Caramel Red Velvet Cookies

There's just something about the slight chocolaty taste of red velvet mixed with caramel.  It's the perfect combination if you ask me.  Throw in a little more chocolate to the mix and it's perfection.

These cookies are also good by themselves without any mix-in's.

Caramel Red Velvet Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1-1/3 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon buttermilk*

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons lemon juice

5 teaspoons red food coloring

2-3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoons salt

2 (1.7 oz.) packages of chocolate coated caramel candies, cut into fourths

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until pale and fluffy.  Mix in eggs, milk, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and food coloring.  Add in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined.  Stir in caramel candies and mini chocolate chips.  Roll dough into 1 inch balls about a tablespoon of dough.  Roll each dough ball into powdered sugar and evenly coat.  Transfer to slightly greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Note:  to make butter milk, just measure a little less milk than the amount called for and add enough white vinegar to bring it to the proper measurement.

STEP-BY-STEP

 Into a mixing bowl, add 3/4 cup of butter

 and 1-1/3 cups of sugar.  Whip, whip, whip until pale and fluffy.

like so. . . .

  While that whips, you can be cutting your chocolate coated caramels

 cut them in half and then in half again - fourths.

 Back to our dough.  Mix in 3 eggs.  I like to mix just a little before adding the next wet ingredient just so it won't splash out.

 1 tablespoon of buttermilk (see my note above),

 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons lemon juice

 and 5 teaspoons of red food coloring (can't have red velvet without it).

Mix until well combined.

 Now add the dry ingredients 2-3/4 cup flour

 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons of cocoa powder

 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Once the dry ingredients are all incorporated, 

 stir in 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

and the cut up chocolate covered caramel pieces.

 Now that the dough is ready to go, get the 1 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl.

 Roll 1 tablespoon full of dough into a ball. 

 Roll that ball into the powdered sugar, evenly coating it.

 Place balls onto a slightly greased cookie sheet (I just lightly spray mine with cooking spray),

 then flatten slightly (I use the bottom of a glass to do this).

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.