Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese
Make your season bright with these colorful Red Velvet Cookies. Baked with sweetened cream cheese and garnished with sparkly sugar, these pretty cookies have crispy edges and soft, chewy middles.
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cookies
- 1 cup all-purpose flour + 2 tbsp unbleached
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder unsweetened
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt fine
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract pure
- 1 tbsp red gel food coloring
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar for rolling and sprinkling
Sweetened Cream Cheese
- 3 ounces full-fat cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
Red Velvet Cookies
- Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Whisk together flour (1 cup + 2 tablespoons), cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and creamy, approximately 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
- Beat in gel food coloring until evenly incorporated
- Reduce mixer speed to low then add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined.
- Set the bowl of cookie dough aside while you prepare the cream cheese.
Sweetened Cream Cheese
- Using clean beaters and a separate bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and lump free.
Assembly
- Add 1 teaspoon of the sweetened cream cheese to the inside of a large, 2.5 tablespoon cookie scoop.
- Fill the remaining space in the cookie scoop with red velvet cookie dough.
- Place the cookie dough ball on your parchment-lined baking sheet with the cream cheese side facing up.
- Repeat the assembly process for the remaining cream cheese mixture and cookie dough, placing dough balls 3 inches apart from each other on the baking sheets.
- Cover baking sheets with plastic wrap to prevent dough from drying out then chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Bake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator, discard plastic wrap then bake cookies one baking sheet at a time for approximately 14 to 16 minutes. Cookies are done when the edges are set and the center is crackly but still soft (it will firm as it cools). Avoid overbaking.
Cool
- Remove cookies from oven and cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.Note: Cookies will spread a bit as they bake. To reshape cookies, place the rim of a large drinking glass over cookies while they are still on the baking sheet then gently swirl the glass in a circular motion until each cookie is symmetrically round.
Store
- After cookies have cooled completely, sprinkle with granulated sugar and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days.