HEART SHAPED RED VELVET COOKIES

These heart shaped red velvet cookies with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts are soft and chewy cookies. And because they are in a heart shape, it makes them the perfect Valentine’s Day edible gift.

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Why you’ll love these red velvet cookies for Valentine’s Day

Chocolate chip cookies are amazing. But Red Velvet cookies with white chocolate chips are even better. Why? Imagine red velvet cake flavours, trapped in a cookie, with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. These cookies are chewy with a crunch, and if you make them thinner, two can be filled with cream cheese buttercream and eaten as a cookie sandwich.

These red velvet cookies are just perfect for Valentine’s Day. Especially when made in the shape of a heart. They make the best edible gift for Valentine’s Day.

Baking tools to make cookies

• Mosaic Non-Stick Cookie Sheet
• Measuring cups & spoons
• Mixing bowls
• Silicon spatula
• Balloon whisk
• Mosaic Expandable Baking Cooling Rack
• Cookie scoop (size: 4 tablespoons or 60 ml)
• Heart cookie cutter (3 x 3 inches, approximately)

Check out the new Mosaic collection from Home Hardware! The Mosaic collection has great baking & cooking products. I have particularly fallen in love with the Mosaic non-stick cookie sheet and the Mosaic expandable baking cooling rack. These two baking tools are a must in your kitchen. The non-stick cookie sheet saves me on parchment paper and my cookies bake evenly, finally! You won’t see burnt cookie bottoms in my kitchen!

The expandable baking cooling rack has three sections that help with bigger batches of cookies. But it can also be used as a protection board for the baking sheet. Great use and it saves on space as well. Bye, bye to those times when I couldn’t find the second or third cooling rack! Now I have a 3-in-1 expandable cooling rack.

Ingredients used in red velvet cookie recipe

• White chocolate chips, are perfect pairing with red velvet cookies. It brings bright white colour to a red cookie and adds an extra sweet crunch.
• Chopped macadamia nuts, are the best marriage with white chocolate chips in a cookie. If you don’t have a macadamia nuts, you can use walnuts. Walnuts works great in a cookie, they become softer once baked.
• Unsalted butter melted, makes for better and easier incorporation with sugars. Make sure you are using unsalted butter.
• Brown sugar, makes the cookies chewy. If you prefer having the cookie crunchier, use white granulated sugar.
• White granulated sugar, makes cookies crunchier on the edges and keeps well the shape of the cookie. 
• All-purpose flour, I used bleached all-purpose flour, well sifted. Sifting flour always makes cookies softer. If you follow a gluten-free diet, you can use the same amount of gluten-free flour.
• Unsweetened natural cocoa powder, helps to enhance the red colour in the cookies. Do not use Dutch processed or any dark cocoa powder as used in Brownies, because these will make your cookies brown, not red. If you don’t wish to use cocoa powder or don’t have it on hand, you can simply substitute it for all-purpose flour, but the red colour of the cookies might not come as vibrant.
• Salt, is used in the cookie to enhance the flavour.
• Baking soda is a necessary leavening agent, which helps the cookie to puff up.
• Baking powder, helps the cookie to rise and have a fluffy texture.
• Egg adds structure and flavour to red velvet cookies. Use room-temperature whole eggs.
• Red food colouring– I recommend using gel based food colouring for more vibrant colours.

How to make red velvet chocolate chip cookies

1. Start by measuring the dry ingredients. I use measuring cups and spoons, but you can also measure with a kitchen digital scale. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, and whisk to combine. Set aside.

2. In another large bowl, add melted butter, both sugars (brown and white) and mix until combined. Add two large eggs and break them down by mixing them with a whisk. Add vanilla extract and red food gel colouring. Mix it in with a whisk.

3. Take the dry ingredients mixture and add it to the liquid mixture in two separate batches. Fold it in with a silicon spatula. Add white chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts. Fold them in as well.

4. Cover the mixing bowl with food foil and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C and prepare the non-stick cookie sheet. Scoop the cookie dough with the cookie scoop (60 ml or 4 tablespoons large), or measure 12 balls of cookie dough with a kitchen digital scale (approximately, 60 – 65 grams each). Place a cookie cutter onto the non-stick cookie sheet. Roll a ball from the cookie dough and place it inside the heart cookie cutter. Squish it gently inside the heart cookie cutter, so the dough fills up completely the shape of a cookie cutter. Remove the cookie cutter and repeat until you get 12 cookie hearts. Keep a space in between the cookies on the non-stick cookie sheet, about 1 inch is enough, because the cookies won’t spread much.

6. Bake the cookies in the oven (middle rack) for 9 minutes. For softer cookies, bake 8 minutes, for crunchier cookies, bake 10 -12 minutes.

7. Take out the cookie sheet from the oven and add more white chocolate chips on top of the cookies. Transfer the cookies onto the expandable cookie cooling rack.

FAQ’s & Tips for successful red velvet white chocolate chip cookies

Make sure all ingredients are in the room temperature. Except, butter has to be melted to get the sugars well incorporated.

Chill the dough at least for 30 minutes. Nothing beats this expert tip. Chilled cookie dough won’t spread much in the oven, and the red velvet cookie will keep its shape.

Make the red velvet cookies same size and shape. Weigh the cookie dough when separating it into the balls, or use a cookie scoop. Same size and shape cookies bake more evenly, and you want to avoid having some cookies over-baked while others under-baked.

Add more white chocolate chips after baking. Press some extra white chocolate chips or chocolate chunks on top of each cooked cookie.

How to make red velvet cookies more red ?

Use red food gel colouring & choose a brighter red colour such as pure red from the Anne Clarke collection or base red from Wilton. Don’t use liquid red food colouring from the grocery store. Their red food colours are not really red, more purple-ish, and the liquid will change to consistency of the cookie dough.

The amount of unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe should help to achieve a nice bright red colour. If your cookies turn more brown, you might have baked the cookies way too long or the cocoa power is way too dark. In this case, omit the cocoa powder and use the same amount of all-purpose flour. If this still doesn’t help, add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of red food gel.

Can I make Red velvet cookie ahead of time ?

Yes, you can. You can either prepare the cookies’ dough, divide it into the individual cookie hearts and freeze it. Then, whenever you are ready to bake the cookies, place them onto the cooking sheet and bake it. Add extra one or two minutes for baking.

You can also bake the heart cookies and freeze them in an airtight container. Defrost the cookies, before you are ready to serve. More about freezing cookies in down below section.

Can red velvet cookies be frozen ?

Yes, red velvet cookies can be frozen after baking. Place baked cookies into an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. To defrost the cookies, wrap one cookie in paper towel and microwave for 30–40 seconds, or leave the cookies on the kitchen counter until they come to room temperature.

You may also freeze the raw cookie dough before baking it. To freeze the cookie dough, place already rolled cookie dough balls in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. When you are ready to bake, just pop them onto the cookie sheet and bake straight from the frozen state. Add 1 or 2 extra minutes for baking.

More Valentine’s Day recipes

• VALENTINE’S STRAWBERRY PUFF HEARTS
• TRIPLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES
• VALENTINE’S CAKE POPS RECIPE
• CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES FOR VALENTINES DAY
• VALENTINE’S CHOCOLATE CHIA SEED PUDDING

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