These soft and gooey red velvet cream cheese crinkle cookies are truly the best I’ve ever tasted. Love the softness and bold flavors in every bite.
Every year I try to bake some Christmas cookies. Not that I’m crazy about eating cookies. I won’t deny them, but I never really crave cookies or sweets. I have a heavy savory tooth if I haven’t said that enough already! But, Christmas simply is not complete without some sort of cookies and/or treats making, especially with two young children on board!
These cookies are so soft and gooey and not too sweet. Which I really like. The taste of cream cheese is bold enough and I can also taste that hint of cocoa in the background! It’s just so perfect! My kids kept asking for them.
How to make red velvet cream cheese crinkle cookies from scratch
1. Place the softened cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer bowl and fix the paddle attachment to the mixer to cream them until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add sugar and light brown sugar, vanilla extract, gel food coloring, and mix until just combined.
2. I need to scrap the side of the mixing bowl halfway to make sure it gets everything. Add eggs one at a time and continue to mix until mixture is just combined. Do not over cream the mixture. The idea is not to whip it until fluffy, we just want to combine ingredients
3. Sift in dry ingredients using a flour sifter or a sieve
4. The dough is very sticky at this point. Do not be tempted to add more flour. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or best, overnight
5. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop about 1 Tbsp of the cookie dough out using a cookie scoop. Spray your palms with some cooking spray or lightly oil them. Roll them into dough balls
6. Roll each dough in granulated sugar first. This prevents the cookie dough from absorbing the icing sugar later
7. Then roll it into the icing sugar. Coat 2 times with icing sugar
8. Pop them into the oven. I bake them one tray at a time. Let it bake for 13 minutes or 15 minutes if you want a slightly crispier edge. They appear to be still very soft when you pull them out from the oven, but they will toughen up a bit as they cool down. Let them cool down on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to the cooling rack to let them cool down completely
Useful tips
1. Get the butter and cream cheese out 30-minutes before you plan to start working on these cookies
2. Use gel food coloring. Gel food color helps not to add additional liquid to the dough and it’s concentrated enough to give more vibrant color
3. Chill the dough for at least 4 hours. The dough is sticky in nature. Chilling it will make your life easier when you try to shape it. You can prepare it overnight too, about 8-12 hours prior to baking
4. Coat the cookies with granulated sugar first so the cookie dough won’t absorb the icing sugar. Then coat with plenty of powdered/confectioner’s sugar, about two times. Roll them right before you are ready to bake them.
5. The cookies are soft and gooey when baked for 13 minutes (but you know your oven better!). If you like crispier cookies, add another minute or two to the baking time
How to store baked or unbaked red velvet crinkle cookies
Room temperature:Store them in an air-tight container (make sure it’s really air-tight) at room temperature for 4-5 days. This will help to keep the cookies fresh longer.
Freezer: For longer storage, I would suggest storing baked cookies in the freezer bag and freeze them. They can be re-crisped in the oven at 425 F for 4-5 minutes.
To freeze unbaked dough, Prepare as directed in the recipe up to chilling the dough for at least 4 hours and then roll them into little balls. I place the balls on a baking sheet, not touching each other, and then place in the freezer for 1 hour. They will firm up and then I transfer to a freezer bag to save space. They can be thawed in the refrigerator overnight or in the counter for at least 30 minutes, then roll in granulated sugar, and then heavily coat with powdered sugar
Did you make this recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
You may also like these crinkle cookies:
Ube (Purple Yam) Crinkle Cookies
The recipe is adapted from here with slight modifications.
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Crinkle Cookies (from scratch)
Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- 113 gr butter 1 stick or 1/2 cup unsalted, softened
- 60 gr cream cheese 1/2 cup or 2 oz, softened
- 100 grams sugar 1/2 cup
- 150 grams packed light brown sugar 3/4 cup
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp red gel food coloring or 1 Tbsp if using regular red food coloring
Dry ingredients:
- 270 grams all-purpose flour 2 1/4 cup
- 35 grams unsweetened cocoa powder 1/3 cup
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
To roll the cookie dough:
- 120 gr confectioners’ sugar 1 cup
- 50 gr sugar 1/4 cup
Recommended equipments:
Instructions
Prepare cookie dough (the day before for the best result):
- Place the softened cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer bowl and fix the paddle attachment to the mixer to cream them until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add sugar and light brown sugar, vanilla extract, gel food coloring, and mix until just combine. I need to scrap the side of the mixing bowl halfway to make sure it gets everything. Add eggs one at a time and continue to mix until mixture is just combined. Do not over cream the mixture. The idea is not to whip it until fluffy, we just want to combine ingredients
- Sift in dry ingredients using a flour sifter or a sieve. The dough is very sticky at this point. Do not be tempted to add more flour. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or best, overnight
Shape and bake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop about 1 Tbsp of the cookie dough out using a cookie scoop
- Spray your palms with some cooking spray or lightly oil them. Roll them into dough balls
- Roll each dough in granulated sugar first. This prevents the cookie dough from absorbing the icing sugar later. Then roll it into the icing sugar. Coat 2 times with icing sugar. Place on a parchment paper, about 2 inches apart as the cookie will spread
- Pop them into the oven. I bake them one tray at a time. Let it bake for 13 minutes or 15 minutes if you want a crispier edge. They appear to be still very soft when you pull them out from the oven, but they will toughen up a bit as they cool down. Let them cool down on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to the cooling rack to let them cool down completely
Storing:
- The cookies can be kept at room temperature in an air-tight container for 4-5 days
- For longer storage, freeze them unbaked or baked. See post for details
