Soft red velvet cut-out sandwich cookies
These Soft Red Velvet Cut-Out Sandwich Cookies, filled with tangy cream cheese frosting, create a delicious pairing where each element perfectly enhances the other. It's the ideal Valentine's Day treat!
Servings: cookies
Equipment
- 1 Electric mixer
- 2 cookie sheets
- 1 2.5" square cookie cutter
- 1 1.3" heart cookie cutter
- 1 1M Wilton piping tip
- 1 piping bag
- 1 Rolling Pin
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cookies
- 2 ¾ cup all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1.5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1.5 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon red gel food coloring
Cream Cheese filling
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 ounces full-fat cream cheese room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar measured, then sifted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Red Velvet Cookies
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 350 F and preparing 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set them aside.
- Sift the dry ingredients together using a medium bowl, and set them aside.2 ¾ cup (343.8 g) all-purpose flour, 1.5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/8 teaspoon (0.1 teaspoon) salt
- Over a large bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, and sugar for 2-3 minutes on medium speed.1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 3/4 cup (170.3 g) unsalted butter
- Incorporate egg, vanilla extract, and red gel color and mix until well combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix.1 large egg, 1.5 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon red gel food coloring
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal dough discs. Lightly dust the rolling pin, then roll out the first disc of dough over a silicone mat to a thickness of 1/4″. You can also lightly dust your work surface to roll the dough there instead.
- Use a 2.5" square cookie cutter and a 1.3" heart cookie cutter to cut out your cookies. Create one square-shaped cookie and another square-shaped cookie with a heart-shaped hole in the center (which will be used as the top cookie). Arrange them on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 1.5 inches of space between each.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes, or until the bottom of your cookies turn a golden brown color. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet (until easy to handle), then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before assembling them
Cream Cheese filling
- Over a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter at medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.1/2 cup (113.5 g) + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Incorporate the cream cheese and beat for an extra minute.4 ounces (113.4 g) full-fat cream cheese
- Add the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to the cream cheese mixture, and mix for an additional 1-2 minutes. Do not overbeat.2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon (0.3 teaspoon) salt
- To assemble your cookies, place the cream cheese filling in a piping bag with a 1M Wilton tip.Pipe a rose-shaped swirl onto the base cookie, beginning in the middle and going all the way to the edges of the cookie. Then, top the base cookie with the heart-shaped hole cookie.
Notes
Expert Tips:
- The butter, egg, and cream cheese should be at room temperature. This will make sure that your ingredients mix more evenly with the rest of the ingredients, and prevent unwanted lumps in your frosting.
- Flour or powdered sugar should be measured using a spoon, scooping the flour or sugar into your measuring cup without compacting it, then using the back of a knife to level it. For granulated sugar, just scoop it using a measuring cup, then level it with a knife.
- Do not overbeat the dough after adding the dry ingredients, or your cookies might become cakey and hard. Once the flour is added and mixed with the wet ingredients, the gluten proteins are activated and they start developing.
- After adding the cream cheese to your frosting mixture, be careful not to overbeat it, as it might become runny and difficult to pipe.
- Because of their small size, cookies tend to burn more quickly. An overbaked cookie could lose its softness, so keep an eye on them when they're baking in the oven.
- Don't pipe your filling into the cookies while still warm. The heat will melt it, resulting in a melty mess.
