Green Velvet Cookies

In honor of St. Patrick's day, when everyone is a little Irish, I decided to make some Green Velvet Cookies. These are exactly like Red Velvet Cookies or cake, but you add green food coloring instead of red. My enabling co-worker had brought some of these wonderful cookies in several months ago, and I thought they were fabulous! I tried making them with a cake mix instead of doing them from scratch...the results were less than satisfying. I mean, they weren't terrible cookies, but they weren't great either. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of these cookies, but they were much flatter and drier than this from-scratch recipe.

So, with no further ado...Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Mmm...green velvet cookies chocked full of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips and topped with cream cheese icing. I'm sure there is something that is better than this, but I haven't found it yet!

The recipe is pretty simple, even if it does have quite a few ingredients. Personally, I hope to never have to make another batch of cookies where I have to stir them by hand. I'm in love with my Kitchenaid stand mixer and couldn't live without it. Although, I think it wouldn't be bad to mix these cookies up by hand. They aren't too stiff like come cookie dough can get. This is more like a firm cake batter instead of a stiff cookie dough. Depending on the size of cookie you make, you can get 2 or 3 dozen cookies out of on batch. It is also very easy to make a double batch.

I used about a tablespoon for each cookie. This makes a nice bite-sized cookie. Sure, it looks huge in the picture, but in reality, each cookie was only about 1.5 inches across (2 inches if I got a little crazy).

They don't spread out very much as they bake, so you can cram them onto the cookie sheet if you want. It is also very hard to tell when the cookies are done. My co-worker recommended just baking them for the full 11 minutes and said they should be firm when touched. I used a toothpick like you would with a cake on the first couple of sheets to test for doneness and that worked pretty good. If it came out clean, then they were done. I also found that she was correct on the time...it took about 11 minutes for them to be done. After the second cookie sheet's worth, I just set the timer and took them out when the buzzer went off.

I'd never made cream cheese frosting before and was really surprised that you don't have to add any liquid. You have to add milk or cream when making butter cream (thus the name butter...cream) icing. This icing came out nice and creamy, not to mention yummy! There was just the right amount of icing, too, which was nice. I hate it when I run out of icing half way through a batch of cookies. Very annoying!

To summarize, this is one instance where you just can't use a box cake mix as a substitute and expect to get the same result. I'm sure might be able to come close, but I just don't have the patience to mess with it. I'd much rather just make this recipe from scratch!

Ingredients

Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 (1 ounce) squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1.5 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

Cookies 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and then spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Melt chocolate in microwave. Start with 30 seconds, then stir. Then do 15 seconds and stir until the chocolate is smooth. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, combine the butter, crown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until smooth.
4. Add the baking soda and salt, and resume beating on medium until incorporated. Add the egg and beat until batter is smooth. Add the food coloring and mix for about 30 seconds or until evenly distributed.
5. Scrape down bowl. Then add the melted chocolate and mix for about a minute at medium speed. Scrape down bowl again. 
6. At low speed, add half the flour (1 cup). When the flour is incorporated, mix in the sour cream.
7. Scrape down the bowl again and add the rest of the flour. Beat until the flour is fully incorporated.
8. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
9. Use a teaspoon to spoon the dough onto the parchment-lined cookie sheets. 12-16 cookies per sheet, depending on the size of the sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 9-11 minutes, or until they rise and become firm. Slide parchment from the cookie sheets and onto a wire rack. Let cookies cool on the rack before icing. (Note: You can reuse the parchment paper if you want).

Cream Cheese Icing

1. Mix the softened (but not melted) butter with the room-temperature cream cheese. Add vanilla and beat until smooth.
2. Add the confectioners' sugar in half-cup increments (at low speed) until the frosting is of proper spreading consistency.