This Red Velvet Christmas Thumbprint Cookies Recipe is soft, delightful red velvet cookies with red sprinkles and a dark chocolate kiss in the middle. So tasty and the color of the cookies are perfect for the holidays! They're gluten free too!
WHY I LOVE THIS Red Velvet Christmas Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
• Who doesn't love any type of blossom cookie?
• Super soft and chewy with a yummy kiss at the center of each cookie
• Their red color makes them so pretty and perfect for the Christmas season
• One of my favorite cookies to have around Christmas time!
• Perfect cookies to bring to a cookie party or a holiday party
• The chewy center makes these classic thumbprint cookies irresistible!
• They bake so fast, in only 8 minutes! Plus homemade cookies are always the best!
WHAT YOU NEED
INGREDIENT NOTES
Gluten-Free Flour: I used King Arthur gluten-free all purpose flour and highly recommend it however, if you prefer another gluten-free flour use yours!
Brown Sugar: Use light brown sugar for these cookies.
Cocoa Powder: I used Hershey's 100% cocoa powder.
Butter: Ten tablespoons of unsalted butter is needed, ensure it is softened.
Egg: One whole egg at room temperature and a teaspoon of vanilla extract
Colored Sugar: Two 2.25-ounce bottles of red sanding sugar sprinkles or one cup.
Chocolate Kisses: 48 dark chocolate kisses or use milk chocolate if you prefer.
HOW TO MAKE THESE Red Velvet Christmas Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
1. Line four half-sheet pans with parchment paper or reusable liners. Set aside
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large separate bowl beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric hand mixer on medium to high speed for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and red food coloring to the large bowl and beat until smooth and the color is fully incorporated.
3. Add your dry ingredients by reducing the mixer to low speed and slowly adding the flour mixture. Then beat until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour or until firm.
4. Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Take cookie dough out of the fridge and let it sit for about 10 minutes to warm up a bit. Use a very small cookie scoop or ½ tablespoonful of dough to roll into balls and dip around in the red sanding sugar fully covering the cookie dough. Arrange cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on each prepared baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and place a chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie. Let the baked cookies cool completely on a wire rack and enjoy! Place festive cookies on a cookie platter or cookie tray to bring to a cookie exchange or enjoy them with your family at home for the holiday season!
5. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to a week.
QUICK TIPS
• Make sure you have all your ingredients before you start mixing your cookie dough.
• For best results, use room temperature ingredients.
• Unwrap all of the chocolate kisses BEFORE baking your cookies as you need to press them into the baked cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.
• Refrigerating the dough is a must. Don't skip this step.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
• Can I use regular flour for these perfect thumbprint cookies? Yes! If you do use regular flour note that they will spread out a little bit more when baked. Therefore, before baking them I would spread them 4 inches apart instead of 2 inches.
• Can I freeze these? Yes! You can freeze in a sealed container for up to two months and then thaw them out when you're ready to eat them. Just keep in mind that the chocolate kisses my change color and although they will still be edible, they aren't as pretty for serving to guests.
• Can I make this dairy-free? Sure! Use any dairy-free butter you like instead of regular butter and for the kisses you can replace it with any dairy-free chocolate you like!
More gluten-free cookie recipes
Classic Peanut Butter Blossoms (Classic Thumbprint Cookie Recipe)
Christmas Monster Cookies (Classic Christmas Cookies)
Gluten-Free Peppermint Chocolate Bliss Cookies
Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies
Gluten Free Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies (You can use any flavor of jam you prefer)
Classic NYC Black & White Cookies
Marbled Royal Icing Gingerbread Cookies
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
RELATED RECIPES
Love this recipe? If you try it, be sure to tag me on @Instagram! You can also find me on Pinterest, YouTube and Facebook.
Red Velvet Christmas Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups gluten free all purpose flour (or regular flour if you don't want them gf) I used King Arthur
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon red food coloring gel or 1 tablespoon red food coloring
- 1 cup red sugar sprinkles or 2 bottles (2.25oz each)
- 48 dark chocolate kisses
Instructions
- Line 4 half sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla and food coloring and beat until smooth and the color is fully incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Take dough out of the fridge and let it warm up for about 10 minutes. This might sound weird but trust me. Roll ½ tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, dip in red sanding sugar and arrange 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake cookies for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and place a chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie. Let cool completely.
- Store cookies in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or for a week in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
A Note From Lise
We are almost 2 weeks away from Christmas and I've been baking up a storm. How about you? It just doesn't feel like the holidays for me if I'm not baking lots of cookies. Do you agree? It's been such a crazy year, so this year I think we could all use a few extra cookies. Baking therapy is a real thing and has always been a great stress reliever for me. And 2020 has had a heavy dose of stress for sure. I hope this post finds you and your family well and enjoying some joy this season. If you need some cookie therapy, I highly recommend these Red Velvet Blossoms.
Funny story. I made the red cookie dough, wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill for a bit. My husband saw it and thought it was hamburger meat. He got excited and was about to cook it up until he realized it was cookie dough. LOL!
Alice Montini says
Have you, or anyone that you know of, tried making these with one of the butter substitutes? My nephew is GLuten and Dairy free, So I was thinking of trying with the dairy free “butter” and putting a few dairy free chips in place of kisses..
Fran Gropp says
These cookies turned out perfectly and taste so good. I ran out of red sprinkles half way through so finished with white sugar. Guess what? They looked just as red as the ones with red sprinkles!
Lise Ode says
Yay! Glad you liked them. Great tip about the sugar too, thanks!