These red velvet crinkle cookies are thick, chewy, and delicately flavored with cocoa powder. Their vivid color and enticing crackled tops make them irresistible and just perfect for Christmas! Plus the white chocolate in the cookie dough brings the cookies to a whole new level of richness.

I love trying out new cookie recipes during the holidays but there are 3 kinds of cookies I make systematically every year. To me, it wouldn’t be Christmas without leckerli (hard spiced cookies), butter bredele (cut-out sugar cookies), and red velvet crinkle cookies! I love regular chocolate crinkle cookies too but there’s just something a bit more festive about red velvet crinkle cookies.

Gel coloring

I recommend using gel coloring instead of liquid food coloring. From my experience, you get a more vibrant shade of red using gel coloring. I could only ever get a pinkish-brown using liquid coloring even after dumping the whole bottle into the batter.
Since gel coloring is more powerful you don’t have to incorporate as much into the dough. By adding less liquid you don’t run the risk of changing the texture of red velvet crinkle cookies.

Roll in sugars

Rolling the balls of dough first in granulated sugar helps to prevent the powdered sugar from melting while baking. It’s however crucial to pack a lot of powdered sugar all around the balls to get a nice crisp white crust and a defined crackled top. Don’t hesitate to roll them twice in powdered sugar to minimize the risks of the sugar melting. The thicker the layer of powdered sugar the better.
The top of my red velvet crinkle cookies sometimes turns a bit yellow over time due to the sugar melting (humidity) but they still taste delicious! You could always sprinkle a bit more sieved powdered sugar over the top before serving if it happens to yours too.

Variations

chocolate: Do you want to turn the red velvet crinkle cookies into ‘regular’ chocolate crinkle cookies? Nothing could be easier! Swap the white chocolate for the same amount of semisweet chocolate and add an extra 25 g (¼ cup) cocoa powder to the dry ingredients mix.
cakey: If you prefer cakey crinkle cookies use 210 g (1 ½ cups) flour and leave the dough to rest overnight in the fridge.

Red velvet crinkle cookies

Author: Amélie
Prep Time: 50 minutes
chilling: 1 hour
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 3 hour 15 minutes
Yield: 15 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: Oven
Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

Description

These red velvet crinkle cookies are thick, chewy and absolutely delicious. Red velvet crinkle cookies are irresistibly festive with their vivid color and enticing crackled white top. They are just perfect for the holidays!

Ingredients

Scale

For the dough:

175 g white chocolate (6 oz)
175 g all-purpose flour (1 ¼ cups)
25 g unsweetened cocoa powder (¼ cup)
3 g baking powder (¾ tsp)
½ tsp fine sea salt
115 g butter (1 stick or 4 oz), diced and softened to room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tbsp gel red food coloring (I used Wilton’s Christmas red)

For coating:

50 g granulated sugar (¼ cup)
110 g powdered sugar (⅔ cup)

Instructions

Melt the chocolate. Roughly chop the chocolate and place in a medium heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with 2,5cm (1 in) of simmering water. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Heat over medium-low heat until fully melted, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan, wipe its bottom dry and scrape the melted chocolate into a small bowl using a rubber spatula. Set aside and leave to cool down a bit.
Make the dough. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Using a hand mixer (or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment) beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until creamy, about 1 min. Add the egg and beat again until well blended, about 30 sec. Pour in the cooled chocolate and beat at a low speed until combined. Pour the coloring and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients in stages and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if necessary. At this point you can add more food coloring if desired, a couple of drops at a time. The dough will be softer than regular cookie dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap (press directly on the dough) and chill for 2h.
Roll the cookies. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 180°C (355°F). Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Place both sugars on different plates. Scoop 1 heaped tbsp of dough and roll it into a ball using the palm of your hands. If the dough is too hard to do so let it warm up to room temperature for 10 min before trying again. Roll the ball in granulated sugar and then very generously in powdered sugar. Don’t hesitate to use your fingers to pack it in. The thicker layer of powdered sugar the better to avoid the sugar melting. Place the ball on a baking tray and repeat the scooping and rolling process, spacing the balls 8cm (3 in) apart. You should get around 15 balls.
Bake the red velvet crinkle cookies. Bake for 10 min, 1 baking tray at a time (don’t store the other tray in the fridge in the meantime or the sugar will melt, leave it at room temperature). If you prefer thinner cookies, remove the tray from the oven by minute 8 and bang it on the counter a couple of times. Then return it to the oven and bake for 2 more min. This helps the cookies to spread more, thus making them thinner and crispier. I prefer thick and chewy red velvet crinkle cookies but to each their own! Let cool on the baking tray for 10 min then transfer the cookies to a wire rack.