An alternative to those harsh red dyes for your baking
Beet root powder is the best natural food color for red velvet everything and this time Red Velvet Cookies take center stage.
All natural – no dye – and of course they are VEGAN!
Chewy on the inside, slightly crispy on the outside
What I love about these No Dye Red Velvet Cookies is that they stay true to their traditional “cocoa” like insides.
If you want an easy and delicious cookie, this recipe is for you!
You can have a dozen of these in less than 1 hour!
Although I would suggest to double the recipe below though because let’s face it, who bakes just 12 cookies?!
PRO TIP:
Scoop the cookie dough as usual but instead of baking them, pop the dough balls into the freezer and then you can have fresh baked cookies at midnight like me!
Simply thaw the frozen cookies on the sheet pan while the oven preheats and bake as usual!
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Substitutions & Notes for Success:
Of course if you do not have beet root powder or don’t want to buy it for whatever reason
You can go old school (which happens to actually be new school) and use the red dye.
The egg repacer I am using here is aquafaba.
Alternatively you can use flax meal 1 Tablespoon dissolved in 3 Tablespoons of hot water instead.
Additionally the white chocolate chips look really nice in this cookie, but I will say they are very sweet.
Maybe just a sprinkling on top would be better than adding the entire cup to the cookie dough.
I am using Earth Balance vegan butter for this recipe as I find it is the best.
If you have another vegan margarine it will be fine, but may spread slightly more so you will want to refrigerate your scooped dough before baking to prevent severe spreading.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TUTORIAL ON HOW TO MAKE THESE RED VELVET COOKIES!
Red Velvet Cookies
Ingredients
- Vegan Butter 8 Tablespoons (113g)
- Light Brown Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Vegan Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Aquafaba 3 Tablespoons (90ml) *see notes
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
- All Purpose Flour 1¾ cups MINUS 2 Tablespoons! (205g)
- 3 Tablespoons Beet Root Powder
- Baking Soda ½ teaspoon
- Baking Powder ¼ teaspoon
- Salt ½ teaspoon
- Vegan White Chocolate Chips 1 cup *optional
Instructions
- Cream the vegan butter with both sugars with an electric mixer on medium - high speed until light and fluffy approx 2 minutes.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure an even mix, then add the vanilla extract and the aquafaba slowly as you continue to mix on low speed.
- Once it is incorporated whip on high speed for about 20 seconds to emulsify.
- Scrape the bowl again and then add the salt, baking powder & soda, the beet root powder and the flour.
- Mix well to incorporate and then add the vegan white chocolate chips.
- Mix to combine then using a 2ounce cookie scoop scoop dough onto a parchment lined sheet pan spaced 2" apart.
- Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 minutes then turn the temperature down to 325°F for another 15minutes.
- Turn the oven off and let the cookies sit inside for 5 more minutes.
- Cool on a rack and then eat them!
Notes
Cookies will stay fresh for up to 10 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
You can freeze either the unbaked dough for up to 2 months in a freezer bag or the baked cookies for 1 month in an airtight container
Thanks for all the fun and creative ideas you share!
Wondering if these have an earthy flavor, beety like. Thinking about using lucuma powder for its butterscotch like flavor.
I like the smaller batch size so I can experiment.
Thanks so much for your time and energy and endless creativity. 🙂
Hi Thanks and you are welcome! I do not find anything offensive or even different about the beet powder, it may impart a slight sweetness to it, but for me I do not taste much else. I have not heard of Lucuma powder! Please share your results if you do!
this are just red sugar cookies, red velvet has cocoa powder. also this is an excessive amount of sugar
I am trying these sometime over the Christmas season. Though we aren’t vegan,, I appreciate the recipe for the use of beet powder. Comparing to the original beet cake recipe, these need cocoa powder added, 2 tablespoons, not Dutch cocoa, just regular, along with almond extract 1/2 tsp I’m thinking, and cream of tarter in place of the baking powder. I’m adding a Tablespoon of buttermilk powder per recipe, too. I am also going to powder some freeze dried cherries for this. The whole bag would be for a triple batch. Just as some of us can now taste the red dye, some can also taste the difference with these ingredients. Red velvet is supposed to be cherry and light chocolate confection.. these flavors have gone by the wayside far too often these days. I’m rating this recipe a 4 , until I make it. It may go up after that.
WOW! That’s awesome! Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment and recipe alterations! I can’t wait to hear how you go!!
Hi Gretchen, I’ve got some leftover cream cheese frosting from a separate recipe. I was thinking maybe I could make some of these cookies and put that on top just to use it up. Do you think I should cut down on the sugar at all or will it compromise the cookie? I’m not going to use the white chocolate chips. The frosting is rather sweet, that’s why I’m asking. Thanks!
Hey great idea! Hmm, I probably would not take out any sugar, there is a delicate balance between the vegan butter & the sugar that could get thrown off resulting in some greasy cookies.
Taking out the white chocolate will help for sure!
Hi ! I love the recipe but I went to this recipe to make the cheesecake but with beetroot how do I incorporate this into the cake ?!
Hi There, I am not sure I follow what you are trying to do?
I have a RED VELVET CHEESECAKE RECIPE
and I also have a NO DYE Red Velvet Cake recipe
This is the recipe for the cookies we are commenting on
I meant to say I wanted to do the vegan cheesecake with red velvet, but substitute it for the beetroot powder. Do I just substitute the amount for the beetroot powder or how do I go about doing that?
Oh Ok Sure you can simply make the recipe for No Dye Red Velvet Cake instead of the one I have listed on the Red Velvet Cheesecake Post