Meet the softest, simplest Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies. These cookies combine your classic, crinkle-top cookie with your favorite red velvet flavor. These are fun, require no chill time, and are so festive for any celebration or simple night in!
What Are Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies?
Have you ever had a crinkle cookie? Normally when people are referring to crinkle cookies, they are talking about the thick and fudgy chocolate cookies rolled in powdered sugar. Additionally, they have a very distinct cracked top. Well, imagine those cookies in Red Velvet form:
- Soft cookies with a chewy texture
- Deep red color from food gel or coloring of your choice
- Red velvet flavor from less cocoa powder and touch of vinegar
Ingredients for Soft Cookies
- All Purpose Flour: You'll need plain, white all purpose flour for these cookies. If you read one thing, PLEASE use a kitchen scale or spoon the flour into your measuring cups before using a knife to level off the tops of the cups.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Unsweetened cocoa powder gives these cookies part of their red velvet flavor!
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: These two create thick, puffy, and soft cookies! Use them both and do not substitute one for the other.
- Salt: Salt brings out the sweetness in these cookies. It's small but mighty.
- Unsalted Butter: Use cool butter rather than room temperature. This helps with the structure of the cookies. If you only have salted butter, reduce the salt to ¼ teaspoon.
- Light Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: You need both sugars for moisture and sweetness!
- Eggs: Use 2 large eggs at room temperature. If you forget to leave the eggs out ahead of time, place them in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes before baking.
- Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract completes the flavor of these cookies!
- Pure Distilled Vinegar: The vinegar has 3 functions- help these cookies rise to be puffy and thick, contribute to the color, bring out a slightly tangy red velvet flavor. That 1 teaspoon is doing a lot of work, so don't leave it out!
- Red Food Coloring: If you want a truly deep red velvet color, you'll need red food coloring. I use Americolor Super Red, as just a touch of it literally transforms your color, but you can use whatever you'd like and however much you'd like!
- Powdered Sugar + Corn Starch: By combining these two, you are left with a coating that actually sticks to your cookies.
How to Make
*PLEASE READ FULL DIRECTIONS IN THE RECIPE CARD BELOW*
STEP 1: First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
STEP 2:Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium size bowl. This includes flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
STEP 3: Cream cool butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until smooth, slightly shiny, and puffy in texture.
STEP 4: Then, add eggs and vanilla extract to the batter.
STEP 5: Next, add vinegar and red food coloring until desired color is reached.
STEP 6: Remove 1 ½ tablespoon-sized portions of the batter and place them in a bowl of powdered sugar and corn starch. Roll the balls in the mixture twice.
STEP 7: Bake until cracked, shiny, and slightly wet in the center. Allow the cookies to cool before storing.
FAQ
Red velvet has a hint of chocolate flavor from the addition of unsweetened cocoa powder. However, it has a slightly tangy taste, usually, from buttermilk, vinegar and other acidic ingredients. In these cookies, the vinegar brings out this distinct flavor.
Red velvet, naturally, has a light brown color. This is from the addition of a small amount of unsweetened cocoa powder and the vinegar that interacts with the batter to bring out a darker color. However, if you want a true red velvet color, you'll need to use food coloring of your choice. I prefer to use food gel, specifically Americolor Super Red, for a deep red color.
Pin It For Later!
Related Recipes
Print
Simple Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Category: Red Velvet, Cookies, Crinkle Cookies, Christmas Cookies
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Meet the easiest Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies. Imagine your classic crinkle-top cookie sporting the red velvet flavor. These cookies are wrapped in powdered sugar, full of flavor, require no chill, and are a unique and fun treat to share!
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup (245g) all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (4g) salt
- ½ cup (110g) unsalted butter, cool
- ⅔ cup (160g) light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup (53g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (100g), room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (5g) pure distilled vinegar
- red food coloring
- ½ cup (60g) powdered sugar + 1 teaspoon corn starch
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper to ensure the cookies do not stick to the pan when removed after baking.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk all purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together with a wire whisk or fork.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat cool unsalted butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until lighter in color and fluffy in texture.
- Add room temperature eggs, one at a time to the dough. Beat until incorporated. Slowly, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed just until the flour mixture disappears into the wet ingredients. Add vanilla extract, distilled vinegar, and red food coloring until desired color is reached.
- Roll cookies into 1 ½ tablespoon-sized balls. Roll each ball in powdered sugar before placing on prepared pans. Then, roll each ball in powdered sugar an additional time for best coverage.
- Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are puffy and the centers look shiny and just slightly wet. After removing the cookies from the oven, allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack or plate to finish cooling.
Keywords: Red Velvet, Red Velvet Cookies, Crinkle Cookies, Powdered Sugar, Powdered Sugar Cookies, No-Chill Cookies
Jenna Griffin says
YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS RECIPE!!😍
I found Elise’s insta account on my Explore page and saw this recipe and HAD to try it!
So easy to make and sooo worth it!
They almost have a fluffy brownie taste to them but you can definitely taste the red velvet flavor!
Seriously GO MAKE THESE!
★★★★★
Elise says
This is so sweet, Jenna! I am so glad you liked the recipe! Thank you so much for your kind words!
tessa says
hi ive only ever made crinkles with canola oil. could i sub canola oil for butter here? do you know what the difference would be with one vs the other?
Elise says
Hi, Tessa! Thank you so much for asking! I would not suggest substituting canola oil (or any oil) for butter in this recipe, especially not in a 1:1 ratio. Cool butter in solid form is called for to provide structure for the cookies. I haven't tried substituting with a fat in liquid form (melted butter or oil) but would assume the cookies would spread, lose shape, and likely would not have the same soft and fluffy texture as they would with cool butter. I hope this helps!
Safiya Ahmed says
Hi
Can I use margarine instead of butter?
Elise says
Hi Safiya! I do not recommend using margarine, as it it will likely result in flatter, much more spread out cookies. If you absolutely need a substitute, vegetable shortening/ Crisco may work.
Jessica says
I tested these red velvet cookies today as a possibility for my Christmas cookie platters. The texture is lovely and they are absolutely beautiful. A couple things I noted in my first test:
1. I used Americolor Super Red gel color, and I might be extra sensitive to it, but it does come through a bit. I love the dark red color though, so I may test with liquid food color next time.
2. Because I like red velvet cake with chocolate filling and cream cheese frosting, I'm planning on making these into sandwich cookies with a ring of cream cheese frosting and a dollop of ganache. The soft, chewy texture of the cookies will be perfect once the filling sets up in the fridge.
3. I scooped 22 cookies exactly, so mine may have been slightly larger than intended. However, 11 minutes was the perfect timing for my oven. I would even go larger next time for a whoopie pie-sized cookie sandwich!
As always, great job with your clear instructions, Elise! Thanks for another keeper!
★★★★★
Elise says
This is awesome, Jessica! Thank you for this review! I'm so glad that these will be a part of your holiday cookies and LOVE the idea of making them into sandwich cookies!