14 February 2012 
Puddles of red velvet cake cookies swell in the small, yet expensive oven. “Oooh, you have a Mabe,” all the upper-class Mexican housewives crooned when I first moved here and showed off my kitchen and apartment. “Nothing but the best, Mabe,” they continued, reasserting my ignorance on the subject of Mexican kitchen appliances. I’ve heard of General Electric, KitchenAid, Viking and Dacor but Mabe, whose name screams out the fear, “maybe???” Never.
Mabe and I weren’t friends from the get go. She was too small. Too simplistic. Too foreign. Fahrenheit was out the window, Mexico being a Celsius land, I had to contend with the concept of baking in unknown numbers. I felt like a lonely American. Luckily, there are all sorts of apps for lonely Americans and Kitchen Converter is no doubt a very popular one.
Next, there was turning the darn thing on! In the States, with my uber-spacious Dacor oven, all I had to do was turn the lever and, voila! Beauty will beep when reached the appropriate Fahrenheit temperature! With Mabe I encountered a whole other beast: the gas beast. I had to have the building’s maintenance man, Javier, come show me how it’s done. Mabe wouldn’t come to life for me and I was positive she was broken.
Javier dutifully arrived in his navy blue jumpsuit and his friendly smile and didn’t even give me the courtesy of tinkering with his accomplice. Mabe just turned on straight away.
“How’d you do that?” I demanded, slightly hurt and fully shocked.
“Just like this,” he patiently showed me, turning Mabe on again.
I felt frustrated that the oven responded to him and not to me.
“Just leave the door ajar for five minutes before you close it. That way it will be sure not to go off,” Javier instructed, making me realize the trick to the gas oven.
“Ahhhh, the door has to be open for the oven to ignite,” I declared unintelligently.
Javier stared. I think it was polite pity that cast over his face.
“Si, señora,” he answered dryly.
So Mabe and I were off to a bumpy start but I didn’t lose faith either way. I was an avid baker in Florida and I’d continue to do so in Mexico City, Mabe by my side. We were going to have a beautiful relationship, whatever the price.
The price took several burnt cakes, several flattened cakes, several undercooked cakes, and several stuck and smeared cakes. I can’t particularly pin the blame solely on Mabe; after all, I am living in Mexico City, which boasts an altitude of 7,349 feet. Baking gets wacky and frazzled way up here. But as the proud and stubborn baker that I am, I can proclaim, as my red velvet cake cookies puff gently inside Mabe’s tender embrace, that the road is getting less bumpy and more and more tasty.
Red Velvet Cake Cookies
adapted from Paula Deen
1 1/3 cups flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder (3/4 teaspoon for high altitude baking)
¼ teaspoon baking soda (eliminate for high altitude baking)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar (3/4 cup for high altitude baking)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red food coloring
Okay, my kids were too impatient to make the sandwich with the filling (which I can guarantee is amazing) opting instead to nosh on the cookies plain (equally incredible.) If you want to assemble them into sandwiches, here is Paula Deen’s recipe for the cream cheese frosting:
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
¾ cup pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C)
Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time. Then beat in the yogurt, vanilla and red food coloring. Once combined, add the dry ingredients to wet. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Onto a parchment lined sheet tray, drop batter using an ice cream scoop, forming 2-inch round circles.
Bake for 10 minutes, until baked through. Cookies should be cake-like and light. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.
Spread the cream cheese frosting between 2 cooled cookies and roll the edges in finely chopped pecans, if desired.
