Red Velvet Kiss Cookies are thick, chewy, and soft red velvet flavored cookies rolled in sugar with a candy center. They are made in two bowls with a whisk, taste absolutely delicious, and are customizable for so many different occasions and celebrations!
What are Red Velvet Cookies?
- Thick, soft, and chewy cookies
- Red velvet flavor from cocoa powder and vinegar
- Granulated sugar topping with cracked tops
- Customizable candy center
- Festive and incredibly unique for serving
Kiss Cookie Ingredients
All Purpose Flour: Simple, plain, white all purpose flour is the base of these red velvet kiss cookies. Make sure to measure flour properly by using a kitchen scale or by spooning flour into your measuring cup before using a knife to level off the top.
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Any unsweetened cocoa powder will work just fine in these cookies. The red velvet flavor stems from this ingredient!
Baking Soda: Baking soda helps these cookies rise to be puffy and thick while creating a light and chewy texture.
Salt: Salt brings out sweetness and enhances the overall flavor!
Unsalted Butter: You will melt unsalted butter in this recipe, making these cookies even easier to assemble! If you don't have unsalted butter, simply reduce the salt to just a pinch in the recipe rather than using ¼ teaspoon.
Light Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar adds extra moisture and flavor as opposed to just using granulated sugar. Make sure to pack the sugar into your measuring cups for accurate measuring.
Granulated Sugar: White, plain granulated sugar adds to the sweetness in these cookies and helps with structure. You'll also use it to roll the cookies in later for that sugar coating you see!
Egg: Use one large egg at room temperature! If you forget to leave the egg out ahead of time, simply place it in a bowl of hot water for about 5 minutes before using.
Vanilla Extract: Though the flavor of these cookies is undoubtedly red velvet, vanilla extract rounds out the flavor in these cookies.
Red Food Coloring: If you are looking for a true, deep red flavor, you will have to use red food coloring to achieve it. I use Americolor Super Red because I only need a few drops to achieve the color you see in the photos. It's magic!
White Distilled Vinegar: Vinegar is one of the most important ingredients in these cookies. It helps create the classic red velvet flavor and interacts with baking soda to create a puffier cookie.
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 acidic ingredients. In these cookies, the vinegar brings out this distinct flavor.
Naturally, red velvet is usually a light brown color due to the small amount of cocoa powder that helps to create the classic flavor. However, for a deeper, more true red flavor, you will need to use red food coloring. I recommend food gel to achieve this color because it requires less dye for a more prominent color.
Additional Candy Options
What I love about these cookies? You can fill the centers with anything your heart desires. As you can see above, there are just so many options. Here are a few I'd love to try next-
- Hershey Kisses
- Mini Reese's Cups
- White Chocolate Hearts
- Any Mini Candy Bar (EX: Snickers Bites, Mini Milky Way)
- Peppermint
Expert Tips & Tricks
5 Minute Sit Time: You'll notice that the recipe calls for 5 minutes of sit time at room temperature before rolling the dough into balls. This allows the batter to gain structure, making the rolling of the balls much less sticky. Additionally, if you skip this step, you will risk the cookies baking flatter rather than tall and puffy with a nice dome!
Baking: First, make sure to place the dough balls at least 2 inches apart on your baking sheet. The cookies puff up and spread in the oven as they bake, so you want to make sure the cookies have enough space apart from one another. They are done baking when the tops look slightly shiny in the center, they have a rounded dome, and the tops have defined cracks. The cookies will finish baking and will firm up as they cool on the baking sheets.
Cooling & Storing: DO NOT store these cookies until they have fully cooled and set. The candy center may take a couple of hours to firm up, but you will likely ruin the gorgeous centers if you attempt to store the cookies before the centers have set in shape.
Related Recipes
Print
Red Velvet Kiss Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 14 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies, Red Velvet, Blossom Cookies, Kiss Cookies
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Red Velvet Kiss Cookies are thick, chewy, and soft red velvet flavored cookies rolled in sugar with a candy center. These cookies are some of the simplest ever, as they are made in two bowls with a whisk and accessible ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (74g) unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup (80g) light brown sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup (70g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg (50g), room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon red food coloring
- ½ teaspoon white distilled vinegar
- ¼ cup (53g) granulated sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper to ensure the cookies come off of the trays cleanly.
- In a medium bowl, whisk all purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together until combined.
- In a large bowl, whisk melted and slightly cooled unsalted butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, room temperature egg, and red food dye together until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure the ingredients are combined throughout the batter.
- Carefully, add dry ingredients to your wet ingredients. Whisk slowly to avoid making a mess. Do not overmix the batter. Mix just until you see the dry ingredients disappear and the batter become smooth.
- Add white distilled vinegar to the batter and mix until incorporated.
- Allow the batter to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes to allow the batter to stiffen, firm up, and gain structure. Skipping this step will make rolling stickier and messier and could result in flatter cookies.
- Roll the dough into slightly larger than 1 tablespoon-sized balls, about 35g of batter per dough balls. Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before placing them at least 2 inches apart on your lined baking sheet.
- Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes until the cookies have a firm dome, the edges are beginning to crack, and the tops look just slightly wet and shiny.
- After removing the cookies from the oven, allow them to sit for 1-2 minutes before sticking the candy of your choice into the centers of the cookies. Allow the cookies to cool and firm up completely before storing tightly covered or in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Keywords: Red Velvet, Red Velvet Cookies, Kiss Cookies, Blossom Cookies
Maggie says
Absolutely amazing!! My mom and I made these cookies and it was such a fun thing to do together! Elise’s recipes are so easy to follow and offer such great baking tips. The red velvet kiss cookies came out delicious and I have been snacking on them since 🙂
★★★★★
Alyssa says
These are truly some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. I made them with chocolate covered pretzels and it added the perfect crunch. My family devoured these cookies, and begged me to make them again. It was also a super easy and quick recipe to make and follow along. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone looking for a quick, easy, and DELICIOUS dessert that’s a little more unconventional than a plain chocolate chip or sugar cookie. Thank you Elise for this delicious recipe!!
★★★★★