Valentine’s Day calls for all things chocolate and red, like these easy, gluten-free (and easily dairy-free) Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Is Valentine’s Day your thing?
It’s totally not for me. I just don’t get really into Holidays and get super excited about them (except Christmas!).
I do love baking for them though and I like to do something special for my kids. They love Holidays, any Holiday! My son actually convinced me to go to the Dollar Store this year and get Valentine’s Day decorations! 🙂
Our Valentine’s Day this year will look like this: Chocolate Oat Pancakes for breakfast, we’ll make chocolate dipped strawberries (either together, or by myself… I haven’t decided how messy I want my house to be yet!), and finish the day off with these Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert.
These thick, soft cookies are filled with cocoa powder and chocolate chips for double chocolate flavor, and a little food coloring for the perfect Valentine’s Day red hue.
You can get SUPER festive with these and use Valentine’s Day M&M’s if you’d like, white chocolate chips, milk or dark chocolate chips. My favorite is dark chocolate!
These cookies are a super simple way to get a little festive, without going crazy, and they will quickly become an easy Valentine’s Day tradition!
Time to talk cookie details.
First, if you want thick, soft cookies, then THESE are the cookies for you! If you’re looking for thin, crispy cookies, then find another recipe. Most of my recipes are for thicker, soft cookies, as that’s what we prefer in my house.
I grew up eating crispy cookies, so I like those too, but soft cookies just have a special place in my heart!
Next, let’s talk red food color You’ll want to use a simple red food color, just like the little 4 pack (of red, blue, yellow, green) that you can buy at the store. You can usually find it by the sprinkles, candles and cupcake liners, or by the spices.
I’ve heard great things about more natural food dye options like beet powder, but I haven’t used it myself. I love the idea, but I always end up buying what’s available to me where I regularly shop, and for me that’s traditional food dye.
To make these cookies dairy-free, you can use coconut oil (or a dairy-free butter alternative), and dairy-free chocolate chips.
For a more natural sugar option, you can use coconut sugar instead of the brown sugar. But, I wouldn’t recommend trying to use other sugar substitutes instead.
To make these cookies super pretty and festive, be sure to press a few extra chocolate chips (or M&M’s) gently into the tops of your cookie dough balls before they bake. As your cookies bake and spread, those chips will stay on the top for a pretty presentation!
Other than that, these Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies are a pretty classic cookie. Easy to make, a little extra festive, soft, thick and delicious!
I hope ya’ll enjoy these Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies and have a fun Valentine’s Day, whether you love Valentine’s Day or not!
If you need some other festive treats, I’d check out my Red Velvet Pancakes, White Chocolate Dipped Valentine’s Day Cookies, or Cookie Pizza.
- 1/2 cup butter, softened (or coconut oil, for dairy-free)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 tsp red food color
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (or M&M's, milk, or white chocolate chips)
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To begin, preheat your oven to 350 and line two pans with parchment paper.
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In a large mixing bowl, add your butter, brown sugar and white sugar and cream them together with a mixer for a couple minutes till creamy.
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Add your red food color, vanilla, and egg, and blend again briefly till all ingredients are well incorporated.
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In a separate, small mixing bowl, add your flour, cocoa power, baking soda, and salt, and whisk together till they're well combined and there are no cocoa powder clumps.
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Pour your dry ingredients into your large bowl of wet ingredients, and stir the ingredients together till well combined. Add your chocolate chips and gently fold them into your batter.
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Scoop the dough onto your pan, evenly spreading the cookies apart by a couple inches, with no more than 12 cookies per pan. Bake in the oven for 9-11 minutes, or till the edges of the cookies are done but the center may look slightly underdone. As they cool they will cook through.
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Let cool, then devour!
These cookies taste best within a week, stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
These were delicious I’ve struggled so much with using GF flour in the past for anything. These were amazing no issues with the flour my kids loved these.
These were so good! My whole family loved them for valentine’s day❤️
Awesome! Love hearing that Sophie! Thank you 🙂