After the chocolate sugar cookies I made a couple months ago, I got this little idea in my head to make red velvet sugar cookies, too. I was going to wait for Valentine's day, but I couldn't help but think they would also be perfect for Christmas!

The recipe is almost identical to the chocolate sugar cookie recipe, with only some minor adjustments: less cocoa powder, add apple cider vinegar, add red food coloring.

Thankfully, I didn't use nearly as much red food coloring as I anticipated. Sometimes red can be a tricky color to make because a lot of times it will end up pink. But I think having that cocoa powder in the dough really helped enrich the color of the red. I only had to use 1 tsp of the gel food coloring to make it that vibrant red dough.

However, if you use liquid food coloring, you may have to add a bit more.

And just like with my other sugar cookies, I like to let this dough rest in the fridge for a bit to chill and also help the flavors all meld together. But, if you are in a big of a time crunch, you can roll these out right away.

Isn't the red dough so pretty??

I just think they turned out so wonderfully! The red is so vibrant and they taste wonderful! Just like red velvet! I think they would be delicious smeared with a little cream cheese frosting and topped with some sprinkles. Which would be great for Christmas, but also would be great for Valentine's Day with pink sprinkles. Oh! What about 4th of July if you add some blue sprinkles? These cookies are turning out to be more versatile than I thought!

Or you could go simple and just dust them in powdered sugar, appropriate any time of year.

Or...

You could decorate them with royal icing for the holidays!! I just used my favorite royal icing recipe to make some festive designs. The best part is you don't have to do as much icing because you want the red cookie to show through!

I bet who ever is on the receiving end of these cookies (even if its just your stomach) will be delighted!

Recipe

Red Velvet Sugar Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 30 minutes

Makes 18 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp red food coloring (or more to get to desired color)
2 -2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup less 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Mix in the egg, vanilla extract, vinegar, and food coloring until just combined.
Mix in cocoa powder and 1 cup of flour until barely combined Add in remaining flour and salt 1/2 cup at a time until dough is tacky and no longer sticks to your fingers.
Turn dough out on to a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap up and place in the fridge until ready to use. Dough can be rolled out right away if your in a pinch.
Place a piece of parchment paper down on the counter top. Roll dough out on the parchment paper, using minimal flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking.
Cut dough out to the desired shapes. Bake for 10-15 minutes until just barely brown around the edge.