Easy Red Velvet Cookies

two red velvet cookies coated in powdered sugar on a plate.

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5 from 14 votes

A super soft, easy, Red Velvet cookie from scratch!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Vegetarian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 11

Chill time 30

Total Time 51

Servings Cookies

Calories 99kcal

Author Tracy

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour 219 g
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 33 g
1 1/ teaspoon baking powder 5 g
1/4 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed, 113 g
1/2 cup granulated sugar 105 g
1 egg room temperature
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon red food coloring up to 1 tablespoon
1/8-1/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Mix Dry Ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large bowl add the butter, cubed. Use a hand-held mixer and beat the butter on high until creamy. Turn to medium speed and beat in the sugars. Then add the egg, milk, and vanilla extract and continue to beat until combined. Once combined, add food coloring and mix again.
Create Dough: Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until a sticky dough is formed.
Chill: Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days in the fridge.
Preheat Oven: When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you've chilled the dough longer than 24 hrs, let the dough sit at room temperature for 45 minutes before baking.
Roll Out Dough: Line baking sheets with parchment paper and scoop out a spoonful of dough. Roll into a ball and place on the baking sheet leaving 1-2 inches of space.
Roll in Sugar: Add confectioner's sugar to a small bowl and roll dough balls at least once in the sugar. Bake for 10-11 minutes. Cookies may not spread much, so while they are still warm, lightly press down on them to create crinkles in the top.
Bake: Add cookie trays to the oven and bake for 10-11 minutes.
Cool: Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

Notes

Storage

Counter: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Freezer: Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Make Ahead

Dough: Store dough in the fridge for up to 4 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Quickly Bring Eggs to Room Temp

Add some warm water (about 100 - 110 degrees water which is about lukewarm) to a bowl and add the eggs. Let them sit for about 10 minutes to help warm them up!

Quickly Soften Butter

The best method is to just take your butter out of the fridge about an hour before cooking. But you can also take a slice of the butter and place it on a plate. Then heat a glass cup or bowl of water in a microwave for 2 minutes. Once done, remove the glass cup/bowl immediately add the plate with the butter, and shut the door. Let it sit, and soften, in the microwave for 10 minutes. The heat in the microwave after heating the water will soften the butter!

Food Coloring

Adjust the vibrance of the red of your cookies! For the red in our cookies, we used 1/2 tablespoon of food coloring, but you can use up to 1 1/2 tablespoons for the brightest red.

Sugar Coating

Roll at least once in the powdered sugar, but you can roll again for an even thicker coating.

Nutrition