Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Who's ready for cookies? You guys, I'm so excited about holiday baking I could burst! I don't know if it's because I've had some down time and I'm majorly itching to get that butter and sugar mixing, or maybe it's the adorable penguin mugs sitting on my counter, but I'm even more excited than usual about eggnog everything, twinkling holiday layer cakes and cookies, like these chewy, crackly, heavenly Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies!

I love a good crinkle cookie so they are always on my list, but it was time to take the classic up a notch and hook it up with another favorite: Red velvet. I don't know why I waited so long to make this union happen because it's everything!

All the flavors you expect in red velvet wrapped up in a perfect little crinkle cookie. They poof up as they bake leading to all those beautiful cracks, while staying soft and chewy in the middle.

Sharing is so overrated...

I think the best part of crinkle cookies is getting powdered sugar everywhere when it's finally time to dig in. And please tell me I'm not the only one who impatiently watches the cookies baking and then insists on taking a bite right out of the oven, because I can't possibly wait like two whole minutes for them to cool.

The struggle.

My biggest tip for these cookies is to under bake them for about a minute so they stay incredibly soft and chewy. I hope you guys enjoy them as much as we did and if you have any holiday cookie requests, leave me a comment! Have a great weekend and I'll see you next week with more cookies, and there might be chocolate involved!

Happy baking!

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies 

Ingredients:

• 2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp. buttermilk
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste or extract
• 1 tbsp. whiskey
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. red gel food coloring
• 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, whisk the flour cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs and mix until combined.
4. Add buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and food coloring. 
5. Add dries and mix until combined, scraping down the bowl as needed.
6. Wrap cookie dough and refrigerate a few hours - overnight.
7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Put powdered sugar in a bowl so you can roll the cookie dough.
8. Scoop cookies using a cookie scoop that yields 1/2 ounce portions of dough. Roll in powdered sugar and place on prepared sheets. Please note you can just scoop them, no need to roll them.
9. Bake for 12-13 minutes until cookies are puffed and set on top. I like to bake them closer to 12 minutes so they are a little underdone and chewy in the middle. 
10. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes:

• For the food coloring, I recommend using a gel. I've used Wilton and Chefmaster and they both work well.
• 1/2 ounce cookies take 12-13 minutes at 325 degrees.
• 3/4 ounce cookies take 13-15 minutes at 325 degrees.
• Cookies are best when the dough is cold going into the oven.