Red Velvet Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting are soft, chewy, and have the most delicious red velvet flavor. They are the perfect cookie for Valentine’s day, Christmas, or anytime you are craving red velvet.
Red Velvet Cookies are an easy to make cookie that uses basic ingredients, and pack that red velvet punch! You get the simple red velvet cake flavor in a soft and chewy cookie that is perfect for Valentines day or Christmas. You can’t go wrong with these cookies, and the cream cheese frosting will take them to the next level. If you love soft and chewy cookies, check out our popular Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies and our Cowboy Cookie Recipe.
Ingredients for red velvet cookies with cream cheese frosting
- Flour: All purpose flour will create soft cookies that hold their shape.
- Cocoa Powder: unsweetened cocoa powder is used in this recipe. Stay away from Dutch processed cocoa powder, it’s too dark.
- Baking Soda: Creates that soft fluffy cookie.
- Baking Powder: Will increase the volume and increase the texture.
- Salt: I like to use table salt for this recipe.
- Unsalted Butter: I like to use unsalted butter while baking. I don’t like the added salt, and it helps you control the salt content in any recipe.
- Sugar: White granulated sugar is used in this recipe.
- Brown Sugar: Use light brown sugar and pack it into the measuring cup.
- Egg: One large or medium egg is used in this recipe.
- Vanilla: I like to use pure vanilla, but vanilla extract also works well.
- White Vinegar: Classic red velvet recipes use white vinegar and helps to boost the flavor.
- Red food coloring: I like to use gel food coloring for those vibrant colors, but you can also use liquid.
- CREAM CHEESE FROSTING INGREDIENTS
- Cream Cheese: Use full fat cream cheese, or fat free for a healthier version.
- Powdered Sugar: Using powdered sugar in frosting will dissolve easier and create that smooth consistency.
- Vanilla: Again, I prefer to use pure vanilla, but vanilla extract works well.
How to make red velvet cookies
- In a medium size mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine softened butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat with a hand mixer until combined.
- Beat in egg, vanilla, white vinegar, and red food coloring until creamy.
- Slowly add flour mixture and beat until just combined.
- Cover bowl with saran wrap and refrigerate for 1-3 hours or until dough is firm. This is a very important step to prevent cookies from spreading and becoming too thin.
- Once dough has had a chance to chill, preheat oven to 350F and place parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
- Scoop dough into 1 1/2 Tbsp. balls. Place them on prepared cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
- Bake one sheet at a time (keeping remaining dough chilled) until cookies appear set on the edges, but slightly under-baked in the center, about 11-12 minutes.
- Remove cookies from the oven and let cool completely.
- To prepare frosting, beat softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Once red velvet cookies have completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting. Enjoy!
Cookie Variations
- Add white chocolate chips to the dough before chilling. Add a few white chocolate chips to warm cookies for a pretty presentation.
- Dip half of the cooled cookies into melted white chocolate and add red sprinkles.
- Place cream cheese frosting in a piping bag, and drizzle over top of cooled cookies.
Baking Tips
- Chill dough for 1-3 hours. This is a necessary step for baking the perfect cookies. Chilling the dough will prevent cookies from spreading and becoming too thin. Dough can be chilled overnight as well.
- Use parchment paper on your baking sheet. This will also prevent cookies from spreading and it allows for an easy clean up.
- If your dough is too hard after chilling, allow it to sit for 5 minutes before rolling into balls.
- This recipe makes 23 medium size cookies. If you want larger cookies, simply form dough into 3 Tbsp. balls. This will yield about 11 cookies.
Storage and Shelf Life
- Store cookies in an air tight container for up to 3 days.
- To keep cookies soft, add a few pieces of bread to the storage container.
- These cookies are not recommended for freezing as they might become dry.
Red Velvet Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
Red Velvet Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting are soft, chewy, and have the most delicious red velvet flavor. They are the perfect cookie for Valentine's day, Christmas, or anytime you are craving red velvet.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 4 tsp. cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
- 2 tsp. red gel food coloring, or 2 tsp. red liquid food coloring
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 6 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- In a medium size mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine softened butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat with a hand mixer until combined.
- Beat in egg, vanilla, white vinegar, and red food coloring until creamy.
- Slowly add flour mixture and beat until just combined.
- Cover bowl with saran wrap and refrigerate for 1-3 hours or until dough is firm. This is a very important step to prevent cookies from spreading and becoming too thin.
- Once dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350F and place parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
- Scoop dough into 1 1/2 Tbsp. balls. Place them on prepared cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
- Bake one sheet at a time (keeping remaining dough chilled) until cookies appear set on the edges, but slightly under-baked in the center, about 11-12 minutes.
- Remove cookies from the oven and let cool completely.
- To prepare frosting, beat softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Once red velvet cookies have completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition Disclaimer: All information presented on this site is intended for informational purposes only. Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information shared on Modernmealmakeover.com should only be used as a general guideline.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookieCalories: 126kcalCarbohydrates: 15.4gProtein: 1.6gFat: 6.6gCholesterol: 18.3mgSodium: 76.3mgPotassium: 24.1mgFiber: 0.7gSugar: 11.5gVitamin A: 4.6IUVitamin C: 0.5mgCalcium: 3.3mgIron: 3.1mg
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I love this recipe! I have made it twice now. I made my cookies a little bigger so it only makes 12, and I bake them for about 17 minutes. Tastes good everytime!
I’m so glad you love the red velvet cookies. Thank you for sharing!
Love, love, love, I left it in the fridge before baking, for like 3 hours and it turned out great ♥️
I’m so glad you loved them.
Can I make the dough before hand? And just leave it in the fridge?
Yes, any cookie left in the fridge and then baked will turn out nice!
Do these cookies need to be refrigerated after making them since they have cream cheese icing? Making them for an event and was planning to leave them on a table for a couple of hours. Just double checking.
There is no need to refrigerate them after baking. They will keep at room temp.
How long can you keep the cookie dough in the refrigerator before cooking them and is the dough thick enough to use cookie cutters?
I wouldn’t recommend using cookie cutters for this recipe. You can keep the dough in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
The cookies are delicious. The cream cheese frosting was way thinner than I’m use to. Looked up another recipe and figured out its missing butter and 3c powdered sugar! Still pretty good, but I’ll switch the frosting recipe next time.