Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies: Holiday Baking Contest Entry

Though I highly doubt any of you out there are waiting on baited breath for me to reveal my entry in the recent PattyCakes Holiday Cake Competition, I thought it was time I spilled the details. So drumroll please...I made Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies with a white chocolate cream cheese glaze. The cookies are decorated with some red sanding sugar.

I first learned of the PattyCakes competition last year, but I was due with my son, Trevor, in a few months and I wasn't up to entering. This year I decided I would put myself out there and enter my first competition!
The competition featured Holiday Cakes but also had a "Down Home Dessert Cafe" category, which is what I entered. I struggled with the decision as to what I should make and thought I would enter these, but in the end  I decided to try a red velvet cookie. Red velvet is a staple of the holiday season, but I thought in cookie form, the red velvet would be a bit more unexpected. I finished the cookies with a cream cheese and white chocolate glaze and dipped them in a bit of sanding sugar.

I did not place this year, but I was proud of myself for following through and showing up to compete. With two small children, a husband, and a part-time job in the mix I don't always take the time to nuture my passions. Going to the contest let me spend a few hours among people who are just as passionate as I am about baking and caking and it was wonderful to experience that.

I also got to spend some time with one of my best friends Michele who lives right around the corner from where the competition was held. Michele is special to me for many reasons, but it was particularly fitting that she should be able to attend my first baking competition with me. Sometime back in 2005, I believe, Michele got tired of hearing about me mixing up giant batches of cake or other baked goods with a hand-held mixer. She got all my friends together and they chipped in and surprised me with a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer for Christmas that year. It still brings tears to my eyes to think about my friends, in their early twenties and just starting out in life, to help me out that way. I am especially thankful to Michele who, for whatever reason, believes in me. When she gave me the mixer she said, "I expect great things from you." I have never forgotten it and I intend to live up to those big expectations!

So, this post ended up being about a lot more than the red velvet cookies. However, I did think the cookies tasted good. They were chewy and not too dense and the glaze and sanding sugar added a little extra something. Packaged in a holiday cupcake wrapper and a small clear cellophane bag, as I had them at the competition, they would make a nice gift to take to a Holiday gathering.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

from How Sweet It Is

makes 12-15 cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add egg and vanilla and combine until smooth. Beat in red food coloring. Stir in cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt until just combined, scraping down the sides when needed. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of dough and set on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Glaze
a KT Kakes original

Over low heat melt 2 4oz bars of Ghiradelli White Baking Chocolate and 4oz of Cream Cheese. Stir until melted and smooth.

Finish the cookies by dipping in sanding sugar the color of your choice.