A fresh raspberry buttercream is sandwiched between two soft & chewy blue velvet cake mix cookies in these perfectly patriotic Blue Velvet & Raspberry Buttercream Cookiewiches...
My luck with bringing patriotic recipe ideas to fruition hasn't been very good in the past couple of years.
Until today, I literally had one- just one- 4th of July themed recipe on the blog.
My Red, White, & Berry Cupcakes are fun & absolutely delicious, but you will have to excuse the photos if you click over to take a peek at them.
But after those cupcakes, my red, white, & blue recipe mojo went kaput.
Some of you all may recall the Patriotic Pie Fail from last summer. It looked amazing and like a real winner before I cut into it... but after I cut into? One big delicious, goopy mess.
And I was about to give up on this Fourth of July as well. Two recipe fails in a row this month- one was a burnt tart and the other was cake bars that refused to bake all the way through and set up. (If you happen to follow me on Instagram, you were probably a firsthand witness to those recipe flops of mine.) I was about to throw the towel in and finally accept my fate that I was not meant to publish another patriotic inspired recipe ever again on the blog.
But then inspiration struck...
I spied Duncan Hines Blue Velvet Cake Mix on the grocery store shelf... and then my mind wandered to the White Chocolate Peeps Cookiewiches I made in April... and BOOM! :)
Why not make cookiewiches with blue velvet cookies?
And sure, I could have just made a plain ole buttercream and colored it red and called it a day, but what fun is that? ;)
So instead, I sandwiched a sweet & tart fresh raspberry buttercream between the cookies.
And whoa! Just whoa, folks...
Blue Velvet & Raspberry Buttercream Cookiewiches
by
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 7-8 minutes
Ingredients (12 cookiewiches)
- 1 box of blue velvet cake mix (if you cannot find it, feel free to use white cake mix- you will get some blue in with your patriotic sprinkles. ;) )
- 1 small box of vanilla instant pudding
- 2 large eggs
- 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
- patriotic colored sprinkles
- 2/3 cup fresh raspberries, pureed
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Red food coloring (optional- I used some to make the frosting more red than pink.)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, and butter. Mix well.
Pour some of the 4th of July colored sprinkles onto a small plate. Roll the cookie dough into 24 tablespoon sized balls. Press the top of each cookie dough ball into the sprinkles. Place sprinkle side up on the prepared baking sheet(s). Flatten each cookie dough ball slightly with your hand.
Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes or until the cookies are slightly golden brown along the edges. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
When the cookies have cooled, prepare the fresh raspberry buttercream frosting.
Add the pureed raspberries to a large mixing bowl and add in the butter. Beat on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until well combined and light and creamy.
Now beat in the vanilla.
Beat in the powdered sugar one half cup at a time.
Add in red food coloring a little at time until you have reached your desired shade of red. (Again- this is optional.)
**Note- If you do not want the raspberry seeds in the frosting, feel free to strain the raspberry puree through a mesh strainer before creaming it with the butter.
Place the frosting in a pastry bag using a tip with a wide opening. Pipe the frosting into the middle of one of the cooled cookies, sprinkles side down. I piped mine in a swirl, leaving a little room along the outside edge of the cookie. Place another cookie, sprinkle side up on top of the frosting. Press down gently. Repeat this for the remaining 11 cookie pairs.
** You can also just spread the frosting on- maybe 2 tbsp per cookiewich. It won't be as pretty, but it will taste just as good! :)
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Enjoy!
I brought these cookiewiches to my parents' Father's Day cookout for taste testing and went home with just one cookiewich from the dozen, so I will deem this one a patriotic recipe success! :)
I will be taking a little vacation from the blog this week as I will be heading somewhere sunny, warm, and a just a little sandy with my family. ;) But I will have some fabulous and very talented food blogger friends taking over Frugal Foodie Mama for me until I get back. Seriously, all- I cannot wait to introduce you to this creative ladies and for you all to see the amazing recipes they will be sharing here!
Please be sure to give them a very warm welcome and help them feel at home... :)
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