Red Velvet Cut-Out Cookies

These red velvet cut-out cookies are soft, with a slight cocoa flavor. This recipe makes cutout cookies with sharp edges and a flat surface which makes them great for royal icing cookie decorating.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cookies, Cut Out Cookies, red velvet

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 40

Servings: cookies

Calories: 176kcal

Ingredients

3 ¾ Cup All-Purpose Flour (450g)
2 Tablespoons Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (10g)
¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Unsalted butter, room temperature (226g)
1 ¼ Cups Granulated Sugar (250g)
1 Egg (~50g)
1 Tablespoon Red Food Coloring
1 Teaspoon White Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1-2 Tablespoon Buttermilk (as needed)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl (hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment), beat together the butter and sugar until light in yellow and fluffy in appearance.
Add in the egg, red food coloring*, vanilla extract, and white vinegar and beat together on medium speed until combined.
Slowly add in the dry ingredients, about 1 cup at a time. Mix on low speed in between each addition.
Once all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated, the mixture will be slightly dry (if it’s not, then stop here). Add 1 tablespoon of buttermilk in and mix on high for 10-15 seconds to bring together the dough. Add another tablespoon if needed. As soon as the dough no longer is crumbly, stop mixing.
Roll out dough to ⅜” inch* between two sheets of wax paper.
Create your shapes with your cookie cutters and place them on the prepared cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the top of the cookies no longer looks shiny and raw, but solid with a matte texture.
Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes so the shapes set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorate with royal icing or your desired frosting!

Notes

Check out the full post above for more tips and tricks for making these cookies.

*I used McCormick food coloring. If you are using gel food coloring, it will mostly likely be more concentrated so you won’t need a full tablespoon. Start with less, you can always add more.

** I recommend using either a rolling pin like this or dough sticks to create nice even and flat cookies. Creating a flat surface is key for royal icing decorating.

The amount of cookies this recipe makes depends on the size of your cookie cutters.

Storage:

Keep the cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. When removing from the freezer, allow the cookies to come to room temperature in the container before opening it.

Nutrition