Red Velvet Butter Cookies

As I mentioned on Saturday, I went to my friend Emily's Holiday Cookie Swap in Brooklyn last night.  I've always wanted to go to a cookie swap, so I was excited to see Emily's invite and I wasn't about to let a few inches of snow prevent me from participating last night! Each guest was asked to bring two dozen cookies to ensure there were plenty to taste immediately, but still enough to bring home for later.  We had ten different varieties of baked goods - mostly cookies, but also some carrot cake cupcakes and chocolate biscotti.  We setup in the lounge area of the apartment building, so we quickly made friends with the other people hanging out there.  We let them taste the cookies, but made them vote! With votes from our new friends and each of the bakers, there were four winners:
              Best tasting: Red velvet (woo!!!!)
              Best presentation: Dulce de Leche sandwiches
              Best overall: White chocolate oatmeal cookies with sea salt
              Most original: Decorated sugar cookies

Emily was such an amazing host, and she even had small prizes for the winners.  I went home with a new spatula and party napkins.  We all left with boxes full of leftover cookies which I know KK is happy about because he's munching on a sugar cookie right now.  The evening was such a hit, hopefully it'll become an annual tradition!

When I first baked these cookies last year (pre-blog), they were devoured by my coworkers in record time.  When I saw a box of red velvet cake mix on sale at the store, I snatched it up and planned to make these again for July 4th.  That, unfortunately, did not happen because I forgot the dough had to be refrigerated for 2+ hours (check out the Firecracker Cookies I made instead).  Since these cookies are red, festive, and delicious, I decided to make them for the holiday cookie swap instead.  I recommend using regular cream cheese, instead of reduced fat or fat free.  Although I prefer fat free cream cheese on bagels, I think it tastes strange in dips and cookies.  If you don't have the time or patience for the butter and cream cheese to reach room temperature, nuke them in the microwave - cream cheese for about 20 seconds, butter for 15.  It is important to have the dough firm up in the refrigerator before baking to ensure the cookies hold their shape.  These cookies can be served by themselves, with ice cream, or even dunked into hot chocolate (try it - it's really good!).

Red Velvet Butter Cookies
Adapted from Taste and Tell
Time: 3 hours
Yields: 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients
8-oz regular cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract 
15-16 oz. box red velvet cake mix
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions
1. Cream together cream cheese and butter using an electric mixer.  Beat in egg, vanilla extract, and cake mix.  Mix until thoroughly combined; dough will be sticky.  Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours.

2. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350.

3.  Roll chilled dough into tablespoon-sized balls.  Roll each ball in powdered sugar.  Place onto an ungreased cookie sheet; alternatively use baking splats or parchment paper.  Bake 10-12 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.  Return uncooked dough to the refrigerator as each batch bakes.