Moist & Fluffy Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cookies

Are you guys ready for a Valentine’s Dessert recipe that will knock the socks off your friends and family? Well, these red velvet cream cheese cookies might just be it! These thick, cakey cookies literally melt in your mouth when you take a bite. And that pretty red color? Valentine’s Day cookie perfection!

You can top these pretty little cookies with festive sprinkles, or dust them with powdered sugar! When you take your first bite, you’ll be thanking me from afar!

A few notes to ensure baking success:

• These cookies need to be chilled in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Don’t skip this step! It’s important that the butter is cold when it goes into the oven – that’s what makes cookies thick. 
• The dough is going to be sticky, so be sure to dust your hands with flour before rolling the dough into balls. You can re-dust your hands as much as you need – I did it every 2-3 cookies. I also washed my hands a few times during the process. It’s totally worth it! 
• Use gel food coloring, not liquid. The reason is that our solid to liquid ratio is already on the edge (see above!), so adding even more is going to make rolling these into balls a real challenge. Plus, I prefer gel color because you need way less. I always feel kind of sick dumping a whole container of red liquid color into batter or dough, and sometimes can taste the food coloring too. Not with gel! I use and love this kind. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
Red food coloring gel
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, for rolling
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions: 

Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until combined, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Add food coloring until you reach your color preference. I use gel food coloring, see notes above.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill it in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Measure the all-purpose flour into a small bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Dust your hands with the flour, and roll the cookie dough into 1 inch sized balls, and place them on the lined baking sheets. Re-dust your hands as many times as needed – I dusted my hands between every 2-3 cookies.

Bake 9-11 minutes, or until the bottoms are just beginning to brown. They will be soft and may still look doughy, but if you can tap the bottom of a cookie and it easily slides, they’re done!

Dust with powdered sugar when they’ve cooled, and serve.