Red velvet cookies recipe

These red velvet cookies are a great bake to gift on Valentine's Day.

We don't know many people who could resist these delicious and beautifully bright biscuits with their afternoon cuppa. Easy and cheap to make, they're given their striking hue with some very specific red food colouring. The trick is to use concentrated paste food colours from a supermarket or cake decorating store, as liquid food colourings will make the dough too soft and sticky to work with. Add the colour a little at a time to the butter and sugar to create the deep rouge shade, but remember the mixture will go paler when the flour is added. Of course you don’t have to use food colouring in the mixture at all - they are just as delicious without.

Ingredients

• 100g butter, softened
• 100g caster sugar
• Red paste food colouring
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Method

1. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until creamy in texture. Beat in enough food colouring to give a good red colour.
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, then stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, beating until it forms a firm dough. Bring the mixture together into a ball with your hands, then wrap in cling film and chill for about an hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 170 C/ 150 C Fan/Gas Mark 5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface until it’s the thickness of a pound coin. Using a heart shaped cutter, cut out the biscuits and place on baking sheets lined with baking parchment. Re-roll the trimmings to make more biscuits.
4. Bake the biscuits for 8 – 12 minutes until just firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 10 mins before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

Top tips for making red velvet cookies:

If you want to add a little more flavour to your cookies, add a teaspoon of cocoa powder to your dough. It'll add a nice chocolately hint and won't react with the red colouring.

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