Red Velvet Crinkles

I’m sitting here, it’s 7am, and I’m wrapped up in a blanket drinking my coffee, thinking that it’s not quite cold enough to be doing either, but old habits die hard. It’s December, so I should probably be freezing, but we’ve had a weird warm front hit New York, so all of the snow has melted and today’s it’s pouring rain and almost 60 degrees. Not very Christmas-y, is it? That’s alright. It’s still going to be a great week – I just know it. Work will be quiet, because it seems as though more than half of my office takes this week off, and Kramer and I don’t really have anything big going on. Now that he’s on winter break and not in classes or doing homework every night, it’s so nice to be able to have him home and see his face every day. Normally, when he’s in school, he’ll get home around 10pm, and we’ll maybe stay up for an hour if we have it in us before heading to bed. On the weekends, he would either be at work catching up on something he didn’t get to during the week, or at work doing homework or studying, because our little apartment doesn’t have a desk and isn’t super conducive to hunkering down and hitting the books. This semester seemed to be the toughest yet, meaning he was gone more often than not over the course of the semester, and I have to admit, it got kind of lonely! I never thought that just not having him home would make me miss him so much. We’ve been married for almost four years and have been together for over nine years in total, so I guess I’m just used to always having him around. When he was at the office, I’d find myself watching a movie or doing chores or whatever, going to laugh or tell a joke, and realizing that I was alone. That just goes to show how great my memory and/or attention span is. These past couple of weekends have been so nice that I’m already dreading when he has to start school again. I’ve really appreciated waking up and getting to spend all day with him, even if we’re just sitting on our couch on our respective laptops half watching some sitcom we’ve seen a hundred times before. I just like knowing that Kramer is there next to me – mostly because I need someone to constantly laugh at my hilarious jokes.

Happy Holidays!Is that too sentimental for you guys? I promise I don’t get that way often, I’ve just really missed him. He did get As in all of his classes this semester, though, so at least it wasn’t for nothing! Good job, Kramer. I hope that this break is relaxing and stress-free for him. I couldn’t wait to get out of school, so his going back (and at that, wanting to go back) is both amazing and terrifying for me. Despite the hard work, he seems to love it and always comes home excited about what they discussed in class, or is always rolling over in bed to tell me some little tidbit he just read in whatever text he’s been assigned. I guess it’s kind of cute in an oh-my-god-I-don’t-want-to-know-this-much-about-Robert-Moses kind of way (he’s studying real estate finance). Anyway, our weekend, as I said, was nice and relaxing. My parents stopped by for a quick visit, so we saw Anchorman 2, grabbed a couple of drinks, and of course, had dinner at Roberta’s. On Saturday, we slept in, watched re-runs and did absolutely nothing until grabbing dinner with our friends Matt and Amanda at Mominette in Bushwick. On Sunday, Kramer and I uncharacteristically got up and out of the house by 10am to have breakfast at Cafe Ghia, followed by more lounging around at home, some cooking, and finishing out the night watching the highly disturbing yet all around very good Killer Joe. I really needed an ice cream and a hug after that movie.

If you’ve still got a little bit of holiday baking yet to do, these red velvet crinkles are just the thing. You don’t have to bust out the piping bags or cookie cutters to make them, but they are still incredibly festive, brightly colored and absolutely delicious. Soft, chewy and super chocolatey, everyone who picks one up is probably going to say something like, “How did you make these?” or “Ohmygod, are these red velvet?” I don’t know what to say – red velvet is always a crowd pleaser, even though it’s just chocolate dyed red. Despite my grumbling, I’ve come around to red velvet in a holiday setting because it is appropriately pretty and I don’t have to do much work to make them that way, which is a win-win in my book. Best of all, these cookies will keep really well at room temperature in an airtight container for up to four days, a theory which I put to the test as I made an enormous batch to parcel up and hand out to friends and neighborhood businesses for the holidays. They were well received by everyone who tried them, and I will admit, despite my indifference over the red velvet phenomenon, I thought that they were pretty damn good, too.

Get your dough together, then fold in the chocolate.

Roll the dough in the powdered sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-13 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before storing.