Description
Delightfully festive Red Velvet Blossom Cookies featuring a soft, cocoa-infused red velvet dough rolled in colorful sprinkles and crowned with a chilled Dove Chocolate Heart for a perfect melt-in-your-mouth treat. These cookies combine classic red velvet flavors with a fun twist of chocolate centers that stay solid due to the pre-freezing step, making them a perfect dessert for celebrations, holidays, or gifting.
Ingredients
Scale
Chocolate Candy
- 36 Dove Chocolate Hearts (1 package, 8.87 ounces), frozen at least 1 hour
Cookie Dough
- ½ cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For Rolling
- Red sprinkling sugar and/or sprinkles
Instructions
- Freeze the Chocolate Hearts: Place the Dove Chocolate Hearts in the freezer for at least one hour. This step ensures the chocolate won’t melt too quickly when added to the warm cookies after baking, maintaining their shape and texture.
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheet: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking and allow even baking.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the room temperature butter and granulated sugar using an electric mixer or by hand until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. This aerates the dough, creating a tender cookie.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Incorporate the egg, milk, red food coloring, and pure vanilla extract into the creamed mixture. Mix well until all are fully blended, producing the characteristic red velvet hue and flavor.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and kosher salt to evenly distribute the leavening agents and cocoa.
- Mix Dry into Wet Ingredients: Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, beating just until blended. Avoid overmixing to keep cookies tender and soft.
- Shape Dough Balls: Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Then roll each ball in red sprinkling sugar or colorful sprinkles for a festive coating.
- Place on Baking Sheet: Arrange the coated dough balls onto the prepared parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them sufficiently to allow for spreading.
- Bake Cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies should be lightly set but still soft in the center.
- Press Chocolate Hearts: Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, press a frozen Dove Chocolate Heart into the center of each cookie gently but firmly. This allows the chocolate to adhere without melting completely.
- Cool: Transfer the cookies from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool completely, allowing the chocolate to firm up and cookies to set properly before serving.
Notes
- The recipe uses Dove Chocolate Hearts, chosen for their size and chocolate-to-cookie ratio, but Hershey’s Chocolate Hearts can be used as an alternative though they are larger.
- If you prepare the dough ahead and refrigerate it, let it come to room temperature before rolling to prevent sprinkles from not sticking properly.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 130
- Sugar: 12g
- Sodium: 90mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 16g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 1.5g
- Cholesterol: 25mg
