Inside Out Red Velvet Cookies

Filling

8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

Pinch of salt

Cookie Dough

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp GF vanilla

1¼ cup Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten free flour or 1¼ cup of your favorite GF flour blend + slightly heaping ¼ tsp xanthan gum (omit if your flour blend already contains)

¼ cup unsweetened GF cocoa powder (See Notes)

½ tsp baking powder

1 tbsp red food coloring (this is a little less than 0.5 oz)

Make the filling by beating cream cheese, powdered sugar & salt on medium speed until completely blended & smooth. Place in bowl, cover with plastic wrap & chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes (it’s ok if you leave it a little longer).

Make the cookie dough.

Whisk together flour, xanthan gum (if using), cocoa powder, & baking powder. Set aside.

Combine butter, sugar & brown sugar on medium-high speed until light & fluffy.

Beat in egg, vanilla & red food coloring on lowest speed until food coloring incorporated, then beat on medium speed until all ingredients completely combined. (*See Notes)

Gradually add flour mixture a little at a time until completely combined.

Cover bowl & chill dough in refrigerator for 10-30 minutes until firm enough to handle without sticking too much to your hands.

When dough is ready, take about a tablespoon of dough & roll into ball. Then gently flatten into a disk. Next put about a teaspoon of filling into center. Then gently pull up the edges of the dough disk toward the middle, to start covering the filling. Gently roll into a ball. (If you can see any of the filling, just flatten out a little piece of dough to make a patch to cover over where you can see the filling.) Place on baking sheet covered with parchment paper about 3 inches apart – they flatten out quite a bit.

Bake at 350° for 15-17 minutes. They should be a deep red & look set. Cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then move to wire rack to finish cooling.

Notes:

This recipe is based on one from food.theffeed.com/2019/06/16/inside-red-velvet-cookies-2. Don’t let this recipe intimidate you because of how you have to shape the cookies! The first couple may not look perfect, but it’s pretty easy to get the hang of it - don’t give up!

Cocoa powder is GF, but if it doesn’t say “Gluten Free”, it could be processed in a facility with products containing gluten so there is a chance of cross-contamination. If you are GF by choice, this may not be a problem for you, but if you have a gluten allergy, I recommend looking for cocoa powder labeled “gluten Free”. I use Hershey’s – although it doesn’t say GF on the container, the website states that it is GF.

If you have never worked with red food coloring, just know that it can get messy & stain things if you’re not careful. So, start VERY slow when mixing it in. You can even stir it in by hand, with a metal spoon, so it doesn’t stain your spatula or wooden spoon. Once it’s blended in, then you can finish mixing it with your mixer.