Red Velvet M&M Cookies

These red velvet cookies are becoming one of my favorite cookies! I made the white chocolate chip version for Christmas and they were a big hit at the office. But they are also the perfect little cookie for Valentine's Day! Just swap out the white chocolate chips for some pink, red, and white M&M candies.

I started with all the dry ingredients: all purpose and wheat flours, cocoa powder, salt (not pictured), and baking soda.

When I am not in a hurry, I actually mix the dry ingredients together before I add them into the wet ingredients.

Then I softened the butter and mixed that with the sugar until it was nice and fluffy (I can't say/type "fluffy" without thinking of the little girl in Despicable Me).

To the butter, I added the rest of the wet ingredients: vinegar (white vinegar could be used here, too), vanilla, egg, and food coloring.

 

I always get nervous mixing in the red food coloring because it looks bright pink. But once the cocoa powder is added, it turns a vibrant red.

I don't really remember if the dough was this thick the first time I made it, but maybe I added more flour and the dough turned out extra thick. But the cookies turned out fine.

Once the dough comes together, I just folded in some of the M&M's. I saved the rest to put on the top of the cookie once I spooned it out onto the sheet.

I baked these at 350 for about 15 minutes, but I might try baking at 375 for 10 minutes next time so that they are crunchy on the outside, but still chewy on the inside.

In the end, these were delicious. I might have eaten too many.

No. I definitely ate to many.

Happy Valentine's Day! Recipe after the jump!


Red Velvet M&M Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour
 2 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp red gel food coloring
1 cup M&M candies, divided

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar.

3. To the butter mixture, add vinegar, egg, vanilla, and food coloring. Mix together until food coloring is evenly disbursed.

4. 1 cup at a time, add flour mixture to butter mixture, and mix in between each addition.

5. To the dough, fold in about half of the M&Ms.

6. Using a spoon, spoon out balls of dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Press 3-4 extra M&Ms into the top of the dough.

7. Bake the cookies at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool.