This past Black Friday, my guy bought us a brand new TV. The back-story is a tale for another day (it involves four stores, two TVs, and one very sleepless night for him), but the end result was that we now essentially have a computer with a huge screen in our living room.
Yes, a computer. Apparently, it isn’t enough for a TV to turn off, on, and play DVDs anymore because this one came with apps, just like on my iPhone: Hulu, Target, YouTube, MLB.com (I can’t wait until April to use that one!), and more. But so far, our favorite has been Netflix.
With the Netflix app, we’ve been watching past season of old TV shows, and they fly by much faster without waiting a week in between episodes or any commercial interruptions! My guy generally gravitates towards adventure or thriller-type shows, most of which contain too much blood and guns for me, but while he’s at work and I’m baking in the kitchen all day, I’ll turn on Cupcake Wars. (For those of you who haven’t seen it, here’s the show description.)
Quite a few times each season, one of the contestants bakes red velvet cupcakes as one of their four flavors, and nearly every time, Florian, the French judge, despites it. As a very particular person with a highly refined palate, he remarks that they’re too vanilla-y without enough cocoa, unnaturally bright red, too doughy, too dense, too tough… All with a classic thick French accent. Almost nobody has earned a red velvet approval from Florian!
Yet even with all of those warnings playing on the TV in the background, I still decided to bake these White Chocolate Red Velvet Cookies for Valentine’s Day. With how they turned out, I’d actually be proud to present them to Florian! Soft and chewy, deep brick red, and with a strong hint of cocoa, they’re as close to perfection as red velvet cookies can come.
Before we start mixing up the dough, there are two very important ingredients in this recipe.
1) Red food coloring. It wouldn’t be red velvet without it! Buy the larger bottles sold individually on the baking aisle. Don’t use the tiny dropper bottles; they don’t contain nearly enough liquid to tint these cookies.
2) Cornstarch. It sounds like a strange ingredient for cookies, but trust me on this! Cornstarch makes the cookies extremely soft by soaking up additional moisture from the dough, and they’ll stay that soft for an entire week.
The flavors in the cookie dough base required a little tweaking. In the first batch, I couldn’t taste the cocoa powder at all, so I doubled it for round two. The result was a rich, chocolaty cookie with just a hint of vanilla. Although I adored it, the taste may have had a little too much cocoa on its own for Florian, but…
With a plethora of white chocolate chips, the flavor balanced perfectly. The white chocolate added the extra oomph of vanilla that a classic red velvet flavor requires. And even though I’m normally not a huge fan of white chocolate, I couldn’t stop myself from sneaking cookie after cookie after cookie!
Somehow, I think Florian may have done the same thing too.
| White Chocolate Red Velvet Cookies | Print |
- ¾ c + 2 tbsp (105g) all-purpose flour (measured correctly)
- ¼ c (20g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured correctly)
- ¾ tsp (1g) cornstarch
- ½ tsp (2g) baking powder
- ¼ tsp (2g) salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla extract
- ½ c (106g) light brown sugar
- 1 ¾ tsp (9mL) red food coloring
- 3 tbsp (32g) white chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the brown sugar, smearing out any clumps along the side of the bowl. Carefully stir in the red food coloring. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in 2 tablespoons of white chocolate chips.
- Drop the cookie dough into 12 rounded scoops onto the prepared baking sheet, and flatten to about half their height. Press the remaining white chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
If you aren’t a fan of white chocolate, substitute 2 tablespoons of regular semisweet chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of miniature chocolate chips. (Mix ½ tablespoon of the miniatures into the dough, and press the remaining ones into the tops of the cookies.)
This recipe is easily doubled or tripled to serve more.
{low fat, low calorie}
More red velvet cookie recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms from i am baker
♥ Red Velvet Sugar Cookies by Crème de la Crumb
♥ Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies by Sally’s Baking Addiction
♥ Red Velvet Blondies by Crazy for Crust
Ooooooooooooooohhh! That is one badass TV you have. I’m pretty sure Florian wouldn’t be disappointed with these cookies! He’ll be praising you to heavens with that French accent of his.
Thank you so much Austin! I can dream that Florian will praise these — if I ever meet him. 😉
I love the smart TVs!! Our DVD player doesn’t play amazon, but the TV does. It’s the best, as are these cookies!
Thanks Dorothy! 🙂
I now have TV and cookie envy – I am a red velvet addict!!
Come on over Heather! We can watch TV and I’ll have a fresh batch of cookies waiting for you! 🙂
first time on your blog Amy! 🙂 These cookies look wonderful, will be perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Thank you so much Manali!
I’m sure Florian would be OBSESSED with these cookies! Oh, and the new smart TV feature has definitely taken over my life! Ahh, Netflix! You life ruiner! Seriously though. Breakfast date with these cookies please? K thanks 😉
Aww thanks Justine! And yes, these will totally be the dessert on our breakfast date menu. I think we have at least 2 straight months worth of breakfasts dates we need to have by now!
I LOVE white chocolate ANYTHING. Seriously, if I had to pick one dessert that I had to eat for the rest of my life it would be cookies and cream bars 🙂 So, I’m with you on adding white chocolate to any recipe you can! Red Velvet will always remind me of my childhood! We had a few bakeries that sold Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and it was such a treat to go and grab them!
I had no idea you loved white chocolate so much Alex! I would’ve saved some of these for you if I had. 🙂 That sounds like a fun childhood if you went to bakeries for red velvet cupcakes — I’m kind of jealous!
Omg, Netflix is so addictive! Love Cupcake Wars and these cookies! They’re gorgeous! Red Velvet anything totally has my heart 🙂 These are perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Thanks Kelly! SO true about Netflix. I went through the first season of Cupcake Wars so quickly that I had to “switch” over to Hulu Plus and start watching Top Chef. And now I’m nearly all the way through that season too… Yikes!
Hi Amy
I have egg allergies so can I sub the eggs?
Yes! My brother is also allergic to eggs, and Ener-G is our favorite substitute. It works perfectly in nearly all of my recipes, including this one! In my recipes, use 1½ teaspoons of Ener-G + 2 tablespoons of warm water for each egg white, and use ½ tablespoon of butter or coconut oil for each egg yolk. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies Sam!
These look perfect ! Can I sub the brown sugar for coconut sugar or will that alter the texture ?
Also I just searched through your blog for red velvet cupcakes but found theses cookies instead which look amazing not going to complain . How have you not made a healthy clean eating red velvet cupcake ! Hope you do one day , love your recipes , they always work for me . Make that a 2018 goal maybe 😉 ?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Mae! Yes, you can substitute coconut sugar for the brown sugar. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies — and stay tuned about the cupcakes! 😉