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Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies are made with the perfect blend of butter, sugar, and rich cocoa powder. Each cookie is dipped in white chocolate and covered in sprinkles to add an extra bit of sweetness.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and that means lots of holiday baking! Generally when I think of Valentine’s Day I think of heart shaped cookies, decadent chocolate desserts, and red velvet.

I have several red velvet cake and cupcake recipes on the blog so I didn’t want to make that again but I did want to try a different red velvet recipe. I was looking back at older recipes on the blog and came across this Red Velvet Shortbread recipe.

I remembered how much I enjoyed these so I decided to make them again! I like how easy and straightforward this recipe is to make.

Ingredients:

flour (all purpose flour works best)
granulated sugar
unsweetened cocoa powder (use a good quality cocoa powder like Rodelle Baking Cocoa)
butter (I prefer to use salted because it works well with the cocoa powder but you can use unsalted + a half teaspoon of salt)
vanilla extract (use a vanilla extract that is high quality and has very few ingredients)
egg (use a large or extra large egg)
red food coloring (my favorite is Americolor gel Super Red)
white chocolate (using white chocolate with cocoa butter in it will make sure it melts better)
Valentine’s Day sprinkles

Basically you mix the dough together. You don’t have to let it chill which is a huge plus in my books. Then you roll out the dough, cut into circles, and place on a baking sheet.

Bake the cookies until they are cooked through and cool completely. At this point you can choose to eat them as they are or you can be fancy and decorate them.

What is shortbread?

Shortbread is a biscuit (cookie) that is made with one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour. It does not contain any leavening agents. The large amount of butter is what makes shortbread short. That’s because the term short, when used for a biscuit, means crumbly.

What is red velvet?

Red velvet is a flavor and color generally applied to cake but in more recent years it’s been applied to a variety of baked goods and drinks. It is basically a vanilla cake or cookie with a few tablespoons of cocoa powder and plenty of red food coloring. The flavor is a mild chocolate. The cake is usually topped with cream cheese frosting.

Can you freeze these cookies?

Yes! Shortbread freezes really well. After they have finished baking cool completely on a wire rack. Do not dip in the white chocolate. Wrap each cookie in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to use defrost overnight in the refrigerator then dip the cookies in white chocolate and serve.

How do you store these cookies?

Place the cookies in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. Shortbread cookies generally last a fairly long time.

An easy way to decorate them is to simply dust them with powdered sugar and serve. Another way to decorate is to cover them with white royal icing and then put red sprinkles on top.

My favorite way to decorate them is to dip half of the cookies into white chocolate. Then I sprinkle the chocolate with nonpareils or sprinkles. They look profession this way and they are so easy to make.

More Red Velvet Recipes:

The flavor of the cookies is a light chocolate. They are firm but buttery. These cookies would hold up well if you wanted to ship them or take them to a party.

I also like how the cookie tasted with the white chocolate on it. The sprinkles gave the cookies a festive look as well.

If you wanted to make these for Christmas instead you could use red and green sprinkles. Make them for a patriotic party by dipping in white chocolate and sprinkling with blue sprinkles.

All in all these cookies were easy to make, tasty, and looked great too.

If you’ve tried my Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on: