Delicious Red Velvet Cookies

Fudgy on the inside and slightly crispy on the edges, filled with pools of melted white chocolate, these red velvet cookies are just amazing! These cookies make for the perfect gift and even if you’ve never baked before you can hardly go wrong with this recipe.

red velvet cookies recipe

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About The Recipe

So if you don’t know what red velvet is (who doesn’t), it’s basically a cake flavor: a rich cocoa-flavored cake with a distinctive reddish color, typically prepared as a layer cake with buttercream or cream cheese icing. That’s the definition from the dictionary, and these red velvet cookies are a cookie version of the cake!

Although most red velvet cakes are paired with cream cheese frosting, I wanted to keep this recipe as simple as possible, (I will make a separate one that has a cream cheese filling) so this cookie recipe does not contain any cream cheese, just white chocolate chips, which pairs beautifully with the red velvet cookies. They’re soft and fudgy on the inside and have a slightly crispy exterior, and are loaded with melted white chocolate!

If you love white chocolate, then you are going to LOVE these cookies! I used a combination of white chocolate chips and chunks, but you can use either one. You also do not need an electric mixer to make these cookies, but if you have one, you can definitely use it.

The base of the cookie is simple, just a regular chocolate chip cookie dough with some cocoa powder, which is a must in red velvet flavored stuff. It’s honestly pretty hard to mess up, making it perfect for beginners.

These red velvet cookies are perfect for the holidays, valentines day, birthday parties, picnics, or even just for you and your family to enjoy!

What You Need To Make This Red Velvet Cookies Recipe

Red Velvet Cookies Ingredients

Flour: regular all purpose flour is all you need. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.

Sugars: you’ll need both white and brown sugar. White or granulated sugar helps the cookies spread, while the brown sugar makes them chewy and gives them a rich flavor. You could use light or dark brown sugar.

Cocoa powder: use unsweetened cocoa powder, I use dutch processed cocoa powder for all of my recipes, it’s darker and and more richer than natural cocoa powder.

Baking soda: This is the leavening agent, it’s was causes the cookies to rise and gives them stability and structure. Make sure your baking soda is not expired!

Salt: adding a little bit of salt into something sweet helps balance the overall sweetness and really brings out the flavors of the cookies.

Butter: you’ll need softened butter, this is very important or else it will be very difficult to cream with the sugars. Here’s a tip to quickly soften butter in seconds!

Egg: use a room temperature egg for the best results.

White chocolate: I used a combination of chips and a bar, which I chopped into chunks, but you can also just use either one.

Red food coloring: this is what will make the red velvet cookie red, so you can’t skip this. Gel, water-based or powdered food coloring will all work fine for this recipe.

How To Make Red Velvet Cookies

Step 1: In a small bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt) and set it aside.

Step 2: Cream together the softened butter, sugars and vanilla extract until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. You can use a spatula, or an electric hand/stand mixer. Do not use a whisk though, because it does get a little annoying when all the butter gets stuck in it.

Step 3: Mix in the egg and red food coloring. For food color, add a little at a time, 3-4 drops should be enough.

Step 4: Add in the dry ingredients and fold the mixture until almost combined. Then add in the white chocolate chips and chunks and fold until fully combined and you no longer see any streaks of flour. Cover and chill the dough for 30-60 minutes. Or 15-20 minutes in the freezer if you’re short on time.

Step 5: Use a cookie scoop, to scoop the chilled dough onto a lined baking tray, leaving at least 2 inches of space between each cookie dough ball. I used a regular sized cookie scoop. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 °C / 355 °F for 12-15 minutes, depending on how crispy you want the sides of your cookies to be.

Step 6: Once baked let the cookies cool on tray for 10 minutes, then transfer them onto a cooling wrack to cool completely. (Or cool completely on the tray) Enjoy!

Storing/Freezing The Red Velvet Cookies

Store any leftovers in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

To freeze the cookie dough: scoop the chilled cookie dough on to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and freeze for 2 hours. Then transfer the frozen cookie dough balls into a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature and bake as usual.

To freeze baked cookies: wrap the cooled red velvet cookies in a layer of aluminum foil then store in a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature and microwave for 20 second to warm up the cookie if you’d like.

Pro Tips

  • If you have a convection oven (oven with a fan setting), reduce the temperature by 20 degrees.
  • Here’s an easy hack to quickly soften butter: cut the butter into small cubes and place them onto a microwave safe bowl, then microwave at 20% power in 10 second intervals until the butter has softened (it should take about 20 seconds in total). Now you can use it to make you cookie bars!
  • Don’t overbake the cookies, when the cook time is over the cookies will look undone, that’s exactly how they should look. The cookies will finish cooking while they sit on the baking tray for a few minutes.
  • Measure you flour correctly! Adding too much or too little flour will change the texture of the cookies dramatically. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off using the back of the spoon. Or use a scale for precise measurements.
  •  Chilling the cookie dough is mandatory in this recipe otherwise the cookies will spread way too much. Cold dough results in a thicker cookie, so make sure to chill the dough for at least 30 minutes or 15 minutes in the freezer if you’re short on time. You could also make the red velvet cookie dough ahead of time and refrigerate it overnight, see how here.
  • Top the warm baked cookies with some flaky sea salt for and extra kick of flavor!
  • Only have white chocolate chips? That’s totally ok, just add double the amount of chocolate chips as mentioned in the recipe and leave out the chocolate chunks.
  • If you don’t have white chocolate or you just don’t like it, you can always use dark or milk chocolate chips as well.
  • Add pink food coloring to make pink velvet cookies!
Red velvet cookies

FAQ’s

Can I make the cookie dough ahead of time?

Yes, you can make the cookie dough 1-2 days ahead, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready to use it. It might be a little hard when it comes out of the fridge, so let it sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to soften it up a bit. Then shape and bake them the same way.

Why did my cookies spread so much?

The most likely cause for that would be that you did not chill your cookie dough enough or at all! Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you’re more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies.

Can I add a cream cheese filling into these cookies?

Definitely, all you have to do is combine a few tablespoons of cream cheese and powder sugar. Spoon that onto a lined tray and freeze until solid. Then when your red velvet cookie dough is chilled, scoop the dough onto your hand, flatten it out and place a frozen cream cheese ball in the center, cover it with the cookie dough and roll it your hand to create a smooth ball. You will need to use more cookie dough for each cookie than if you were to not fill them, so you will have fewer cookies than stated in the recipe. Then bake as usual.

Can I use dark/milk chocolate instead of white chocolate?

If that’s what you prefer or have on hand, than go for it, the cookies will still taste bomb! I opted for white chocolate because it just looks so pretty with the red cookies.

Red velvet cookies recipe

Check out my YouTube Channel for detailed recipe tutorials! Made one of my recipes? Tag me on Instagram, I would love to see your creations!

Recipe Card

Red Velvet Cookies

Fudgy on the inside and slightly crispy on the edges, filled with pools of melted white chocolate, these red velvet cookies are just amazing! These cookies make for the perfect gift and even if you’ve never baked before you can hardly go wrong with this recipe.

Prep Time: 10 min

Chill Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 12 min

Total Time: 52 min

Course: Dessert/Cookies

Servings: 15 cookies

Calories: 190kcal

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Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (220g)
  • 1 heaped Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (10g)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (113g)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (104g)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50g)
  • 1 large egg, room temp.
  • red food coloring, as needed
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (50g)
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chunks (50g bar)

Instructions

  1. In a medium sized bowl combine the all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a separate large bowl, cream together the softened butter, vanilla extract, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy and fluffy (2-3 min). You could use a spatula or an electric mixer.
  3. Add in the egg and red food coloring and mix until fully incorporated.
  4. Now add in the dry ingredients from earlier and fold the mixture with a spatula until it’s almost combined. Add in the white chocolate chips and chunks and fold until fully combined, and you no longer see any streaks of flour. Cover and chill the dough for 30-60 minutes in the fridge or 15-20 minutes in the freezer if you are short on time.
  5. Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 180 °C / 355 °F and line 2-3 baking trays with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough onto the tray, leaving at least 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on how crispy you want the edges to be.
  6. Once baked, cool the red velvet cookies completely before serving (Don’t move the cookie while they’re still hot, they will fall apart!). Enjoy!

Nutrition (estimated per serving)

Calories: 189.71kcal

Total Fat: 8.8g

Carbs: 25.75g

Sugars: 14.1g

Protein: 2.52g

Sodium: 79.46mg

Fiber: 0.61g


** Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more. **

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