February Recipe: Red Velvet Crinkle Sandwich Cookies

A few years ago, we started sending out monthly newsletters to our customers to keep them up-to-date on what was happening in our shop. As the business has grown, so has our list and we are always looking for ways to add value to the newsletters. This time, I think we have knocked it out of the park.

Starting this month, we are partnering with West & Taylor to bring you a new recipe each month! Food & drink are such an important part of what how we create our pottery, and we are excited to see what recipes Christina comes up with. Let me give you a little backstory on West & Taylor before getting to the recipe.

Christina Williams, the owner and operator of West & Taylor, was born and raised in South Central Kentucky. She grew up in kitchens filled with family, food and loud conversations usually over her grandmother's recipe collection; which she still pulls from today.

After being featured on a cooking competition, she quit her day job and started working at restaurants. Having worked in a kitchen once before, she knew this road would not be easy but she knew it was what she was meant to be doing. This time she was determined to make it work. Of course, life gets in the way and she had to add a few more years onto her dream. 

Since then she has created a small blog and social media following where she shares recipes, ideas and the food she eats on her travels. Recently she has taken a huge step in her business by offering personal chef services and small catering events in her area. Feeding people isn't her only passion, she wants to make sure that everyone knows that they can cook. Her recipes aren't always precise, but she explains this with her "you know what your family likes" attitude toward cooking.

I (Ashley) met Christina back when we both attended EKU for college, and have stayed in contact as we have each figured out our lives since. I am looking forward to all the delicious recipes to come! 

Now, to the recipe!

Red Velvet Crinkle Sandwich Cookies
w/Cream Cheese Filling

Christina Williams, West & Taylor
www.westandtaylor.com

Prep Time: 15 minutes —------ Total Time: 6 hours-24 hours

Ingredients

• Cookies:
• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 salt (unless using salted butter)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• Red food coloring
• Coating:
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• Filling:
• 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 cups Powdered sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla (+vanilla caviar if you have fresh vanilla beans)

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Cream together, butter & sugar then add vanilla, vinegar and eggs (one at a time). Then add food coloring.
• Add flour, cocoa powder and salt if using.
• It’s normal for the dough to be sticky. Place in a bowl or wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 5 hours or overnight. (I usually wait overnight, however 5 hours will be fine.)
• Once the dough is chilled; scoop out cookies using a cookie scoop of your choice, I use a medium sized (smaller than an ice cream scoop) or scoop out roughly 2 TBLS sized scoops. Form into balls and then roll in the mixture of white and powdered sugars.
• Place on a baking tray, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie and bake for approx 13 minutes until the cookies are crackled. *Note: if the cookies have not spread as much as you'd like, feel free to press the top down with a spatula & bake for about 2 minutes longer if needed. 
• Let rest on baking sheets for about 5 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.
• You may stop here and store in an airtight container or continue by sandwiching them with the Cream Cheese filling.
• Whip together all the ingredients and then spoon about a 2 tsp -1 TBLS of filling onto the bottom of one completely cooled cookie. The amount is varied because this will be up to your cookie size and your own personal preference. Carefully, press another cookie on top of filling until the filling has filled the entire cookie.
• Enjoy!