Red Velvet Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Made without artificial food dye, these incredibly soft and delicious Red Velvet Chocolate Chunk Cookies are made with beet puree and cocoa powder.

Why this recipe works:

• Almost all red velvet recipes call for red food dye. Roasted beet puree gives the most beautiful dark reddish pink color without using any artificial food coloring.
• I started with my base recipe for my chewy chocolate chip cookies and added the beet puree and some cocoa powder.
• I know what you're thinking... "Beets in chocolate chip cookies? Yuck." You have to trust me on this one. Beets actually pair extremely well with chocolate as evident by my Beet Brownies and Heart Beet Pancakes. They also make any baked goods extremely moist and velvety smooth.

How to make them:

1. This recipe starts by roasting a large red beet.  You can roast more than one if you want to reserve them for another recipe Roasted Garlic Beet Hummus.
2. Once the roasted beet is cool enough to handle, peel it and blend it into a smooth puree with some buttermilk.
3. You'll then combine your dry ingredients in a separate bowl. To mix the cookie batter, use a mixer to cream the softened butter and sugar together. Add the beet puree and vanilla, then the egg. To that, you'll mix in the dry ingredients.
4. Finally, chop up your chocolate chunks and mix them into the batter.
5. Use a large cookie scoop to place the batter on a lined baking sheet and bake for about 9 minutes.

Cooking tips and recipe notes:

• My standard cookies are rich and chewy. The addition of the beet puree makes these much more cake like.
• It might be difficult to tell if they're done because of the deep, rich color. 9 minutes in the preheated oven when using a metal baking sheet and a silpat liner was perfect.
• Because the cookies are so soft when you take them out of the oven, be sure to allow them to sit on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
• Never over crowd your cookies - give them room to expand.
• Use two baking sheets if you want to speed up the baking process since they have to sit on the sheet once you take them out of the oven.

Did you make these red velvet chocolate chip cookies?

Be sure to leave me a comment below and let me know! I love hearing from my readers. I hope you enjoy cooking with beets!

Red Velvet Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Made without artificial food dye, these incredibly soft and delicious Red Velvet Chocolate Chunk Cookies are made with beet puree and cocoa powder.

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate SaveSaved!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 9 minutes

Total Time: 29 minutes

Hover to scale: 24 cookies

Chef: Krissy Allori

Ingredients

beet puree:

• ▢ 1 large red beet
• ▢ ¼ cup butttermilk

cookies:

• ▢ 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ cup butter (softened)
• ▢ ¾ cup brown sugar (firmly packed )
• ▢ ¾ cup beet puree
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 cup dark chocolate chunks

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400° F.
• To make the beet puree, wrap the whole beet tightly in foil and cook in oven for at least an hour until soft. When cool enough to handle, remove skins. Combine with the minimum amount of buttermilk in blender to create a smooth puree.
• In small bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attached, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until well blended. Add beet puree and vanilla; mix well and then scrape sides. Mix in egg, mixing well. Add flour mixture, and beat slowly to incorporate, then faster to blend well. Stir in chocolate chunks.
• Drop batter in 2-tablespoon portions about 2 inches apart onto lined baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven until edges of cookies are brown, about 9 minutes.
• Let cookies cool on pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks with a spatula. Serve warm or cool. Store in airtight container, or freeze for longer storage.

Notes

Cooking tips and recipe notes:

• My standard cookies are rich and chewy. The addition of the beet puree makes these much more cake like.
• It might be difficult to tell if they're done because of the deep, rich color. 9 minutes in the preheated oven when using a metal baking sheet and a silpat liner was perfect.
• Because the cookies are so soft when you take them out of the oven, be sure to allow them to sit on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
• Never over crowd your cookies - give them room to expand.
• Use two baking sheets if you want to speed up the baking process since they have to sit on the sheet once you take them out of the oven.

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Calories: 136kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 106mg | Potassium: 130mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 132IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 1mg

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This post was originally published in February 2016 and has been updated with more information and additional cooking tips. Don't worry, I didn't change the recipe!