Red Velvet

I love Red Velvet Cake. It's always my cake of choice. Over the break, I got to enjoy two variations of the cake--red velvet cheesecake and red velvet cookies. My sister sent this recipe to me after she made me jealous by sending a picture of these delicious cookies. I immediately went out and bought all the ingredients to find out a couple days later that Jordan's mom had already been planning to make these exact cookies on Christmas day. I delayed making them on my own because I already had made a ton of treats before Christmas. When we made them at the Whittingtons' house, we made a homemade cream cheese icing, but I used just Betty Crocker Whipped Cream Cheese Icing when I made these yesterday.

These are the directions Morgan sent to me, complete with her cute comments:)

Red Velvet Rich and Creamy Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/4 cup sour cream
  
• 1 tablespoon red food color
• 1 egg
• 3/4 to 1 cup Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy cream cheese frosting
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

1. heat oven to 375 F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, cocoa, butter, sour cream, food color and egg until soft dough forms
2. roll dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet
3. bake 8 to 9 minutes or until set. cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4. frost cookies with frosting. sprinkle with nuts. store tightly covered at room temperature

Makes 36 cookies.
** I use a 1 Tbsp measuring spoon to put mine on the cookie sheet so I didn't stain my hands with the red food coloring. So I only got about 27 cookies out of it. I also accidentally used 1/2 cup of margarine instead of the 1/4 cup it calls for, and didn't have any problems with it. Um...I got impatient with stirring the dough, so I used my handmixer and it made the job so much easier.

**I also used 1/2 cup of margarine, not on accident, but because the dough was still too dry after mixing everything together. I used a cookie scoop to put the cookies on my baking stone (if you don't have one, this is a MUST have) so I would not stain my hands. When I made these cookies with Jordan's mom and sister, we wet our hands with water before rolling the balls of cookie dough and washed periodically.

Enjoy!