A soft cookie with crispy edges, this recipe for Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies makes a visually stunning cookie with that distinctive red velvet taste. We also have a shortcut recipe to make Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies with a cake mix. If you would like that recipe, read the notes*, below.
Ingredients
- For the cookies
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
5 teaspoons liquid red food coloring or 1 tablespoon red gel food coloring (see note **, below)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 tablespoon milk (if you’ve used gel food coloring. If you’ve used the liquid stuff, omit this)
- For rolling
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugars until creamed. Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla, lemon juice, and food coloring; set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda, and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture and stir just until combined, then, if you used gel food coloring, add the milk and stir until combined (do not add the milk if you used liquid food coloring). Do not over-beat. Chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight. For the brightest red, allow the dough to chill a full 24 hours, as the color deepens over time.
- Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Form dough into balls of about 1-1/2 inch diameter and roll in granulated sugar to coat. Then roll in powdered sugar. Make sure the powdered sugar coating is generous! Place two inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake 13 to 14 minutes or until cookies are cracked and edges seem set. Allow to cool on the baking sheet until you can safely remove them to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
- * Cake mix version: make this recipe for Gooey Butter Cookies but use a Red Velvet cake mix instead of the yellow cake mix.
- ** You get more of a true red with professional-quality cake-decorators food coloring, plus you end up using less, so you have less chance of a food coloring aftertaste that can sometimes happen with cheap food colorings. If you can wait that long, the color develops over time, so for the best red color, chill the dough for 24 hours!