Wednesday 13 February 2013

Red Velvet Shortbread Sandwich Heart Cookies



Red Velvet Shortbread Sandwich Heart Cookies
 I know it's a long title, but trust me these cookies will not last long in the biscuit tin. Buttery red velvet shortbread sandwiched with white chocolate buttercream and then coated in melted white and milk chocolate. I know it has a lot of chocolate in it, but what shows more sweetness and love than red velvet and chocolate? So if you havn't prepared anything for your valentine yet then now is the time to make these cookies, because trust me, they'll love them! I mean how can you resist that contrast between the vibrant red and luscious white.




I was going to use a recipe that I found on google on red velvet shortbread, however after reading the reviews I wasn't quite happy with them so I decided to use a classic shortbread recipe and then add some red velvet twists to it. I wanted these cookies to be heart shaped, purely for valentines day, so I needed the dough to be perfect for rolling out, however I also wanted the cookie to have its red velvet elements, which meant the addition of buttermilk.

Now I am no expert on red velvet cake but I do know that some of the main ingredients are buttermilk and a lot of red food colouring, which is one of the reasons I don't make it as much. The amount of food colouring required scares me, but hey it is for valentines day so I'll just control my fears and bake.

Red velvet is usually paired with cream cheese frosting, however with my cookies I sandwiched them with white chocolate buttercream, which for some reason I am in love with! I have used this buttercream in one of my previous recipes, and have been in love with it since then so I'll basically use any excuse to use it. However you may use cream cheese frosting if you want, but I do reccomend it with the white chocolate buttercream :)

Before I give you the recipe, theres just a few more things I need to mention, this is the first time I've made this and it was an experimental recipe that worked out fantastic with its first attempt (don't you just love it when that happens!) So I hope it works out fine with everyone else, however if you do find the dough is too soft then add a tablespoon at a time of flour till the dough is the right consistency. The dough should not be crumbly, it should be soft (like normal shortbread dough) but perfect for rolling out.



(Makes around 10-12 sandwich cookies)
For the cookies:
 125g, Butter
55g (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) Caster sugar
160g (1+1/4 cup) Plain flour
32g (1/4) Corn flour (corn starch)
2 tbsp, Cocoa powder
1 tbsp, Buttermilk
1-2 tbsp, red gel food colouring

For the white chocolate buttercream (I used the same recipe as my white chocolate filled chocolate cupcakes)
150g white chocolate, melted
100g unsalted butter
250g (2 cups) icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 tbsp of milk

To coat the cookies:
250g of melted white chocolate 
250g of melted milk chocolate

Making the cookies:
  1. Beat the butter and sugar till smooth, then add the buttermilk and mix.
  2. Add the red food colouring till you meet your desired colour,
  3. Sift in your dry ingredients, the flour, cocoa and corn flour, and fold in till everything is incorporated  
  4. Split the dough in half wrap in cling film and refrigerate for atleast an hour
  5. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celcius and prepare a baking tray with grease proof paper.
  6. Start rolling out the dough on a floured surface to about a 1/2 inch thick (make sure you put flour on your rolling pin too as you don't want the dough to stick)
  7. Using a cookie cutter cut out your desired shape and place them on your prepared baking tray
  8. Pop the cookies in the oven for 15 minutes, then take them out and leave to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Start to make your buttercream
White chocolate buttercream:
  1. In a large bowl beat the butter until smooth and creamy
  2. Add the sugar and beat at a low speed, until light and fluffy, beat in the vanilla extract
  3. Add the melted white chocolate (make sure it is at room temperature, otherwise it'll melt the butter) and beat until incorporated
  4. If the buttercream seems too stiff add 1 tbsp of milk at a time and beat until smooth and creamy
Assembling the cookies
  1. Grab a cookie and spread some buttercream on it, make sure you spread it right to the edges.
  2. Place another cookie on top and press down, it doesn't matter if the buttercream squeezes out as you can easily scrape off the excess buttercream around the edges of the sandwich cookie with small knife
  3. Do this with all your cookies and then place them in the refrigerator for around half an hour, just to let the buttercream harden a little
  4. Now make sure your melted chocolate is tempered, to do this you'll need to make sure you only first melt around 3/4 of your chocolate and then once that has melted add in the rest of your chocolate and stir, this way your chocolate will not lose its shape. Also put both your melted chocolates in a small bowl to make it easier to coat the cookies
  5. Place a sheet of foil on a tray to place your cookies on once you have coated them in chocolate
  6. Take the cookies out of the fridge and with a fork dip them into your chocolate, make sure the whole cookie is covered in chocolate.
  7. Lift the cookie with the fork and let the excess chocolate drip of the cookie a little before placing them on the tray
  8. Do this with all your cookies with both the white and milk chocolate
  9. A little tip: it is better to first melt one of the chocolates to coat the cookies in before starting with the other, so I first melted my white chocolate and coated half of my cookies in that before melting my milk chocolate and coating the rest of them in that.


Enjoy! :)

 

9 comments:

  1. They look delicious.. Definatly going to try it!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Zarah, do let me know how it works out.

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  2. Aha yup Diana they are very yummy :D

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  3. What a perfect cookies for valentines day, Aishah. and they are eggless too. wow, definitely worth trying.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Nidhi! Yup since they're shortbread biscuits I made them eggless as they get most of their flavour from the butter and in this case the cocoa too. Do let me know how it goes if you do try it :)

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