I really wanted to make cake batter shortbread bits but I had no yellow cake mix in the pantry. I did have Red Velvet cake mix and since it is the month of lurve I thought why not? So I mixed up the dough and liberated my cookie press and got all cookie happy until I discovered the sad truth. Cake mixes have baking powder and such in them...my happily pressed cookies oozed into blobs and showed no hint at their pretty pressed selves. Back to the drawing board I went and I came up with these red velvet sandwich bites which were totally inspired by
these photos from Heather of
Sprinkle Bakes.
Ingredients:
*3/4 cups confectioners sugar
*1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, soft
*1 cup red velvet cake mix
*1/3 cup flour (more if your dough feels too sticky)
Mix all your ingredients together with a wooden spoon and chill until firm. When mixing ingredients, mix butter and sugar first then add 1/3 cup of flour until incorporated. Next, add the cake mix and then add more flour if the dough is too sticky. I popped my dough into the fridge overnight and let it come to room temperature before rolling.
Roll dough into small balls (smaller than a large marble) and place on cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.
Fill a small bowl with
rainbow nonpareils and coat each cookie with the rainbow goodness. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes, the cookies will flatten out considerably.
Once cool, swipe a smidge of cream cheese frosting to the bottom of one cookie, placing another on top, sprinkle sides out. Enjoy!
gorgeous, jessica!! i'm pinning this right now :)
ReplyDeleteOk...now I've got to give this a try!
ReplyDeleteThese cookies look amazing. I like how in your bio you describe yourself as a "baker of pie" among other things. Made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteLooks YUMz! I might have to try.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone actually made these? I was so excited to try but both attempts have been failures! My cookies aren't shortbread-like and they spread like crazy becoming super flat. Any ideas on how to fix this?
ReplyDeleteThat said, they are SUPER delicious-- I wish they turned out as adorable as yours!
Hi EM! I've made them twice (and make shortbread all the time) and they were super tasty.
ReplyDeleteYes, they do spread oodles which is why I wrote to roll them into very small balls. I was contacted by another reader whose cookies didn't spread at all. I would recommend a less soft butter and a little more flour or cake mix for a less flat cookie. Good luck!
How many cookies does this recipe make?
ReplyDeleteHi Lindsey, it would depend on how small or large you roll them. I believe I got three zoen cookies which made for 18 sandwich cookies.
DeleteThis might be a stupid question but I'm new to this :) Do I actually follow the red velvet box mix instructions (aka add the egg, oil, water) and make it into a batter THEN add to the butter/sugar mix?
ReplyDeleteHi Anne! Not stupid at all. Ignore the directions on the box and treat the cake mix as if it were simply your flour and sugar. Enjoy! My sandwiches were bite sized. Not very big. Hope that helps!
DeleteHi Jessica,
DeleteI have another question, since my first attempt ended up in the garbage before even hitting the oven... :( My batter didn't turn out anything like the first pic above (batter in white bowl). Instead, it was still really dry and lumpy and not like yours at all! I feel like I'm missing something...like a wet ingredient? Or did I just not let the butter soften enough, do you think? Help! :)
Thanks.
Hmmm...are you using powdered sugar? Try mixing butter and sugar first then add the 1 cup of cake mix then add flour if needed. The butter should be pretty soft but not melted. the butter and suar should be less substantial than frosting. Add 1 cup of cakemix, not the whole box and mix. Yourbatter will be fairly goopified. If it is too goopy, then add more flour. I chilled the dough for easier handling. I hope we can solve this! Ask away if it isn't working. I usually leave my butter out overnight. We get a bit of heat here in February so maybe my butter was softer than yours.
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