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These Red Velvet Cookies are soft and chewy with the most delicious red velvet flavor. My Red Velvet Cookies recipe is perfect for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or whenever you’re craving something sweet!
Holiday time means dessert time, and right now we are all about making delicious Valentine’s Day desserts, like Chocolate Trifles for Two, Pink Velvet Cake Roll, and of course these Red Velvet Cookies!
Want more Red Velvet? Try Red Velvet Cake Mix Bars and Red Velvet Brownies.
Pin this recipe for later!Table of Contents
Why I Love This Recipe
Colorful – The bright and festive red color makes these cookies perfect for Christmas or Valentine’s Day.
Classic – Red Velvet is a classic flavor that pairs beautifully with the white chocolate coating.
Soft and chewy – I love the texture of these cookies! They have a tender bite with a chewy texture. So yummy!
Ingredients
This is a typical cookie recipe so you’ll find mostly common ingredients that you probably have stocked in your pantry already.
- Butter – I highly recommend unsalted butter for baking. It should be softened to room temperature.
- Sugar – Both granulated white and brown sugar are used.
- Egg – just one large egg
- Vanilla extract – for balance in flavor.
- Vinegar – This is part of the signature red velvet flavor.
- Red food coloring – You can use the common liquid food coloring, but a gel based food coloring will give you the brightest red color.
- Flour – I use all-purpose flour. Gluten-free flour has not been tested, but should work fine. Be sure to spoon and measure rather than dipping your measuring cup in the container to get an accurate measurement.
- Cocoa powder – Red velvet is actually a chocolate flavor with red food coloring, so a high quality cocoa powder is a must!
- Cornstarch – Helps create a light and fluffy cookie.
- Baking soda and salt
- 8 oz white candy melts or white chocolate – for dipping, white chocolate chips work too.
- Sprinkles – optional, but pretty!
How to Make Red Velvet Cookies
Making these red velvet cookies isn’t too tricky either.
- First beat together butter and sugar. I like to use a little brown sugar in my cookies because it makes them extra chewy.
- Then add the egg, vanilla extract, vinegar, and red food coloring. Depending on how bright red you want your cookies to be, you can use 2-3 teaspoons of red food coloring. I used 3 teaspoons – and my cookies were very vibrant.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt – and mix in the dry ingredients into the butter mixture about ½ at a time. Adding a little cornstarch makes cookies extra soft – so it’s a definite must in my book.
- Finally, form the cookies into balls using a medium cookie scoop and they’re ready to bake. For thicker cookies, you can pop the cookie tray into the fridge for 10 minutes before baking, but for this recipe chilling the dough isn’t necessary.
FAQs
Today, red food coloring is what gives red velvet cookies and cakes their bright red hue. However, when the cake was first introduced the red was brought out by a reaction between the vinegar, buttermilk, and cocoa in the recipe. Bakers would sometimes use beet juice to enhance the red color, but nowadays food coloring is the easiest choice.
Decorating Red Velvet Cookies
After the cookies are done baking – they take a delicious dip in melted white chocolate and are showered with sprinkles. You could use heart-shaped sprinkles for Valentine’s, red and green sprinkles for Christmas, or even crumble a cookie and sprinkle the crumbs on top.
For the chocolate dip, I recommend Wilton white chocolate melts. The chocolate melts smooth, making it a very easy process.
Whichever way you choose – these red velvet cookies are absolutely delicious. You’ll love the soft & chewy cookie texture, pretty red color, and chocolate dip. And if you’re looking for a delicious recipe for Valentine’s Day then these are definitely for you.
Storage Tips
Storage: Keep cookies in an airtight container at room temperature and they will remain fresh for up to 3-4 days.
Freezing: Place cookies in a resealable plastic freezer bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months.
More Christmas Cookies
- Cheesecake Cookies
- Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies
- Caramel Stuffed Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Ricotta Cookies
- Butter Cookies
Red Velvet Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 2 – 3 teaspoons red food coloring liquid or gel
- 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 oz white candy melts or white chocolate
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a large bowl beat together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar using an electric mixer.
- Then beat in the egg, vanilla extract, vinegar and food coloring.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture about ½ at a time. The cookie dough will be thick and sticky.
- Form the dough into balls about 1 to 1.5 tablespoons in size. Using a cookie scoop makes this much easier.
- Place the balls 2 inches apart on a lined cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are just set.
- Allow to cool fully.
- In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the candy melts in short 30 second bursts stirring between each.
- Spread half of each cookie with the candy melts and decorate with sprinkles.
Thank you for posting this delicious recipe. I just made these today and they are Amazing!! Definitely a keeper, especially around the Holidays!!!
You are so welcome Monica! Thanks for stopping by.
My daughter loves these. Thank you for sharing.
You are so welcome Rebecca! Thanks for stopping by.
Made for a Christmas party and they were all gone by the end! They came out super pillowy and soft but still rich and velvety. Awesome recipe, I only added green and red sprinkles for the season. I tripled the recipe and got around 60 cookies (but I’m a little heavy handed)
Nice Thanks for stopping by Lyah and for sharing your feedback.
What do you mean white sugar
? Granulated or confectioners?
Granulated sugar is often referred to as white sugar. Confectioners sugar is referred to as powdered sugar.
This is the third red velvet cookie recipe I’ve tried for my nephew’s birthday, and the first that came out both red and velvety. Everyone loved them – thanks!
You are so welcome Cinny! Thanks for stopping by.
These came out FANTASTIC. They’re so soft and almost marshmallow-y, and the sweetness is just right, not too much and not too little. I love them.
Love the feedback Taylor! Thanks for stopping by.
why can i print some recipes and not others
Hi Sandra – usually it’s an issue with your browser. I recommend refreshing, trying a different browser, or clearing your cache.
Hi I tried this recipe and it’s absolutely delicious! Super soft. I do have a question though, my cookies didn’t turn out as flat as how you have pictured. After I formed them into a ball they didn’t flatten out as much. What can I do to ensure they flatten how you have them in your pictures?
You can press the dough balls down a little, like with the flat bottom of a glass.
These turned out amazing! Thankyou
You are so welcome Deann! Thanks for stopping by.
Could I use a cookie cutter to provide a tombstone shape for Halloween? Or will the dough not work.
Sure!
Delicious!! My daughter just made these, didn’t change a thing, and we just had some awesome red velvet cookies. Recipe yielded 19 with 1 1/2 TBSP scoop…they are chewy and scrumptious!
That’s awesome Tiners! Thank you for the feedback.
Roughly about how many cookies will this batter bake?
Recipe states that it will yield roughly 18 cookies.
Unsweetened cocoa powder ok to use?
Yes, it’s unsweetened cocoa powder.
Is it ok if I add chocolate chips?
Sure I think that would be delicious!
What are the nutritional facts for these cookies?
Hi Rosa, We are working to update the recipes on this site with nutritional information. It’s a lengthy process that takes some time, but we hope to have it for this recipe soon. In the meantime, I recommend checking out myfitnesspal.com as a great tool.
Sweetened or unsweetened cocoa powder?
Unsweetened.
What kind of vinegar?
Just plain white vinegar.
These cookies look beautiful (I love the bright red!) and so delicious. Will definitely try them soon.