I've made Red Velvet cupcakes every year for some time now. But this year I decided to try something fun and new. It's always fun to make something special for friends and family (It always puts a smile on my face) and holidays are the best time to get creative with homemade gift giving.

In this tutorial, I will explain the recipe and steps it takes to make these wonderful whoopie pies as well as show you a fun way to package them for valentines gifts.

I just know all your friends and family are going to love these homemade heart shaped whoopie pies; you made them!

Let's get started on the fun stuff....

Step 1: Ingredients

For the Cookies:

2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 buttermilk
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
red food coloring

For the Frosting:

8 0z cream cheese
5 tbsp. butter
2 1/2 tbsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Also...You will need some parchment paper, some scrap cardboard to make a heart template, and two cookie sheets.

Step 2: Prepping for the Cookies

Tear two pieces of parchment paper that fits the two cookie sheets.
Create a heart template from a scrap of cardboard. My heart was about 2 1/2" horizontal and 2 3/4" vertically. (Using cardboard makes it easier when tracing)
Trace hearts onto the parchment paper. I used a thick sharpie marker to make the lines easier to see
Place the drawn side of the parchment paper downwards on the cookie sheet.

Step 3: Making the Cookies

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate, larger bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy. (about 2 minutes)
Beat in egg
blend in vanilla
Place the electric mixer on low, add 1/3 of dry mixture and beat, then add half the buttermilk and blend (repeat adding a little of each component, back and forth, until all mixed)
Add red food coloring until it turns the desired color
Put cookie dough into a pastry bag with a large round tip and fill in traced hearts on parchment.

***See picture #1 for example

Step 4: Baking the Cookies

Bake for 7-9 minutes.

They may not look "done" but they will continue to cook after removing them from the oven.

Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 10 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack.

(*See the picture below for an example of what the cookies should look like baked)

Step 5: Making the Frosting

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Next, add the vanilla. Lastly, incorporate the powdered sugar into the mixture in small amounts at a time.
Put frosting into pastry bag (same as with the cookies) and put frosting on half of the cookies. (*See picture #1 for example)

***Before I started frosting, I paired up the cookies according to similar size. This creates more symmetrical looking cookies.

Step 6: Making Sandwiches

Good News!!!!

All the hard work is over!

All that's left to do is to put the sandwiches together!

To do this, lightly press a frosted cookie and an unfrosted cookie together.

(*See the picture below for an example of what the finished products should look like)

Step 7: Creative Packaging

These red velvet whoopie pies are so delicious it's hard to hand them out for valentine's day. But since my favorite thing to do is creating cute gift wrapping, I managed to get enough of them out for my closest friends.

Being creative with the way you wrap/package any homemade goodies adds something special to your gifts. And it can be really cheap and easy too!!! These cute little boxes fit 3-4 cookie sandwiches each and were purchased at Wal-Mart for only a dollar or two. Then, I made tags to personalize the gifts with small white tags, some scraps of fabric, and thread.

Each and every one of my friends that received a package of my homemade red velvet whoopie pies when absolutely crazy about how delicious they were and made complimenting remarks about the packaging. It really does make you smile to make your friends smile. :)