Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies

A rerun of Paula's Party on Food Network last night inspired this cookie. Red velvet cake is a Southern specialty, y'all! [Insert bawdy double entendre here.]

According to the admittedly cursory research I've done on the topic, red velvet cake got its color as a result of sugar rationing during World War II. Because people couldn't run next door to borrow a cup of sugar, bakers started using boiled beets as a sugar substitute in their cakes. Along with the beets' sweetness came the beets' blood-red color. And lo, an American classic was born

About five years ago, Jon and I baked a red velvet cake for Christmas. We made this cake only once because...well...let's just say all the red food coloring caused a certain reaction, so we never made it again.

Paula got me thinking that I should give the red velvet recipe another try, but this time in oatmeal cookie form--and with a twist. Instead of icing the cookies, I decided to stuff them.

Be careful when you work with the food coloring. That stuff stains, and you don't want to spend the night scrubbing your hands and mumbling like Lady Macbeth about getting damned spots out.

Makes 2 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies.)

Filling	6 ounces room-temperature cream cheese 1/3 heaping cup toasted, chopped pecans 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla
Creamables	1 stick butter 1 cup white sugar
Wet Ingredients	1 egg 3 tablespoons red food coloring 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 teaspoon milk 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
Dry Ingredients	1 1/2 cups finely ground oatmeal 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 cup cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Toast the pecans then roughly chop them.
   
2. Add all the filling ingredients to a small bowl and mix with a spatula until well blended. Let the mixture cool and solidify in the freezer until step 8.
3. Preheat oven to 350º.
4. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
6. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
7. Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
8. Remove the filling mixture from the freezer and stuff each dough ball with 1 teaspoon of the mixture. Put the stuffed dough balls in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm up.
9. Place chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
10. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Comments

[Alicia]

That is just evil. I will have to try them for Valentine's Day. I'm not baking anything between now and then.

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hey, Alicia. Happy New Year! That's a great idea for Valentine's Day. Duh...it didn't even occur to me! :-)

[Brownie]

These look absolutely worth the certain "reaction!"

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Brownie. Ha!!

I was going to save a few of these for you and IYC, but they had nuts. :-( I'll have to make a nut-free version for you.

[Cathy]

I tried these today. I was wondering how you stored it. Does it need refrigeration for the cream cheese? Mine is in the fridge now. Also, I was wondering if the cream cheese flavor was a little off to you after baking?

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Cathy. I do refrigerate my cream cheese-stuffed cookies until I served them. I made these stuffed red velvet cookies for my department holiday party, and they were a real hit! Did you use fat-free/low-fat cream cheese? Did you toast the nuts a little too much? (They can go from light and toasty to burnt in the blink of an eye.) The cream cheese tasted great to me...the creamy sweetness of the cheese and sugar and the nutty crunch of pecans. Yum!

[Cathy]

Maybe it's my congestion that was throwing me off. The filling did taste fine to me before baking, and I did use regular cream cheese.

I brought them in to work to sell a our bake sale today. It was a big hit. Thanks!

[Cathy]

BTW, I'm still getting requests to make this cookie again! I've heard it described as "sex in cookie form" or "orgasm in a cookie"!

Thanks for all the great recipes! Keep them coming.

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Cathy. Wow...that is some *strong* praise. Thanks! :-)

[Hallee]

My husband is in Afghanistan. He always has red velvet cake for his birthday (his late mother started that tradition and then died right after his 8th birthday, so he's never wanted anything else.) I've been looking for a red velvet cake cookie to send him and found this. We LOVE using ground up oatmeal - I found a phenomenal waffle/pancake recipe using that method. But I'm wondering about shipping these. They'll take about 2 weeks to get to him.

I seal-a-meal cookies for him. These look like they'd collapse under the pressure of the sealing. So, I would probably just put them in ziplock then in gladware.

Most of the time, the container carrying the mail will be outside or in a cargo plane with no heating, and it's cold outside. So I wonder if that will be good enough?

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Hallee. Thanks for writing in. I have an answer and a solution for you here:

http://oatmealcookie.typepad.com/the_oatmeal_cookie_blog/2009/11/shippable-stuffed-red-velvet-cookies.html

[Brittany Bacon]

OMG I made these today, but with my own stuffing. I omitted the nuts and added peppermint extract and melted white chocolate...absolutely to die for. I will be taking them to a cookie exchange tonight.

Thanks!