Red Velvet Cobbler Sundaes

This is a sponsored post by Hudsonville Ice Cream, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

My favorite summer desserts are a celebration of seasonal produce! Of course, everyone loves fruit pies, but the dough can be a time-consuming process, and pies require a long cooling time. In the summer, I gravitate toward no-fuss desserts, which is why I love fruit cobbler. Cobblers are very versatile, and you can easily adapt the flavors to incorporate what is currently in season.

Many people have strong opinions about what makes a good cobbler topping. I prefer cobblers with thick biscuit-dough topping as opposed to a cake-like topping. I love the combination of textures—the biscuits are tender on the inside with a crisp crust so they absorb some of the warm fruit juices without getting soggy. All its missing is a scoop of cold, creamy ice cream on top. 

Ice cream and summer go hand-in-hand, and there isn’t a more festive flavor to celebrate the season than Hudsonville’s Limited Edition American Fireworks ice cream. The sweet and sour ice cream has ribbons of sour cherry swirl and is mixed with blue popping candy. It’s a celebration in every scoop. It inspired me to create patriotic red velvet cobbler sundaes.

I want to emphasize that red velvet isn’t chocolate dyed red. There are only 3 tablespoons of cocoa in this recipe, so the red velvet biscuit topping has just the slightest hint of chocolate. Instead, I would describe the flavor as rich and wonderfully buttery with some tanginess from the buttermilk. I highly recommend using red gel food coloring over liquid food coloring because gel food coloring is more concentrated so you need less.

Use any combination of fresh or frozen berries for the filling. If you’re using frozen berries, there’s no need to thaw them first. You want enough fruit to fill your baking dish between halfway and three-quarters full. If you’re using an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan, you’ll need around 6 to 8 cups of fruit.

One of the most important steps when making a delicious cobbler is to allow your berries to macerate before baking. Macerating softens the fruit and draws out its juices, creating a thick and delicious berry syrup when it bakes. To achieve this, combine the fruit with the sugar and cornstarch and let it sit for about 20 minutes, mixing periodically, before topping it with the cobbler dough.

Once the cobbler finishes baking and cools slightly, it’s time to prepare the ultimate patriotic sundae with Hudsonville’s Limited Edition American Fireworks ice cream. You can use a sundae glass, a mason jar, or even a tall cup for this. Layer one large spoonful of red velvet cobbler with one scoop of American Fireworks ice cream and repeat until you have at least two layers of each.

This easy and festive dessert is bursting with flavor in every bite. Use this Scoop Locator tool to find American Fireworks ice cream near you—it’s at Meijer in Indy-area stores! 

Red Velvet Cobbler Sundaes

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

For the fruit filling

• 8 cups berries (fresh or frozen)
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar 
• 2 Tablespoons (10 grams) cornstarch

For the red velvet biscuit topping

• 1 3/4 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
• 3 Tablespoons (15 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, cold and cubed
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon red gel food coloring

For the sundaes

• 8 cups Hudsonville’s Limited Edition American Fireworks ice cream

Directions

For the fruit filling

1. Mix together berries, sugar, and cornstarch. 
2. Transfer mixture to 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish, spread in an even layer, and set aside.

For the red velvet biscuit topping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Use pastry cutter or fingers to cut butter into dry ingredients until you have pea-sized crumbs.
4. Mix together buttermilk, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, and food coloring. 
5. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until mixture becomes cohesive dough.
6. Form dough balls with your hands and place over berries.
7. Place in oven and bake 50 minutes to 1 hour. You can double-check that the biscuits are done by using a thermometer. The temperature should read 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Cool at least 20 minutes before preparing sundaes.

For the sundaes

1. Layer cobbler in sundae or parfait glasses with American Fireworks ice cream.

Red Velvet "Cauldron Cookies"

This is a sponsored post by Challenge Butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

I'm honestly not sure why I love Halloween so much. Maybe because it was so much fun for me when I was a child. My neighbor Melanie would make handmade matching costumes for me and her two sons, and we would spend hours walking to every single house in the neighborhood. It was my favorite night of the year. I don’t think we had specific trick-or-treating hours like most cities in Indiana have now. We had to put together a list of trick-or-treating times for our FOX59 and CBS4 websites last week, and some of the towns only allow trick-or-treating for and hour and a half. That’s ridiculous! I feel bad for those kids!

I currently don’t live in a neighborhood where I can hand out candy, and I don’t know any young children who would allow me to follow along while they trick-or-treat. But that doesn’t make Halloween any less exciting for me. Halloween encompasses a lot of different themes: goofy, scary, cute, etc. And it’s all about having fun!

Each year, I try to make my Halloween treats some of my most creative recipes! A few weeks ago I had an idea to make cookies that were black on the outside and red on the inside. I came up with the idea after seeing this recipe for “Brimstone Bread.” It looks so cool, right?! I love how the black cracks so you see little peeks of red on the inside. I thought about how to do the same thing with a cookie for about a week before the idea came to me just in the nick of time: crinkle cookies rolled in black powdered sugar!

I’m sure many of you are familiar with crinkle cookies. They’re very popular around Christmas time. Essentially, it’s a cookie rolled in powdered sugar, but it gets it’s name because it cracks on top.

I started out by making red velvet cookies using red velvet cake mix. If you have a favorite “made-from-scratch” red velvet crinkle cookie recipe, by all means use that! But I use a box mix because it’s a heck of a lot easier, and we’re going to be rolling them in powdered sugar anyway.

So here’s the deal: as mentioned before, we’re going to roll the dough balls in powdered sugar before baking them, but before we do that, I recommend first rolling them in granulated sugar. The reason being is that the black powdered sugar is an essential part of how the cookie looks at the end, so we want as much of it to stay on the outside of the cookie as possible. The problem is a lot off the time the powdered sugar is soaked up by the fat in the cookie when it bakes, so it disappears for the most part. By rolling the dough in the granulated sugar first, we are creating a barrier between the cookie and the powdered sugar which will help it stay on the outside of the cookie better. I even took it one step further, and I rolled my cookies in black sanding sugar (it looks like black sprinkles) to ensure the effect I wanted was achieved.

After rolling the dough in granulated sugar comes the powdered sugar, of course. But not just any powdered sugar, black powdered sugar. It’s very easy to make! Just blend about a half cup of powdered sugar with gel black food coloring in a food process until it starts to turn black. If it won’t get any blacker, add a little cocoa powder if you want to enhance the effect. Don’t add too much cocoa powder, though, because you don’t want to change the taste of the cookie!

That’s all there is to it! Bake about 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are just barely set. The black powdered sugar does get your fingers a little messy, but it’s totally worth it!

Also, in case you’re curious, I’m calling them cauldron cookies because I think they look like hot coals burning under a cauldron!

Red Velvet “Cauldron Cookies”
Yield: Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients

• 1 (15.25 ounce) box red velvet cake mix
• 6 tablespoons Challenge butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• Black gel food coloring
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (or black sanding sugar)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a large bowl, combine red velvet cake mix, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. Put in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes so the dough is easier to work with.
Add powdered sugar and black food coloring to food processor and pulse until the powdered sugar starts to turn black. It will probably turn more gray than black, but that’s okay. You can add cocoa powder in 1 Tablespoon increments if you want the color to be a little deeper.
3. Place the powder sugar and granulated sugar in separate, shallow dishes.
4. Scoop out a 1-inch diameter ball of dough. Roll it in the sugar to coat before transferring it to the powdered sugar and rolling to coat. 
5. Place dough on baking sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes until cookies are just barely set. 
6. Remove cookies from oven and let cool before serving.


Red Velvet Cookie Cake

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, so the Christmas baking season is in full swing around here. I love baking treats to give away to family and friends. As I was trying to plan out my cookie baking schedule this year, I know I wanted to make something that looked festive — think red, white, and green! Red velvet immediately popped into my head, and the idea for this delicious cookie cake was born. 

I love making cookie cakes for a variety of reasons. First of all, you don’t have to roll out the dough into balls. Just press it into a cake pan or a springform pan, and you’re done. Also, they’re a lot of fun to decorate. As you can see in the pictures, I just made a decorative border with the cream cheese frosting, but you could absolutely write "Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” in the center!

While I’m on the topic of cream cheese frosting, I just want to point out that I used Challenge cream cheese and butter. My frosting was not as flavorful before I started using their products. The taste is superior because Challenge uses real cream, and there are no hormones, additives, or fillers.

Red Velvet Cookie Cake

Yield: Serves 10 to 12 people

Ingredients for the cookie

• 1 3/4 cup flour 
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup Challenge butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons red food coloring

Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting

• 4 ounces Challenge cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup Challenge butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions for the cookie cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray springform pan with nonstick spray and set aside. If you don’t have a springform pan, a cake pan will also work.
2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat together butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat again. Add red food coloring — mixture should be vibrant red.
4. Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. Add dough to springform pan and use wax paper to press down the dough until the stop is smooth. Bake for about 18 to 22 minutes, or until the top is set and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Let cool before frosting

Directions for the frosting

1. Beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth and evenly combined. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. If frosting isn’t thick enough, add a little more powdered sugar.
2. Once cookie cake has cooled, pipe frosting around the edges and decorate with sprinkles if desired.

Red Velvet Brain Dip

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Yes, this is another Halloween recipe. No, I haven't lost my mind (maybe a little). I'm just really excited to share this easy red velvet brain dip with you all. It's a no-brainer for your next Halloween party! Check it out -- there are just four ingredients and it takes just a few minutes to make.

Since there are so few ingredients, the key to making this dip taste as good as possible is to use high-quality ingredients, like Challenge cream cheese. Challenge cream cheese products only use the freshest real milk, cream, and natural ingredients for a pure, superior taste. And, no growth hormones, added flavors, dyes or artificial preservatives.

I hope you lobe this brain dip as much as I do!

Red Velvet Brain Dip
Ingredients

• 8 ounces Challenge cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups whipped topping
• 1 1/2 cups red velvet cake mix
• 1/4 cup canned cherry pie filling

Directions

1. Heat-treat red velvet cake mix by microwaving it in 30-second intervals until it reaches 165 degrees. Set aside to cool.
2. Beat cream cheese with mixer until smooth. Add whipped topping and red velvet cake mix and mix until fully combined.
3. Remove 1/4 of cream cheese mixture and put in piping bag with circular tip.
4. Mold remaining cream cheese into an oval or brain-like shape.
5. Use cream cheese mixture in piping bag to pipe grooves onto brain.
6. Spoon gel from cherry pie filling on top of brain.
7. Serve with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, or other cookies.

Sweet and Tangy Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet is one of the most popular flavors for just about everything. From Pop Tarts to pancakes to ice cream and even tea, everyone seems to love Red Velvet.

The past few years I’ve definitely partaken in the Red Velvet craze. I order Red Velvet cheesecake and eat Red Velvet frozen yogurt. But up until recently, I never really understood what "flavor" I was eating.

A co-worker of mine had a birthday yesterday, and she requested Red Velvet cupcakes for her birthday treat. I had never made Red Velvet cupcakes from scratch before, but I’m always up for an adventure. So I did some research online.

It turns out that Red velvet is so much more than just vanilla or chocolate cake. The main ingredients are cocoa powder, buttermilk, and vanilla. Together those ingredients give it a mild taste that’s not quite as sweet as a vanilla cake and not as rich as a chocolate cake.

I also learned that when making Red Velvet cake, the frosting is just as important as the cake itself. The tanginess of the cream cheese frosting complements the sweetness of the cake. And the bright white cream cheese frosting provides a beautiful contrast to the red cake.

I already had a classic cream cheese frosting recipe in my repertoire, but I had no idea where to begin as far as Red Velvet cupcake recipes go. I sorted through dozens of recipes and experimented with two batches before I came up with the best one.

Sweet and Tangy Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes about 30 cupcakes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (to make buttermilk, add 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice to 1/2 cup milk, stir, and let sit for at least two minutes)
• 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 ounce red food coloring (this is typically 1 whole bottle)

For the cream cheese frosting

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoons salt, or as needed

Directions

For the cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
5. Mix in sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring.
6. Gradually beat in flour and cocoa mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat.
7. Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
8. Bake about 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean.
9. Gently remove from oven.
10. Cool in pans on wire rack at least 5 minutes.
11. Remove from pans and cool completely.
12. Frost with cream cheese frosting once cooled

For the cream cheese frosting

1. Beat the softened butter and cream cheese together on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy
2. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and beat until combined.
3. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
4. Beat on medium speed for 2 more minutes.
5. Add salt to taste.

Happy birthday to my Fox59 morning co-worker, Vanessa McClure!