Well, after two months, the Secret Recipe Club is finally back!!! I couldn't be more excited. For this month, I was assigned to Amanda's blog, Fake Ginger. I've actually been following her beautiful and tasty blog for some time now, ever since we both participated in the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies two years ago. She has a ton of delicious looking sweets on her blog, and you know how I love sweets! The only difficult part was choosing which sweet treat I wanted to make. The answer is that I wasn't able to narrow it down to just one, so I'll be posting about one today and the other one later this week.
Seeing as how it's getting close to Valentine's Day, and also how much my family loves red velvet cake, I decided to make her Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies. The red food coloring gives these cookies a total wow factor. The only change I made was to use a little milk mixed with vinegar instead of plain milk or cream. I figured it would give these cookies that twang that red velvet cake is known for.
So, I'm sure you're all wondering, did the cookies actually taste like red velvet cake? Not really. But, the thing is, when I took a bite of these cookies, with all that gooey, melty chocolate bursting out of every bite, my immediate reaction was, "I don't care what these cookies are supposed to taste like, because I LIKE how they taste!!!" I have no doubt that you're going to feel the exact same way if you try them.
There's only one thing I'd do differently the next time I make these and that is that I'd make MORE of them instead of just one batch. This time around, I was making them to give to someone else and, after setting aside that person's cookies, I only had three left to savor for myself. Yeah, with cookies as good as these, I think I need at least a dozen of my own to be fully happy.
Thank you Amanda for one awesome keeper of a recipe!
Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies (Fake Ginger)
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. milk (I used 1 tsp. vinegar + skim milk to make 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. red food coloring
1/2 c. chocolate chips (I used about 3/4 cup)
Preheat oven to 375.
Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and heavy cream and combine until smooth. Beat in red food coloring. Stir in cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out 1 tablespoon of dough and set on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
*If you are using liquid food dye, you will need less milk. I suggest leaving the milk as the last step (before chocolate chips) and adding as needed.
