One Bowl 20 Minute Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies (2024)

Hi hi! I am just popping in to share the recipe for these super easy red velvet crinkle cookies.

These cookies are a super easy twist on my classic chocolate crinkle cookie, which is one of the most popular holiday cookies on my website. They have a lot of similar features - they come together in one bowl, and are soft and fudgy, and don't require a chill time, so you can make the cookie batter in the time that it takes the oven to preheat.

These are a dairy free cookie recipe but I have also played around with using brown butter - see the notes in the post for options! If you are looking for a non crinkle cookie that still is red velvet, check out my red velvet sugar cookies and if you're after a non chocolate crinkle, my lemon crinkle cookies are amazing too.

This easy recipe makes 12 cookies, but is super simple to double if you are needing more!

What makes these cookies Red Velvet?

Red Velvet flavour is best described as 'chill chocolate with red food colouring added'. It originally came from the classic red velvet cake, where the buttermilk in the recipe reacted with the cocoa powder, giving the cakes a slightly red tinge. Now it is more common to use a food colouring to make red velvet, which is what I have done here in my red velvet crinkle cookies.

What is the best food colouring to use for Red Velvet?

I use a good quality Gel food colouring when I am making things red velvet. If you use a liquid it will add too much water into the dough and do strange things with it. Gel food colouring is a little thicker so doesn't water down the dough as much.

You are only using 5g of the food colouring which may not seem like a lot but this isn't a huge batch of cookies so it is definitely enough to add some red colour! I tried with double the amount and we all had very red mouths.

I know artificial food colouring isn't for everyone - if that applies to you, you don't have to make these! Make my chocolate crinkle cookies instead.

Recipe testing from Chocolate Crinkle Cookies to Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Like I have said, I based the recipe for these Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies on my chocolate crinkle cookie recipe. The process was essentially the same, except I made just a few tweaks:

• Added red food colouring. The most obvious change!
• Reduced the cocoa powder slightly. Red velvet is typically a slightly lighter chocolate flavour than a classic chocolate cookie, so I pulled back a little on the cocoa powder.
• Changed the type of cocoa powder used. I almost exclusively bake with dutch process cocoa powder which has gone through an alkalising (The 'dutching') process to make it more intense in flavour. Red velvet is traditionally made with regular cocoa powder for the colour, so I switched over to regular unsweetened cocoa powder. Either kind should work interchangeably in this recipe though! These cookies do come out slightly puffier than the chocolate ones as traditional cocoa powder is more acidic than Dutch cocoa powder so reacts more with the baking soda in the recipe.
• Increased the flour quantity slightly. Because I reduced the cocoa powder slightly in the recipe and also added in a little liquid in the form of the food colouring, I increased the flour quantity slightly to account for this. The first test that I did they spread a little too much in the oven because I hadn't adjusted the flour and I wanted them to be a little more fudgy.

Can I make these red velvet crinkle cookies with butter?

When I was testing my chocolate crinkle cookie recipe I played around a lot with oil vs butter in the recipe to see what worked best. I found that if I added butter to the recipe, when the cookie baked, the powdered sugar would get super goopy in the oven.

I switched to using oil for this reason, as oil is pure fat while butter has some water in it. This meant that there wasn't any water to cook out of the butter, so the powdered sugar on the outside didn't absorb it and go goopy.

I did however test making them with brown butter, which is essentially butter with the water cooked out. This worked great and gave me a cookie with amazing depth of flavour from the brown butter but with a nice crackle on the outside. That method would work great for this red velvet crinkle cookie too.

The secret to a well coated crinkle cookie - the double sugar roll

This was another thing that I came across in testing - the secret to a great crinkle cookie that has an aggressive amount of powdered sugar on it is to roll it twice in sugar.

The first roll is in granulated sugar, then the second is in powdered sugar. I have found that this trick really helps to adhere the powdered sugar to the cookie, but also stops it from dissolving in the oven.

Because the mixture for these red velvet cookies is quite sticky, I prefer to scoop it directly into the bowl of granulated sugar so that you can get a good coating and it doesn't stick to your hands too much.

Why are these cookies baked at a lower temperature?

You will notice that I bake this red velvet crinkle cookie recipe at 325°f / 160°c instead of the more traditional 350°f / 180°c. This is to do with how it bakes - for some recipes, baking at a lower temperature means that the cookie sinks down more slowly, giving it more time to get structure.

I always play around with baking and chilling time when I am developing a cookie and it is really surprising to see the difference that even a small change in temperature makes. For this reason it is also really important to have an oven thermometer so that you can be sure that your oven is baking at the correct temperature!

Can I make the dough ahead of time and freeze?

No - for this recipe, I don't think that it will work that well. As it is an oil based recipe and you need to bake it straight away, I don't think it would freeze that well. It is super quick to make so you are best just making them when you need them! If you did want to make cookies that you can freeze ahead of time check out my post on how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen for some suggestions on cookie recipes to use for this purpose.

What is the best way to store cookies?

Store these red velvet crinkle cookies in an airtight container at room temperature - they will keep for up to 5 days. Try not to wiggle them around too much as it can disturb the powdered sugar on the outside and make them look a little messy - they will still taste the same but might just be a little dusty looking!

Frequently Asked Questions

What tools and equipment do you use?
You can find a full list of the tools and equipment I use on my products page

What if I don't want to use red food colouring?
I wouldn't make these. Make my chocolate crinkle cookies instead.

Can I add chocolate chips?

I haven't tried personally but I think that it should work - it may affect how they sink down in the oven but it is definitely worth giving it a try!

What is light or dark brown sugar?
In some places you can get both light and dark brown sugar which is why I often specify which kind I use. If you're in a place which only uses one kind, 'regular' brown sugar is fine.

❤️ Made this recipe and love it? ❤️

I would LOVE for you to leave me a review and star rating below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram!

Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

• baking in grams
• adjusting oven temperatures
• what kind of salt to use
• and many more!

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

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