Adventures in Baking #5: Red Velvet, Stained Glass and Checkers, oh my!

Last night, I stayed up until 5 in the morning. What was I doing?

^ This!

I made four different kinds of cookie: Cheesecake filled red velvet, chocolate checkerboards, spiced sugar cookies and stained glass sugar cookies. I stayed up soo late because I was going to a cookie swap this morning and wanted to have everything ready to go, but I ended up being waaay too tired to go (~2 hours of sleep. Haha!)

That was kind of disappointing, but I had tons of fun baking for 9 hours straight! (And I'm still not baked out... I have 2 rum cakes in the oven now as I type this and I'm making 2 more tomorrow along with some muffins)

They were all pretty darn good, so I thought I'd share the recipes!

Cheesecake Filled Red Velvet Cookies:

For the Filling:

• 1 8-oz. brick cream cheese, softened
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the Cookie:

• 1 18.25-oz. box red velvet cake mix
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. veggie oil

Directions:

The Filling:

1. Cream together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl. When thoroughly combined, place in a plastic bag.
2. Cut a small hole in one corner of the bag and pipe dots onto parchment paper (about 2 tsp. of filling for each ball)
3. Freeze for at least two hours. (To save space, feel free to put layers of cream cheese balls over each other with parchment paper separating them)

The Cookie:

1. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the cake mix and baking powder.
2. Add the eggs and oil and mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Refridgerate for about 30 minutes to let the dough firm up.

Assembly:

1. Take a glob of dough (well over a tbsp.) and roll it in your hands. Flatten into a circle with a diameter of about two inches.
2. Place a cream cheese ball in the center, fold in half, and completely conceal. Reroll into a spherical shape as necessary.
3. Place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with rest of dough.
4. Refridgerate for about 30 minutes (this is so that the cookies won't spread out too much when baking and turn into a mess).
5. Bake at 350° F for 8-10 minutes, until the tops of the cookies look deliciously cracked.

BAM!

Stained Glass Cookies:

Ingredients:

• 1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 large egg yolk (save the white for another recipe coming up!)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 6 oz. butterscotch hard candies

Directions:

1. Put the candies in a plastic bag and hit with a blunt object until they are a fine powder (or use a food processor, if you possess such nice technology unlike me)
2. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Beat until combined.
3. Add the flour and mix untilthe dough comes together into a ball.
4. Divide the dough into 3 balls. Wrap each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
5. Take one ball of dough and knead it a little to soften it up.
6. Roll to about 1/8 inch thick and cut out with cookie cutters. Put scraps back in the fridge.
7. Place onto lined cookie sheets and use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out a small shape from the center.
8. Into the the small cutout, use a spoon to place the ground up candies to be level with the cookie dough.
9. Bake at 375° F for about 6 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown.
10. Cool completely before moving.

KA-POW!

Chocolate Checkerboards:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 c. and 1 1/2 tbsp. all-purpose flour, separated
• 1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 egg white (saved from last recipe!), lightly beaten

Directions:

1. Microwave the chocolate chips until melted. Set aside and let cool slightly.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together baking powder, salt, and 2 1/2 c. flour.
3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla, and combine completely.
4. Turn the mixer onto low and gradually add the flour mixture until just incorporated.
5. Mass the dough, and divide into halves.
6. With one half, combine with the chocolate and 1 1/2 tbsp. flour.
7. Divide each half into halves again (so...quarters.)
8. Roll all pieces of dough on a piece of plastic wrap to the same size rectangle, about 11" x 4".
9. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
10. Take one chocolate and one white piece of dough. Unwrap.
11. Brush the top of one with the egg white and press the other onto the top. First, cut the edges so that the pieces completely match up. Then, cut into 1/2" wide strips. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough.
12. Brush the sides with egg white and press 3 strips together in an alternating pattern. Repeat with all strips.
13. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate again for about 30 minutes.
14. Unwrap, cut into slices about 1/8" thick. Lay on a lined cookie sheet and bake at 350° F until just golden on the edges, about 6-8 minutes.

WHAM!

Spiced Sugar Cookies:

Ingredients:

• 3 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. milk
• sprinkles

Directions:

1. Sift the first four ingredients into a medium-size bowl.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.
3. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, to the butter mixture, while combining completely with the mixer.
4. Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
5. Roll out about 1/8" thick and cut out shapes. Put on the sprinkles.
6. Bake at 350° F for 10-12 minutes, until just golden-brown on the edges.

POW!

Without a doubt, one of the best things about the holidays is all of the baking you get to do :-)

I hope everyone's pre-Christmas baking is going well!