Cakey Red Velvet Cream Cheese Crinkle Cookies are soft, chewy cookies that are made from scratch and will fit right in with your holiday plans. Use them for cookie swaps, gifting or just to pass around the Christmas table!
Hey you! Is it too early to talk about cookies? Particularly these cakey red velvet cream cheese crinkly cookies? Because they already make me feel all the holiday vibes and we are not even into December yet. But we aren’t the kinds to wait till the holidays to make holiday cookies, are we? No sir. We like to start early and eat cookies when we like.
And how beautiful are these red velvet cream cheese crinkly cookies? I’m obviously embracing cookie season with open arms. And crinkles are the first to make it to the blog. Hooray! There has been some furious baking going on in our kitchen the last few days, overnight cookie cravings while hanging out with friends and cookie testing to prepare for Christmas week.
Before we get into the details, can we first talk about how cakey and soft and chewy these are? From the outside they look like someone dusted snow all over them which is why they will be the star of your cookie game this holiday season. You’ll see some red velvet peeking through the crinkles. But you aren’t prepared for the wonderful deception. One bite and you are in red velvet cake heaven. Because this is basically red velvet cake pretending to be cookies. These are the softest, cakiest cookies you will ever bite into. Plus there’s cream cheese. All the way through. Every bite. Till the end.
I just served them to a bunch of friends last night and these were devoured in under ten minutes.
Like most cookie doughs you will have to chill this one for a couple of hours, which means things don’t have to start at room temperature, except the butter which needs to be melted and then used. But the reason you want to chill this dough is to make these easier to handle when you are rolling them in powdered sugar. Yes, rolling them in extra powdered or icing sugar. But don’t worry, these won’t taste like overly sweet red velvet cake. The cookie dough itself doesn’t have a ton of sugar which is why the red velvet flavor comes through beautifully and the powdered sugar on top is actually nice when you bite into the cookie. 
Top Tips for Cakey Red Velvet Cream Cheese Crinkle Cookies
- The ingredients don’t need to be at room temperature except the melted butter which gives these cookies the soft, cakey texture. Melt the butter first so that it has time to cool down slightly while you get the remaining ingredients ready
- It’s important to chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but the dough can also be made up to 8 hours ahead
- The crinkle in these crinkle cookies come from rolling the individual cookie dough into powdered sugar. As the cookies bake and expand, the powdered sugar creates a natural crinkle. But the cookies absorb powdered sugar really quickly so it’s important to work fast when rolling the cookie dough in powdered sugar and placing them on the baking sheet to bake
- These red velvet cream cheese crinkle cookies are pretty soft and chewy and are baked for 12-13 minutes, but if you want them to be slightly crisper, increase the baking time to 15 minutes
- Make sure to line your baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper because they tend to stick a bit at the bottom. In my experience, a silicon mat works better than parchment paper.
Also Try:
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Chocolate Brownies
- Oreo Stuffed Double Chocolate Brownies
- Mini Mango Cheesecakes (Eggless and No Bake)
Cakey Red Velvet Cream Cheese Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 cup (32 g) Cocoa
- 2 teaspoons Baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt See Note 1
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) Unsalted Butter melted
- 1/3 cup (75 g) Cream Cheese softened
- 1 1/4 cup (250 g) Granulated Sugar
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 tablespoon Milk
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoon Red Food Colour
- 1 cup (255 g) Powdered Sugar or Icing Sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.
- Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to beat together butter, cream cheese and sugar in another bowl till light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time, beating till combined. Add milk, vanilla extract, lemon juice and red food colour and mix.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on very low speed till just combined. Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Pre-heat: Pre-heat oven to 350F/175C.
- Fill a plate or wide bowl with powdered sugar or icing sugar. Use a small ice cream scooper to scoop out balls of dough the size of limes and roll them with your hands in the powdered sugar till they are covered. Don't worry if there is extra sugar in a few places. Work quickly because the dough soaks in sugar quite quickly.
- Bake: Place them on a silicon mat lined cookie sheet and bake for 12-13 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- In case you are using salted butter, you can skip the additional salt in the recipe
- It's important to chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but the dough can also be made up to 8 hours ahead
- The crinkle in these crinkle cookies come from rolling the individual cookie dough into powdered sugar. As the cookies bake and expand, the powdered sugar creates a natural crinkle. But the cookies absorb powdered sugar really quickly so it's important to work fast when rolling the cookie dough in powdered sugar and placing them on the baking sheet to bake
- These cookies are pretty soft and chewy and are baked for 12-13 minutes, but if you want them to be slightly crisper, increase the baking time to 15 minutes
Deepali Vichare Dsouza says
When my son had the first bite, he just paused a few seconds and said ‘heaven’. Richa thank you for sharing this recipe. So so awesome.
Richa says
Thats sooo sweet! Thanks Deepali
Kammi Jakobek says
How do these freeze? Have you tried it? Thanks!
Richa says
Never tried freezing these, but you can freeze the dough, thaw it and bake these whenever you like