These homemade red velvet thumbprint cookies with a cream cheese center are so fun, festive, easy to make, and perfect for the holidays.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cookies, red velvet, thumbprint cookies
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 36makes 36 cookies
Calories 113kcal
Ingredients
For the cookies
1cup2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
½cuppacked brown sugar
2large eggs, separated
1teaspoonvanilla extract
2cupsall-purpose flour
4teaspoonsred liquid food coloring
2teaspoonsnatural unsweetened cocoa powder
½cupgranulated sugar
For the filling
4ouncescream cheese, softened
¼cupsugar
⅛teaspoonsalt
¼teaspoonvanilla extract
Instructions
To make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Beat the butter, brown sugar, and 1 egg yolk (reserve the other yolk for the filling) in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour, food coloring, and cocoa and mix until a soft dough forms. Roll the dough into 36 balls.
Place the egg whites in a shallow bowl and beat them lightly with a fork. Place the granulated sugar in a separate shallow bowl. Roll each dough ball in the egg whites and then in the sugar. Place the balls 2 inches apart on ungreased sheet pans. Make an indentation on the top of each cookie with your thumb.
To make the filling: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, the reserved egg yolk, salt, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven and use the handle of a wooden spoon to deepen the indentation (be careful not to break them.) Fill each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of the filling, then return the cookies to the oven and bake until the cookies and fillings are set, about 12 minutes more. Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store the cookies in the refrigerator. Allow the cookies to come to room temperature before serving.