Video
Red Velvet Cookies
These Red Velvet Cookies have all the tangy vanilla flavor, moist texture and rich red color of classic red velvet cake in perfect cookie form. A bit of sour cream and vinegar in the cookie dough mimics the tangy cultured dairy flavor of buttermilk as well as natural cocoa powder which provides fruity notes and a rusty red hue. Everyone will love them!
Ingredients
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Bark:
- 6 oz (170g) white chocolate minimum 28% cocoa butter
- 3 tablespoon (45g) full fat cream cheese, softened
Red Velvet Cookie Dough:
- 1 ¼ cups (180g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoon (18g) natural cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter
- ½ cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (65g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) full fat sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon white vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon red gel food coloring
Instructions
- Make the white chocolate cream cheese bark. Melt white chocolate VERY GENTLY in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with very hot, barely simmering water. Let it melt slowly with occasional stirring. Cut cream cheese into cubes and place it in a medium bowl. Make sure it is very soft. Add melted chocolate over it and use a sturdy whisk to mix it together until it looks smooth and glossy. You don’t want to incorporate too much air, but you do need to whisk well so it comes into an emulsion. The mixture will thicken up. Scrape it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread it out to about ⅛ or ¼ inch thickness. It’s ok if it looks a bit chalky and maybe looks matte at this point. Place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes until firm. Once firm, peel off the parchment and quickly slice the bark into about ¾ inch squares or pieces (the size or shape doesn’t matter too much, but I like to keep them on the larger side since they are soft and will break up as you scoop the cookie dough). Place the pieces back in the freezer until you are ready to add them to the cookie dough.
- Blend dry ingredients. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend evenly. Sift the cocoa powder if it is lumpy.
- Blend wet ingredients. Combine soft butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl and cream together until smooth, slightly pale and fluffy with a wide rubber spatula. Add egg mix it in until well incorporated and smooth. Add sour cream, vanilla, vinegar and red food coloring mix to combine. Add dry ingredients and fold them in gently. Right before all of the flour is incorporated, add the chilled white chocolate cream cheese wafers and fold them in. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- When ready to bake, use a 1.35-oz cookie scoop to portion dough and roll into smooth balls. Place onto prepared baking sheets spacing them at least 2 inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes until set around the edges and slightly soft in the middle. Transfer trays to a wire rack and let cookies set on the trays for 2 minutes before transferring individually to the rack to finish cooling.
