I go home in 12 days! Which basically means two things: minimal productivity at work, since I’m too busy with my countdown, and lots and lots of shopping. December just brings out this joyous spirit that I miss all through the year, and with it comes the *drum roll please* CHRISTMAS BAKING!!

So, from now till I get back home, I’m starting a “12 Days of Baking – Christmas Edition”.

Now without further ado, Welcome to Post 1.

I am not a big fan of red velvet desserts, I mean talk about desserts with an identity crisis. But somehow that changes when December is here. Then I get in a red velvet everything craze mode.

While I’ve made a few red velvet recipes over the years, one of them is the red velvet crinkle cookies (found here for some reason, I never thought about the most obvious choice, Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I’m always worried about the blandness of taste when it comes to red velvet. You can’t put the usual amount of cocoa, or else you won’t get the right shade of red, but the would consequently mean that you’re sacrificing a bit of the flavor for the sake of the color. However, a few tweeks here and there and you’re good to go.

But, just so I can put my demons to rest and avoid the risk of having a failed cookies, I went a bit crazy with chocolate chips. Adding both semi-sweet and white chocolate chips, then adding a bit more after baking, pressing them onto the top of each cookie (but that was only for aesthetics, I mean how appealing do they look??) And they’re RED!

So, to kick off my 12-days of baking-Christmas Edition, it’s none other than good old Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields: 32 cookies.

Ingredients:

– 1 and 1/2 cups + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

– 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

– 1 teaspoon baking soda

– 1/4 teaspoon salt

– 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

– 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature.

– 3/4 cup light brown sugar

– 1/4 cup granulated sugar

– 1 egg, at room temperature

– 1 Tablespoon milk

– 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

– 2 Tablespoons red food coloring

– 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

– 1/4 cups white chocolate chips (plus a few extra for after baking)

Directions

1- Toss the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

2- Beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined.

3- Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract. Once mixed, add the food coloring and beat until combined.

4- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed. (Beat in more food coloring if you’d like the dough to be redder.)

5- Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be sticky.

6- Cover the dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. Chilling is mandatory.

7- Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Scoop 0.5 Tablespoon of dough and mold into a ball. Place 9 balls onto each baking sheet. Bake each batch for 9-11 minutes.

8- Stick a few chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies (as explained in the post) – that’s optional and only for looks.

Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days. (If they manage to last that long without being devoured.

Bon Appetit 🙂