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Red Velvet Thumbprint Cookies

Red Velvet Thumbprint Cookies are delicious spin on classic thumbprint cookies and red velvet cake! Little bites of red velvet and frosting will gorgeous on your cookie platter!

If you love red velvet make sure to try my Red Velvet Cake recipe! It’s the BEST!

Red Velvet Cookie topped with white frosting

This recipe is in partnership with Imperial Sugar. I develop recipes for them every month, so make sure to hop over there for the FULL RECIPE.

Red Velvet Thumbprint Cookies Are Little Bits Of Your Favorite Cake!

These thumbprint cookies are super sweet! They are the perfect addition to a holiday cookie platter, for Valentine’s Day, or for any red velvet lover all year long! The cookie is soft, with that subtle chocolate/red velvet flavor and is topped with creamy white chocolate buttercream!

What Is Red Velvet?

Red Velvet cake includes cocoa powder, buttermilk, and vinegar. The combination of these three causes a chemical reaction making it appear red in color. This is usually enhanced with extra red food coloring for effect. The idea for these cookies is similar, but since they are a cookie I omitted the buttermilk and vinegar, relying on the cocoa powder, baking powder, and red food coloring for the pretty red color!

Red Velvet Cookie with a bite taken out topped with white chocolate buttercream

Ingredients:

  • butter
  • granulated sugar
  • egg
  • vanilla extract
  • red food coloring
  • unsweetened cocoa powder
  • baking powder
  • kosher salt
  • all purpose flour

Hop over to Imperial Sugar for the FULL and PRINTABLE RECIPE!

What Can You Use In Place of Red Food Coloring?

The red food coloring in this recipe is hard to substitute to get a true red color. I have heard that beet powder will work, but I’ve never tried it! They also sell natural food coloring in bake shops and on amazon, which would be a good alternate!

How Do You Make The Indent in Thumbprint Cookies?

Press the dough down before you bake these. They don’t spread a lot while they bake and puff up sightly, so if you don’t press them down beforehand you will crack your cookies when you press them when they come out.

You might even need to press them a little bit more when they come out of the oven just to make the “well” a little more defined, but this is totally fine! Since you press them beforehand, this will only be minimal and won’t lead to cracking.

Red cookies topped with icing on a piece of parchment paper

What Is the Filling?

The filling I use for these cookies is a White Chocolate Buttercream. Here’s what you will need:

  • butter
  • powdered sugar
  • white chocolate
  • heavy cream

But don’t feel like you have to use this frosting in these cookies. You can simply melt some white chocolate and fill the indentation with melted chocolate! OR you could use cream cheese frosting or regular buttercream!

How To Store:

I store these airtight at room temperature for up to 2 days. If you need to keep these longer than 2 days pop them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, OR freeze them for up to 30 days!

Visit Imperial Sugar for the FULL RECIPE.

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Red Velvet Thumbprint Cookies Pinterest image collage

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7 comments on “Red Velvet Thumbprint Cookies”

  1. About to try these, but wondering if I can make them up to the roll stage, then freeze the dough until I’m ready to bake??

  2. Nice Blog !! A Very Yummy Wonderful Recipe !!! WOW Nice Photos to See. I’ll Definitely Try it. Thank You for Sharing that Lovely Food.

    1. The link is at the bottom , and also throughout the post that takes you to the Imperial Sugar website!

  3. you say in the directions for the filling to add heavy cream but you don’t list it in the ingredients how much do you add

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