Red Velvet Sugar Cookies

Published December 10, 2013. Updated December 21, 2018

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Red Velvet Sugar Cookies! I know, I know, I get crazy with red velvet when Christmas or Valentines rolls around. I just can’t help it. It’s so festive and it tastes so good. My list of red velvet baked goods will be never ending.

The one that I’ve yet to try making is red velvet ice cream. I’ve bought it before but haven’t made it at home yet. One of these days. There’s no rush though, now that I’ve added these Red Velvet Sugar Cookies to my list of red velvet treats.

Red Velvet Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting | Cooking Classy

I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe for this and tweaked it slightly to give it those traditional red velvet flavors we all love.

It didn’t take much, all I did was swap out some of the cake flour with cocoa powder, replace the almond extract with lemon juice (to imitate the light tang of buttermilk in red velvet) then of course I added some red color and replaced the vanilla frosting with a cream cheese frosting.

These soft and decadent cookies should definitely make your holiday baking list this year. Enjoy!

Red Velvet Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting | Cooking Classy

Red Velvet Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting | Cooking Classy

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4 from 3 votes

Red Velvet Sugar Cookies

A soft and tender sugar cookie with the classic flavor and gorgeous color of red velvet cake. Finished with a rich and creamy cream cheese frosting.
Servings: 16
Prep35 minutes
Cook20 minutes
Chill2 hours
Ready in: 2 hours 55 minutes

Ingredients

Cookies

Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

  • In a mixing bowl, whisk together cake flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder and salt until well blended, set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip butter, shortening and sugar until pale and fluffy.
  • Mix in egg, then mix in egg white, vanilla, lemon juice and food coloring. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
  • Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees during last 10 minutes of chilling.
  • Shape dough into about 3 Tbsp balls and transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheets. Evenly flatten balls with greased hands to about 1/2-inch.
  • Bake in preheated oven 9 - 11 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheet 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
  • Cool completely then frost with cream cheese frosting.
  • For the frosting:
  • In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip cream cheese and butter until pale and fluffy.
  • Mix in vanilla extract followed by powdered sugar and blend until well combined and fluffy.

Notes

*I used 1 tsp or red gel food coloring and 1 tsp red liquid food coloring.
Nutrition Facts
Red Velvet Sugar Cookies
Amount Per Serving
Calories 324 Calories from Fat 135
% Daily Value*
Fat 15g23%
Saturated Fat 8g50%
Cholesterol 41mg14%
Sodium 130mg6%
Potassium 96mg3%
Carbohydrates 45g15%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 31g34%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 376IU8%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 35mg4%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

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75 Comments

  • Sue Leroy

    HI THERE
    JUST MADE THESE, HOW SHOULD THE TEXTURE OF THE COOKIE BE. ? MINE R A BIT DRY. BUT SOME COOKIES ARE THAT WAY. not tons of flavour inside but the icing helps
    and i made way more as I don’t like recipes that only make less than 2 dozen so much work! please let me know how they should be inside and if you made the cookies smaller to get more as well.

  • HeatherAnn

    Oh, I am SOOO making these to send in to my husband’s co-workers for Valentine’s Day! These little beauties are getting the roll-out treatment with a heart cookie cutter, because they’ll make the sweetest sandwich cookies when filled with the marshmallow cream frosting recipe I have. I can’t wait to try this out, thanks for sharing such a fantastic recipe! :)

  • Cindy

    Hello, Do the red velvet sugar cookies need to be refrigerated due to the cream cheese icing?

  • Vanessa & maya

    My daughter and I are going to make these tomorrow. Hope they come out like yours.

  • Cynthia Harmel

    These look amazing!! Can they be frozen after you bake them or will they not be as good? I make about 15-20 cookie trays as gifts and bake a good number of different types ahead of time and freeze them for a week or so before I put together and deliver. TIA :)

  • Angela Beaver

    OK, I tried these today and I followed the recipe exactly. The dough was more like batter so I added more flour to get it to more of a dough consistency. After I baked them they had absolutely NO flavor. I won’t be making these again.

  • December Favorites |

    […] someone says “Red Velvet,” they immediately have my attention. These cookies came out amazing. But, the real star of the show is the home-made cream cheese frosting. YUM. I […]