Red Velvet Sugar Cookies Recipe | Dessert for Two (2024)

Easy, adorable chewy little bright red sugar cookies with a heart in the center! These Red Velvet Sugar Cookies make the softest, chewiest sugar cookies and the hearts in the center are just store-bought candy! This recipe makes a small batch of cookies because Valentine's Day desserts should serve two.

Why Red Velvet?

I discovered something really important about red velvet, and I'm ready to tell the world. If you've never had red velvet, it's a tender cake with a touch of cocoa powder. It loves to be paired white chocolate, and it loves cream cheese, but what you didn't know is how much a white chocolate peanut butter heart brings to the party.

If you remember (and laughed at) my Valentine's Day candy review, you'll recognize these Reese's white chocolate peanut butter hearts. It was hard to save 6 for this red velvet sugar cookies recipe, but I did it. If I can do it, you can do it! This small-batch sugar cookie recipe just makes 6 cookies, so all you have to save is 6 hearts. That's reasonable, right?

To be honest, though, any heart-shaped chocolate is welcome here. The caramel hearts from my small-batch brownies would be great, and even the Dove dark chocolate hearts, though they are a bit smaller.

Let's Get Baking

Creating these Red Velvet Sugar Cookies for two is really easy and doesn't take much time. Here's what you need:

• Unsalted Butter
• Sugar
• Egg Yolk
• Vanilla Extract
• Red Gel Food Coloring
• All-Purpose Flour
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• White Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts

Combine the melted butter, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and red gel food coloring. Then add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and stir to combine. Flatten the dough and divide into six parts. Roll each part into a ball and cover in sugar. Bake and allow to cool. Add the heart into the middle and enjoy!

Red Velvet Sugar Cookies for Valentine's Day:

I've got a soft spot for red velvet. I've gone years without it, because, as you know, as a society, we are very into beet and spirulinapowder these days, and we are certainly avoiding red food coloring. But, um, it's Valentine's Day and I just can't resist a festive dessert for two. It's just how I roll.

This sugar cookie recipe is based on one from my next cookbook, Sweet & Simple: Dessert for Two, and I love it for so many reasons. The recipe uses melted butter, which is always loaded easier for a person like me who is a) impatient and b) never remembers to put butter on the counter to soften. These cookies bake up soft, crackly and perfect, no matter what size you scoop them. I've rolled them into 10 dough balls, and I've beefed it up to 6 balls (like I did here)--no matter what I do, they always bake up perfect. They also bake up perfectly round, even if you do a half-ass job shaping them into balls.

They're essentially the perfect sugar cookie recipe that you need in your arsenal.

If you're looking for the perfect easy sugar cookie recipe without red food coloring, I've got you covered.

These cookies only use an egg yolk, so be sure to check out my recipesto use leftover egg whites.