Red Velvet Cut Out Cookies with Red Velvet Icing
These are one of my FAVORITES! Red Velvet Cut Out Cookies with Red Velvet Icing.
Red Velvet Cut Out Cookies with Red Velvet Glaze Icing
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There really isn’t anything prettier than a red heart cookie….
Well to me anyway!
I just love red velvet cake and knew I was going to make red velvet cookies as soon as I saw LorAnn Red Velvet Emulsion.
There is something about the color red, they say red is the color that makes you hungry.Red and white check tablecloths, come to mind. So do red kitchens. My kitchen is red too. I can’t deny it, I love red!
The cookie dough looks like red fudge.
They are all lined up and ready to go in the oven.
they’d make a cute gift right there,
but I like icing.
It’s so pretty and smooth. I outlined about half the cookies and filled in the other half. Outlining the cookies is great if you are in a time crunch and don’t know if you have enough time for all the icing to dry. The outline dries fairly quickly if you need to bring them somewhere. If you fill the cookies in, please, please wait to stack them. 12-24 hours.
Really trust me, you don’t want to mess them up. Even if they look dry on the outside, the inside of the icing is still wet, and will dent and ding just like when you polish your nails and only wait a few minutes and think you can stick your hand in your pocketbook to get your keys and it won’t smudge…come one you’ve done that, haven’t you?
Do the cookies spread when baked?
No, these cookies hold their shape when baked.
They bake up so pretty if you don’t want icing, they’ll still look gorgeous.
What 60% Ghirardelli chips do you use?
I use these, the 60% bittersweet. They are my favorite, feel free to use what works for you best if they are not your favorite chip or too hard to find.
Red Velvet Cut-Out Cookies with Red Velvet Icing
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1-2 tablespoon red velvet emulsion
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon dark chocolate cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup melted chocolate chips Ghirardelli 60% cacao
- 3 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon dry buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer with a flat blade attachment.
- Add egg, and mix in red velvet emulsion, vanilla, cocoa, and melted chocolate.
- Blend in flour baking powder, dry buttermilk, and salt.
- Mix until dough pulls away from the paddle and begins to form a ball.
- Roll out in between wax paper sheets or flour the surface.
- Cut into the desired shape with a cookie cutter.
- Bake on Parchment lined baking sheet at 400 degrees for 7-9 minutes.
Notes
Dry buttermilk is made by Saco and found in the baking aisle near the evaporated milk section.
Red Velvet Icing
Ingredients
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons red velvet emulsion
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients until silky smooth and pipe on cookies with #4 tip.
- allow icing to dry 24 hours before stacking cookies
If you like red velvet you may also like these:
MORE great posts on cookies and icing:
LOTS of info on baking cookies here:
- cookie tips guide
how to bake perfect cookies - Easy Cut Out Cookies
- Cookie Dough Recipe that holds it’s shape
- Soft Sugar Cookies and Frosting
- How to ice cookies with a piping bag
- Brush on glaze icing
- resources, recipes, items, and instructions for baking perfect cookies
- royal icing recipe
so pretty!
Wow… you are definitely a cook! 🙂 I love your blog; I will be visiting you a lot!
Thanks so much Jani!
Yum!! I’ve been meaning to try this too. I have had the emulsion and the powdered BM for months!! Yours are so beautiful Diane!
When you try it, please tell me what the smell reminds you of. I CAN’T put my finger on it….some childhood smell of something sweet is all I can come up with. Would love to know what it reminds you of.
You’ve done it again, Diane! LOVE! I’m going to visit LorAnn’s site tonight!
Thanks Sue 🙂 I LOVE LorAnn’s they have such great stuff!
I love all of your cut-out cookies. These are gorgeous!
Thanks Dorothy!
These are SO pretty and SO delicious looking!!!
Thanks so much Georganne!
The cookies look perfect!
Thanks Maria!
I am seriously the world’s sloppiest cookie/cake decorator! I am in AWE of your skills. So perfect! you must have a super steady hand, either that or the cookies are perfect but your kitchen is a mess. (Tell me its true!)
you now know my secret, I have a messy kitchen especially where icing is concerned!
So beautiful and sounds delicious too!!
thanks Glory!
Oh yummy! I can’t wait to try this recipe!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
These are sooo stinkin’ cute! I love red velvet too! Gorgeous Diane!
oh my gosh that dough looks so heavenly. They would be awesome to decorate a red velvet cake with!
Look at how smooth your icing is! Impressive and I know from experience. I definitely heart these. DOH!
I’m in love. triple yum!
Thanks Lori 🙂
You have an amazing gift of making everything look incredible. Love these.
Thanks so much Val!
So pretty Diane. Still not ever tasted red velvet anything but I’m sure I’d love these cookies.
Really nor red velvet, oh I think you’d like it 🙂
These are absolutely gorgeous, Diane!! <3!!
XXOO thanks!
we’ve been discussing painting out kitchen red and in the end we settled on orange 🙂 Now, I’m having seconds thoughts.
the cookies are gorgeous Diane!
I have the upper area above my kitchen painted red. I love it, it’s been that way for about 9 years now 🙂 I’m sure there is a photo on here somewhere of it.I LOVE orange too, what a fun color. You’ll have to share a photo with me!
These are beautiful little cookies, Diane! Red velvet is definitely coveted here in the South and I’m learning to love it after not for so long (what was I thinking?)! Your other red velvet creations are beyond gorgeous. Have a happy weekend!
Those cookies pull off both gorgeous and simple. I love them!
Gorgeous! And best of all, they have CHOCOLATE in them! Love these!
Those cookies look delicious!!! and Amazing!!!! I would love to try them out, the only roll out cookies I like to make is gingerbread, so cant wait to give this one a try. But I dont have any red velvet emulsion or dry buttermilk, what can I use instead? and the 1/4 cup melted chocolate chips is before or after melting???
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe 🙂
you could try substituting red food coloring and experimenting with flavors to replace the red velvet emulsion, the dry buttermilk is much harder to change out, as you can’t add real buttermilk to the cookies they don’t need any liquid. The melt a heaping 1/4 cup and it measures 1/4 after melting.
The red velvet emulsion is available through Lorann’s website and the Dry buttermilk is available online at Amazon if that helps.
I make MANY flavors of cut out cookies so if you are unable to find the ingredients you need, maybe there is another flavor that will work out better for you. Cinnamon Raisin, Banana, Peanut Butter, Iced Oatmeal, Cherry, Lemon, Maple Walnut, Mint. Let me know if you need the link to any of those if you decide to make a different flavor.
Thank you so much for your response!!! I did find the dry buttermilk 🙂 but still on the hunt for the emulsion! I Might order it online in the end!
Oh my, so many wonderful flavours, didnt know roll out cookies can be made in them, I dont like the plain sugar cookies. I think Ill take a look at the Banana, Peanut Butter, Cherry and Lemon. Are they on this blog?
I found the emulsion at Michael’s Craft store. I heard other craft stores also carry it! Look at the baking aisle!
Hello,
I was excited to try these in preparation for Valentines, but I found the dough very dry and the cookies came out cracked. Not very nice looking which means I will have to entirely ice them so that no one can see the cracks. Any tips? Perhaps the temperature is too high?
Thanks
Denise
Hi Denise,
The cookie dough is not usually dry. If you feel the dough is dry the cookie will certainly come out dry. Adding less flour will help that. Don’t add flour when rolling out, roll out cookies between wax paper so there it’s not necessary to add flour. Be sure flour is light and fluffy when measuring it and don’t pack it into the measuring cup.
As soon as the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl it’s done, don’t over mix it. That will make the cookie dough tough, in turn it will be dryer.
I have not had trouble with this recipe being dry or cracking. I bake them at 400 degrees for 7-9 minutes. Be sure you oven is the correct temperature and take them out when the bottoms are just firm. A helpful tip may be to try to bake one or two cookies in center of oven to see how your oven bakes them. Don’t try to bake too many trays at once and and oven thermometer is very helpful.
I use the base of this recipe to create a lot of flavors and I haven’t had them crack, so I hope some of these options will help.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
~Diane
Diane,
Glad I found your response to this poster. I am making these for a cookie exchange this week and did I trial run yesterday. I too found that they were were very dry but after reading your response I think I added too much flour. I did back mine into the measuring cup instead of lightly doing it and I did add flour when rolling it out. I will have to give it another try to see if I can master it before Thursday.
Julie
yes, too much flour will make them dry. You can start with 1/4 cup less flour and add it as needed. Yes, flour should not be packed in the measuring cup 🙂 These are one of my favorite cookies, I hope that helps and that they work out well for you!
Thanks so much for responding to my concerns with this recipe. Very much appreciated. I did everything you suggested already, but perhaps I may have over mixed using my mixer. I will try them again. I really love the idea of a red heart cookie with the shinny red icing!
-Denise
The only other thing I think it could possibly be is the difference in butter, some butters have more water content than others. I would suggest adding less flour (try 2 cups flour) then add flour as needed.
These were delicious! They made my kitchen smell so yummy too! I made the icing recipe above. Next time, I am going to make cream cheese frosting to sandwich between two of these cookies!
Oh they would be delicious with cream cheese frosting!
Thank you for the recipe.
I made this for Valentine, but not use the icing. I stamp some “love notes” on the cookies, my boyfriend loved it 🙂
Hello. Just found this blog from a fellow blogger. I’m trying to make these and have a few questions. Where do I get the red velvet emulsion and dry buttermilk?
Thanks
Charna
Red Velvet Emulsion is found in baking supply stores, (there are lots online if you don’t have one near you) I have found it at Ross/Marshalls stores as well.Dry Buttermilk is made by the company Saco and if found in the baking asile of grocery stores near the evaporated milk area.
Is it a liquid or a kit? Sorry my boys love red velvet and they would love this.
Charna
Baking emulsion is similar to extract, it’s a concentrated flavoring. It’s a liquid/cream. Here is a link to the product I use https://shop.lorannoils.com/shop-all-products/bakery-emulsions/red-velvet-bakery-emulsion
These are adorable! Can’t wait to try the snowflake cookies for the Christmas season. How many cookies does this recipe usually make?
I get 3 dozen out of this recipe and roll my cookies 1/4 ” thick. It will depend on the size cookie cutter you use and how thick you roll the dough.
Approx how many cookies will this make?
This recipe made 3 dozen snowflakes with the cutter I used. It will depend on what cookie cutter size you choose and how thick you roll the cookies.
Question…are these a soft cookie?? Or more on the hard side?
They are really in the middle of a soft and a firm cookie. They are not crispy sugar cookies, they don’t snap when you bite into them. There is more of a chew to them, but they are not soft or bendable.
I actually made these tonight and I has an Issue with the dough being too soft. I couldn’t use a cut out of a snowflake because the dough just kept sticking to the cutout because it wasn’t hard or thick enough. Any advice??
My guess would be the temperature of your butter. Butter that is too warm will make the cookie dough too soft for cutting with a cookie cutter. If that happens I would suggest putting the ball of dough in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap and flatten it like a disk for about 10 minutes. Then try rolling it out again. Flour the surface you are working on to absorb any excess oil from the butter if you feel the butter was the culprit. This is not a very moist dough, so that would be my first suggestion. I hope that helps. Please email me directly if you are still having trouble and I can try to trouble shoot it with you. I make this recipe all the time with no issues. The only other suggestion I have is to go over the ingredients list and be sure you measured correctly. In a hurry, mistakes made are so easy 🙁 Let me know how it goes Chelsea.
Everything separated!! This didnt work 🙁
I’m not even sure I understand you comment. What separated? The cookie batter, the icing? If the cookie batter was dry, maybe you added to much flour. Do not pack flour in the measuring cups. Take a spoon and add flour to the measuring cups. If the icing separated, mix it. As with any icing, if it sits, you will have to mix it again before using it. I’d be happy to discuss what didn’t work, but leaving a vague comment is not a helpful comment.
Sorry i didn’t even realize that there was a frosting recipie. The dough stayed real liquidy and then everything separted in it. Im not sure went wrong.
If the dough was liquidy, it sounds like your butter was too soft when you began. The biggest issue with cookies is often the butter. Take you butter out of the refrigerator about 20-30 minutes before you are going to bake. Allow it to come to room temperature slightly. When you press your finger into the butter is should not sink in, the butter should still be on the firm side, not soft. My suggestion would be to re-read the instructions. This cookie dough is not soft, nor is it liquidy at all. There is no real moisture other than the butter in it.
If a cookie dough separates and is wet, add a tablespoon more flour at a time until it comes together. If it’s dry and crumbly and does not hold together butter your hands and knead the dough twice to see if that helps. Those are my suggestions for any cookie recipe that you are having trouble with. I hope the recipe works for you next time. I make multiple batches of this recipe every year 12 dozen cookies a day often for three days in row and have not had any issues with this recipe. I hope the suggestions help you to be as successful with it.
I tried this again with colder butter this time and they cane out perfect! Thanks for the help and the recipie!
I’m glad you tried them again with success.
Hi Diane,
I’m all set to make your Red Velvet Cut Out Cookies.
I have Guittard chocolate disks on hand instead of Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Do you have a weighted equivalent for the 1/4 cup of melted chocolate chips?
Thanks,
Cat
I just measured some for you, it’s 1 3/4 oz
I made so many of these last Christmas. I love your recipe! I’m hosting a meeting in July, and I’m making individual fruit pizzas with your cookie recipe as the base and topped with frosting, blueberries and strawberries on top. Thanks for inspiring me!
That sounds awesome and I bet they will be delicious!
Which kind of Ghirardelli chocolate chips do I use in this recipe? I see the 60% cacao but there are dark chocolate and bittersweet chocolate that are 60% cacao. Thank you!
I use these https://amzn.to/3S1BRud the Ghirardeli 60% bittersweet chips.
Hi Diane!
These look delicious. We don’t have dry buttermilk powder in Australia, can I substitute it with another ingredient please?
Thanks! 💕
I can’t think of another substitution. I would go without, or order it on Amazon.
Hello,
I also live in Australia and was wondering if you ended up trying these cookies? If you did, did you just omit the dry buttermilk and if so how did they taste?
The cookies will taste delicious without the dry buttermilk. The dry buttermilk just gives the batter a little tang as it does with any red velvet item. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them!
Hello! This may be a stupid question, but is the dry buttermilk a nessesary ingredient or can I make these without it? Cause I don’t have any.
You can make the cookies without the dry buttermilk, but the recipe won’t have that red velvet tanginess but the cookies will still taste delicious.
I’m not sure what trouble you are having, you weren’t very specific. I double checked and the printable recipes are working. Here is a direct link to the cake https://www.createdby-diane.com/easyrecipe-print/16997-0/ and this link is to the frosting https://www.createdby-diane.com/easyrecipe-print/16997-1/ if you are still having issues let me know
Diane, I am so very glad that I signed up to receive your recipes through my email!!! I am very happy with the wonderful selection to choose from and I also feel like you care about the people who try out your recipies because when I was reading over some of the comments left by people that had a problem or a question pertaining to one of your recipients, you always seem to be quick to reply back and your reply is always perfect with complete information!! Keep up the good work and thank you for a great blog/site!!! Your hard work is appreciated!!!
Hi Melanie, thanks so much for saying so, it really means a lot to me. Happy to help in any way I can, I just LOVE food and sharing that love for food with others!
Just a quick response to correct a word in my last comment…the word recipients is supposed to be recipies, I’m sorry for not catching the mistake sometimes the spell check on my phone can be more help than I’d like to have, haha.Thanks again.
Hi Diane,
I want to make your red velvet cookies, they look delisious. I ant to make ahead so i’m Wondering if I could freeze them?
These cookies freeze well. Be sure they are completely cooled. I let them rest a day at room temperature. Then wrap them well and remove all the air from the bag (If using zipper freezer plastic bags)
Love this recipe, made it once earlier and it’s delicious. Question for you- will it make a big difference if I utilize semi sweet milk chocolate chips instead of the dark chocolate? Got into a baking bind, and need to get the dough together asap. Thanks!!
You can use any chocolate you prefer the taste of. I prefer dark chocolate, but semi-sweet will work too.
I am going to try this, even though I cannot buy the emulsion anywhere. It would be nice if you could experiment with making your own DIY emulsion and post updated results, for those of us who don’t live in North America. At least that’s what I’m going to do. Instead of the buttermilk maybe cream cheese and vanilla sugar would be a good substitute in an emulsion.
The baking emulsion is color and flavor. You can substitute it with red coloring (you’ll need about 1 tablespoon red gel color or more to achieve a deep red color) they do make cream cheese extract if you’re unable to locate that, use vanilla. The red velvet is available online for ordering, I’m not sure if that is an option where you live. You could try adding 1 oz of cream cheese to the cookie dough and 2 tablespoons flour to the recipe so the dough does not spread.You can also add 1/2 teaspoon vinegar to get some tanginess to the recipe as well if you can’t locate dry buttermilk.
Hello Diane!!! I would love to make these cookies,however I cannot find dry buttermilk where I live, how can I substitute it?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
There really is no substitute that I’ve found, but if you have cream cheese extract that would work, add 2 teaspoons. If not just omit the “buttermilk” from the recipe. You can order it online in most areas. The brand name is Saco, dry buttermilk.
Diane,
Do you remember approximately how many cookies you got with a single batch of cookie dough with the red velvet. I don’t need an absolute number cast in stone. I also know it changes based on size of cutter. Using a cookie cutter about the size you did with both the heart and the snowflake, about 2 inches, maybe 2-1/2 inches. I’m guessing that’s about the size of what you used. It’s hard to tell online though. It would help to know before I begin if I’m looking at getting a dozen cookies or 2 dozen cookies or even 3 dozen or more. It helps to know how many times I need to make the dough. Does this dough double or triple easily or is it better to make individual batches? Thanks
Hi! This recipe yields 3 dozen 2-1/2 to 3-inch cookies rolled at 1/4″ thick. Yes depending on how thick or what size cookie cutter is used the amount will change. You can easily double this cookie dough recipe if you’re mixer is large enough to handle that amount of dough, the recipe comes together really quickly if you do decide to just make separate batches.
These cookies are gorgeous, I plan on making them for all my Christmas gifts this year.