~red velvet whoopie pie COOKIES~

{If you like red velvet, soft cookies, cream cheese and peppermint, you are gonna want to try these delicious morsels!}

I made some this weekend. I ate much of the filling...just squeezed it right into my mouth. I'm not ashamed. Not at all! ;)

Red Velvet Whoopie Cookies with Peppermint Filling

1/2 c butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 TBS unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c buttermilk

1 - 1 oz bottle red food coloring

Peppermint cream cheese filling

Preheat ove to 375 F. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Alternately add flour and buttermilk, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Stir in red food coloring. Spoon dough with a rounded teaspoon and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are set. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool.

Spread Peppermint Cream Cheese Filling on bottoms of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies, flat sides down pressing lightly together.

(I used my kitchen aid to mix up the cookies and I put the filling into a ziplock bag, snipped the corner and squeezed the filling onto the bottom cookie.)

Peppermint-Cream Cheese Filling

In a mixing bowl, combine two 3 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened; 2 TBS softened butter; and 1/2 tsp peppermint extract. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 3 cups powdered sugar. If necessary, add milk, 1 tsp at a time, to make spreading consistency.

Delicious!

[I found this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Food Gifts magazine 2010.]