Insomnia Cookies Just Dropped Its Valentine's Day Line

Halloween and Christmas may have passed, but there's still one big candy holiday on the horizon: Valentine's Day. While mini-sized candies dominate Halloween, and things like candy canes, peppermint bark, and toffee are hallmarks of Christmas, Valentine's Day is all about the chocolate. The origin story of chocolate on Valentine's Day is a bit surprising. But it's been a traditional part of the holiday since the 1890s, really coming into its own before World War 1, and these days chocolate is the most popular Valentine's Day candy in 36 states.

Unfortunately for those who like to decorate with a theme for Valentine's Day, chocolate is, well, brown. That doesn't exactly go with the red-and-pink scheme of most Valentine's Day decor. But Insomnia Cookies, the cookie chain that specializes in staying open late (we're talking 3 am for some locations), has found a workaround. Its Valentine's Day cookie line-up will have chocolate lovers seeing red, literally, because the chain has opted to focus on red velvet cake-inspired sweets this year.

In a press release, Insomnia Cookies announced their Valentine's Day line-up, and with a couple of exceptions, they're mostly offering up a lot of red velvet options. For those not in the know, modern red velvet cake is only slightly different than a regular chocolate cake, but with a signature red hue. In the "olden" days (the 1970s), buttermilk and vinegar were all that was needed to highlight the red color of cocoa powder, according to Smithsonian Magazine. But these days most bakers rely on a helpful dose of modern red food coloring to add that rouge hint to chocolate goods, due to Dutch cocoa and darker cocoa powders being used.

Beginning on January 24th, Insomnia Cookies will be serving up sweets like the Red Velvet Classic (a red velvet cookie filled with chunks of cream cheese icing), Vegan Red Velvet Cookies N' Cream Classic (a vegan red velvet cookie filled with sandwich cookie pieces, vanilla chips, and chocolate chips), and even a heart-shaped Red Velvet Cookie Cake. What if you're one of the people who think that red velvet is overrated (via Reddit)? 

Fear not — the chain is offering up a Chocolate Covered Strawberry cookie, a Deluxe Filled Lava Cake cookie, and Triple Chocolate Chunk cookies too. If these options are any bit as good as the seasonal state fair-inspired collection we tried over the summer, fans of Insomnia can look forward to "some seriously satisfying treats" this Valentine's Day.