These homemade Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting are a chewy red velvet cookie with rich cream cheese frosting on top. It’s a no chill cookie dough recipe perfect anytime of the year, not excluding Valentine’s Day and Christmas!
Chewy Red Velvet Cookie Recipe
Red velvet is a flavor I didn’t fully appreciate until later on in my life. It’s a beautifully complex flavor that has a buttery vanilla flavor with hints of chocolate flavor thanks to a touch of cocoa powder in the recipe. Pair the classic red velvet flavor with a tangy cream cheese frosting and you have a cookie recipe I literally could not stop eating.
Fancy frosted cookies are all the rage currently, and while I do love indulging in a decadent gourmet cookie I didn’t make (especially if they deliver late at night!), the cost is astronomical and I cannot bring myself to pay those prices often. On top of that, I find baking very therapeutic so whipping up a batch of cookies at home that taste better than store bought ones and are cheaper is a win/win in my book.
So if you love a classic red velvet cake with cream cheese filling, you are going to adore this red velvet cookies recipe! The texture of these cookies is soft in the centers with a buttery chewy edge and the swirl of homemade cream cheese icing on top is as dreamy as it gets. I love any kind of cookie, but these ones? They’re my whole heart right now.
Why I Love Red Velvet Cookies:
- Color: Let’s be honest, red velvet cookies are gorgeously crimson in color. The festive red color is in part due to red food coloring (you can use liquid food coloring or gel red coloring) and also due to a chemical reaction between the cocoa powder and vinegar.
- Simple Ingredients: Simple ingredients can make the most delicious desserts, including these easy red velvet cookies. Just a handful of pantry staples are all you need to whip up a batch of these red beauties!
- No Chill Dough: As mentioned above, this is a no chill cookie recipe so you can have these frosted red velvet cookies in no time at all!
- Homemade: While there is nothing wrong with using red velvet cake mix, I found that if I really wanted soft and chewy red velvet cookies, making red velvet cake mix cookies with a box of cake mix was not the answer. No, the red velvet cookie dough needed to be made from scratch. If you are looking for a cake mix cookie, try these Strawberries and Cream ones!
If you love Red Velvet desserts as much as I do, these Red Velvet Cupcakes and this Red Velvet Cake Roll should be next on the baking list!
Red Velvet Cookie Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Eggs: You need a whole egg + a yolk for this recipe. The added yolk makes for really soft and chewy cookies.
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder: The combination of baking powder and baking soda react together to make a chewy red velvet cookie that also is a little bit like a red velvet cake cookie.
- Salt
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch keeps these cookies really tender!
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: The key to a red velvet recipe is cocoa powder. Just a touch of cocoa powder is what transforms these from a buttery vanilla cookie to red velvet cream cheese cookies.
- Vanilla Extract
- White Vinegar: The is a key ingredient because it adds a tang that is essential to the overall red velvet flavor, and it reacts with the cocoa powder to give a subtle red color to the cookie dough.
- Red Gel Food Coloring: You can use both liquid food coloring or gel food coloring. I prefer gel coloring because it generally makes for a deeper red and more vibrant color.
- Cream Cheese: To make the cream cheese frosting, you need to use full fat cream cheese in the brick style. Whipped cream cheese or cream cheese spread will not work properly.
- Powdered Sugar: Also known as confectioners’ sugar.
How To Make Red Velvet Cookie Dough:
For a complete guide to making the best red velvet cookies with cream cheese frosting, use the printable recipe card below. It has complete measurements and all the details.
- Butter and Sugar: Using the bowl of a stand mixer or an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
- Eggs: Next, add in the egg and egg yolk to the butter mixture, blending until combined.
- Vanilla, Vinegar, and Food Color: Next, add in vanilla extract, vinegar, and red food coloring (alternately, you can add these 3 ingredients after the dry ingredients are incorporated and the cookie dough will come out the same). Mix until well incorporated.
- Dry Ingredients: Lastly, add in flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder. Mix until well combined.
- Recipe Note: The dough will be a really thick and stiff cookie dough.
- Scoop: You can scoop with a medium cookie scoop or you can roll into balls with your hands (each cookie dough ball should be a little over 1 Tbsp in size).
- Prepared Baking Sheet: Place parchment paper on a large cookie sheet and then place red velvet cookie dough evenly spaced apart on the cookie sheet. Gently flatten the cookie dough balls just a bit. Bake.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: While the cookies are cooling, make the cream cheese frosting recipe by beating butter and cream cheese together until combined. Add in vanilla and salt. Finally, add in the powdered sugar and mix until silky smooth and combined.
- Pipe: Using a piping bag or an offset spatula, frost each cookie. If desired, top with sprinkles.
- Pro Tip: Crumble one of the red velvet cake cookies and use the crumbs to decorate the tops of your frosted cookies. This is how I decorate my red velvet cupcakes!
Storage Tips:
Due to the frosting, any leftovers of these red velvet and cream cheese cookies do need to be stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
They can remain at room temperature (as long as it’s not too warm in the house) for a few hours before refrigerating.
Do You Have To Flatten The Cookies?
- The recipe says to gently flatten the cookies before baking, but this isn’t necessary if you want to skip this step. I’ve tested this cooke recipe both ways and they come out great either way.
- The reason I suggest gently flattening the cookies is so that they have a uniform flat top, which makes it easier to frost with cream cheese icing.
Other Red Velvet Recipes and Pink Recipes for Valentine’s Day:
- Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies (you can use white chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips)
- Strawberry Bundt Cake
- Raspberry Bundt Cake
- Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes
Baking Tips For Success:
- Room Temperature Ingredients: For both the sweet cream cheese frosting and red velvet cookies, use room temperature butter and cream cheese.
- Texture: These red velvet cream cheese cookies are so soft and chewy!
- Cool: Let the cookies cool before frosting, otherwise the frosting will melt. Alternatively, if you don’t want to pipe the frosting on top, you can pipe the frosting inside and make red velvet sandwich cookies.
- Storage: If you have any leftovers (but that will be a big ‘if’ because these things are addictive and why this is one of my favorite cookie recipes!), store in an airtight container in the fridge.
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2-3 tsp red food coloring, gel or liquid*
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- dash of salt
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with hand mixer (or with a standing mixer), cream butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add in the egg and egg yolk, and mix until combined.
- Next, add in vanilla extract, white vinegar, and red food coloring. Mix until combined and the red food coloring is well distributed.**
- Add in the flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until well combined. (The dough will be very thick.)
- Roll cookie dough into about 1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp balls (you can use a cookie scoop or your hands) and place them evenly apart on the cookie sheet.
- Gently flatten the tops of the cookie dough, if desired. This ensures they bake with a flat surface, which makes frosting the cookies easier. However, they will cook fine if you choose not to flatten them.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until the edges just look set (they will continue to bake as they cool on the pan so we don’t want to over bake them).
- Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- With a standing mixer or an electric hand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese together until well combined.
- Add in powdered sugar and a pinch of salt (salt helps cut through the sweetness of the frosting) and mix until well combined.
- Lastly add in the vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Using a piping bag or an offset spatula (a knife or back of spoon works as well), frost each cookie. Top with sprinkles, if desired.
- Or, crumble a cookie into small crumbs and top the cookies with the crumbs.
*Food Coloring: You can use gel food coloring or liquid food coloring. Gel food coloring gives a richer red color, and you most likely only need 2 tsp. If using liquid food coloring, you will probably need 3 tsp.
**Alternately, you can add in the vanilla, vinegar, and red food coloring after you have mixed in the dry ingredients. It will work fine either way!
Here are my other favorite indulgent cookie recipes:
Cookies and Cream Oreo Cookies
Marshmallow Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
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