the egg, vanilla extract, vinegar, and the food coloring. I used gel food coloring, and even though it seemed like a lot, I added about 2 teaspoons of it.
I wanted the cookies to be a nice, rich red, but the cocoa powder I added later made them a bit darker than I wanted.
In a separate bowl, I combined the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt, and mixed them together with a whisk to get rid of any lumps.
Adding about half at a time, I mixed the dry ingredients into the bowl with the mixer at low speed. This is crucial. If the speed is any higher, you will have a flour explosion in your kitchen.
Once fully mixed, I rolled the cookie dough into balls about 1-1 ½ inches thick. It made slightly less than 2 dozen cookies, which I was able to fit on two cookie sheets with silicone mat liners. There were one row of four and two rows of three.
I baked them for about 8 minutes in a 350 degree oven. The tops were still soft.
Then the Hugs made their entrance! I put one in each cookie, pressing down until it broke the surface. You may want to wait until the cookies are a bit more cool, as the chocolate can melt, but I just put them in the refrigerator right after, and they were fine.
So yummy! Nothing like chocolate and cookies all in one delicious bite!
Red Velvet Blossoms
Yummy red velvet cookies with a Hershey's Hug in the center. A delicious chocolate twist on the traditional peanut butter blossom cookie.
Ingredients
- 1/2c unsalted butter
- 1/3 c brown sugar
- 1/2 c white sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2-3 tsp red food coloring, liquid or gel
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 2/3 c all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cream together butter and both sugars
- Add egg, vanilla extract, vinegar, and food coloring
- In a separate bowl, use a whisk to mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, corn starch, and salt
- Adding half the bowl at a time, mix the dry ingredients with the wet on slow speed until fully mixed
- Roll cookie dough into balls roughly 1-1 1/2 inches thick and place them 2 inches apart on baking sheet with silicone mat
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until the top is set
- Let cool
- After cooled, in the middle of each cookie, press a Hug in until it breaks the surface
- Enjoy!
Notes
If you place the Hugs shortly after removing the cookies from the oven, they will melt. Place them in the refrigerator to harden them.
If you missed it, take a look at the Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies I made for my husband!
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.