Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies
Red velvet shortbread cookies are buttery, crumbly cookies made with cocoa powder. The red color is perfect for the holidays and each cookie is dipped in chocolate for a special touch.
I saw these red velvet cookies last year and knew I had to try making them this year. I love red velvet cupcakes and I love how festive these shortbread cookies look with all the color.
Recipe Notes
The original recipe dipped the cookie in white chocolate. Mine don’t look exactly like the originals. I couldn’t find a circle cookie cutter of the size I wanted for these cookies, so I made stars instead. I also dipped them in dark chocolate rather than white chocolate.
I had to change the recipe somewhat because the dough simply would not come together when I followed the recipe.
I really love how these cookies turned out. They taste like red velvet chocolate shortbread and look so festive. Perfect for cookie platters and holiday gifting.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Red food coloring
How to Make the Cookies
Cut the butter into small cubes. This will make it easier to work into the dry ingredients.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the cubed butter and food coloring and mix on medium to high speed until the dough comes together. It’s ready when you can squeeze it into a ball without it falling apart.
Take the dough out of the bowl and shape it into a ball. Roll it out to a thickness of ½”. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. I did stars, but you can do any shape you like.
Place the cookies on a prepared baking sheet. Press the dough scraps together and reroll them to cut out more cookies until you run out of dough.
Small cookies will need to bake for 15 minutes at 325°F. Big cookies will need 20 minutes. The cookies are done when the centers are set. Cool them on a baking rack before decorating them.
How to Decorate Them
You can enjoy the cookies plain, but dipping them in chocolate makes them even better. I made a simple chocolate ganache.
Heat heavy cream in a saucepan until it just starts to boil. Pour it over chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and stir until the chocolate melts.
Dip half of each cookie in the chocolate and place it on parchment paper. Add the sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet. Leave the cookies until the chocolate has set. Store them in an airtight container and they will keep for up to a week.
More Christmas Shortbread Recipes
Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cut up into small cubes
- 1 tbsp red food coloring
Decoration
- 4 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- red and green nonpareils
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. In a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt and mix for about 30 seconds on medium speed. Add butter and red food coloring. Continue to mix on medium to high speed until dough comes together and you can squeeze it into a ball shape.
- Knead dough into a ball and then Roll out dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Using cookie cutter shapes of your choice, begin cutting cookies from dough. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Press dough scraps together and reroll and make more cookies until dough is used up.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes for small cookies or 20 minutes for bigger cookies until centers are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.
Decorations
- In a small saucepan, heat heavy cream until it just begins to boil. Turn off the stove and pour the heavy cream into a small glass bowl containing the chopped chocolate. Stir until you have a smooth chocolate ganache.
- Dip half the cookies into the chocolate. Then add some sprinkles. Place cookies on parchment paper until the ganache has cooled and set.
I made the Red Velvet Shortbread cookies and experienced the same thing as Niki, a cookie sheet of a single lace cookie. I ended up throwing it out, along with the second sheet of unbaked cookies. If I try it again, I will only use one stick of butter and see how that goes.
Sorry you had issues – was your dough very soft and warm? It might help to chill it for a while before baking the cookies. We haven’t had this issue, but that could help.
can i use custard powder instead of flour?
Unfortunately, no. I dont think custard powder is a substitute for flour for this recipe.
Sometimes putting the dough in the fridge before cooking will keep them from spreading. I will be trying these out to make for a cookie exchange. 🙂
Yeah, I really followed your receipt to the T. I’m a big advocate of mise en place, so I measure everything out and check it again before tossing it into the bowl to mix. They tasted great though!
Sorry to hear your cookies spread so much. I don’t know what could have gone wrong. I’m glad they still taste good though!
Okay!!! You have to tell me what I did wrong here. I followed your recipe to the “T” and they spread out so bad and looked like lace cookies! The flavor was great, but they did not hold up well at all, very crumbly b/c they were so thin. 🙁
Hmm…mine didn’t spread out at all….They basically maintained the same shape as when they were cut outs. I don’t see why your cookies should spread since there is no ingredient in the cookies to make them spread. How was your dough? Was it crumbly? Shortbread dough should be pretty dry, so that it just barely comes together into a ball.
You used regular flour and not self rising flour right? Also you only used one cup of butter (2 sticks)? Using either too much butter or having some other agent like baking soda or baking powder are the only reasons I can think of for these cookies to spread out so much..
I saw some red velvet cake cookies, but these look like they would def be more festive! I am going to add these to my list!
I love how festive they are too!
I love the way they look, so festive!