Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring
Learn how to make Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring. These nostalgic cookies are free of artificial colors, naturally eggless, and use up sourdough discard for a perfectly soft and cakey red velvet cookie with cream cheese frosting!
If you’re looking for more Valentine’s Day desserts, be sure to check out some of my other favorites like Eggless Chocolate Strawberry Cookies, Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffles With Cream Cheese, Soft Sugar Cookies With Pink Frosting, Eggless Chocolate Heart Cake, or Chocolate Heart Thumbprint Cookies.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring
- Ready In: 45 minutes
- Makes: 12 cookies
- Main Ingredients: salted butter, cane sugar, Dutch cocoa powder, cream cheese
- Flavor Profile: lightly chocolate with tangy cream cheese frosting
- Dietary Info: eggless, no seed oils
- Difficulty: Easy!
- Why You’ll Love It: soft red velvet cookies without food coloring
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Natural Red Velvet Food Coloring: While traditional Red Velvet Cookies use artificial dyes to get their red color, these Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies with cream cheese frosting use organic beet powder instead! This organic food dye is safe, flavorless, and is the perfect natural red velvet food coloring so you can still enjoy these iconic cookies.
- Organic Cookies: While store bought Red Velvet Cookies can contain artificial colors, additives and more, these Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies with cream cheese frosting have all the nostalgic, but are free of artificial colors and use organic ingredients!
- Naturally Eggless: I wanted to create naturally eggless Red Velvet Cookies because everyone is feeling the egg shortage right now. I use a mix of sourdough discard and cream cheese to replace eggs in these organic cookies! No eggs, no problem!
- Valentine’s Day Ready: These Valentine’s Day cookies are decorated for Valentine’s Day with hearts, XOXO, and other cute decorations. But you can easily skip this portion if you aren’t into decorating or just want plain Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies with cream cheese frosting for any occasion!
Jump to:
- A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients
- Baker’s Tips for Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring
- Tips for Natural Food Coloring
- How to Make Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring
- Recipe FAQ’s
- More Ways to Bake Without Food Coloring
- More Naturally Colorful Desserts
- Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring
- The Bake Shop
Soft and cakey, these organic cookies are made with natural red velvet food coloring — just organic beets! You can easily use natural red velvet food coloring for all your red velvet desserts such as organic cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and more! Check out my post Organic Pink Food Coloring and The Best Natural Food Dyes & Sprinkles for more ways to color naturally!
This recipe is another collab with my baking bestie, Hannah at Make It Dough! Each month we come together on a recipe that uses sourdough. These sourdough cookies use up sourdough discard to reduce waste. And these naturally eggless Red Velvet Cookies with cream cheese frosting also use natural red velvet food coloring for homemade cookies you can feel good about sharing this Valentine’s Day!
Check out some of our other collaborations like Sourdough Blueberry Crumb Bars, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies With Sourdough Discard, Sourdough Jam Thumbprint Cookies, or Baked Chai Donuts with Sourdough Discard.
Ingredients
- Sourdough Discard: You can use your sourdough discard straight from the fridge. If you don’t have sourdough discard, you can still make these red velvet cookies by mixing together 28 grams of all purpose flour and 28 grams of water, use that mixture in place of sourdough discard.
- Cream Cheese: I use Organic Valley Cream Cheese inside the cookies and in the cream cheese frosting. You can use cream cheese from a tub or in the block form, either works.
- Dutch Cocoa Powder: I use organic Dutch cocoa powder, which is my go to for organic cookies!
- Beet Powder: I use organic beet powder for natural red velvet food coloring. You can also use Suncore Foods Organic Red Dye, as this is also just organic beet powder.
- Baking Powder: I use baking powder in these organic cookies because there is no acid to react with baking soda, and there’s Dutch cocoa powder. When there's no acid to react with baking soda, then cookies can become flat. And, using baking sod with Dutch cocoa powder can result in a metallic taste that is not ideal, this is why we're using baking powder. Be sure to check out my post the Difference Between Baking Soda and Baking Powder for more info on leavening agents.
- Strawberry Powder: I also use organic freeze dried strawberry powder for decorating these organic cookies. This makes a pastel pink frosting. This part is optional, and you can just use the beet powder if that’s all you have.
- Raspberry Powder: I also use organic freeze dried raspberry powder for decorating too.
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker’s Tips for Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring
- Always use a scale and weigh ingredients for the best results.
- Make sure your butter is soft for both the cookies and the frosting.
- You can use your sourdough discard straight from the fridge. If you don’t have sourdough discard you can still make this recipe by mixing together 28 grams of all purpose flour with 28 grams of water. Use this in its place.
- For chewier cookies add in 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and chill cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Decorating these organic cookies is totally optional. You can skip the piping and just frost them with a butter knife if you prefer. I like to add India Tree's Nature's Colors Red Sprinkles on top if I do it this way.
- Because these Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies have cream cheese frosting, they need to be stored in the fridge. Be sure to store in an airtight container.
Tips for Natural Food Coloring
- How red will these be? Naturally dyed cookies won’t be neon red like artificial dye—they’re a deep rosy-red / brick-red.
- How to make them redder: Use fresh beet powder, don’t overbake, and avoid swapping in extra cocoa (as cocoa darkens the dough).
- Will they taste like beets? No, they will not taste like beets. The beet powder is very mild here; the cocoa + vanilla + tang from cream cheese keep the flavor classic red velvet.
How to Make Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Mix on low until combined and there are no butter chunks.
- Add the sourdough discard, milk, and cream cheese.
- Then add the flour, cocoa powder, beet powder, baking powder, and sea salt in that order.
- Mix on low until combined into a smooth cookie dough.
- Using your hands, or a cookie scoop, form the dough into 12 balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten them so they are about 2 1/4-inches in diameter. Space evenly apart, you’ll have 6 cookies per sheet.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops look cracked and the edges look dry. Round them out with a cookie cutter after baking for perfectly round cookies (see video). Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets before frosting.
- To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined, then speed mixer up to high and whip for 2 to 3 minutes or until it’s light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl part way through to ensure everything is combined.
- Reserve a small amount of frosting (a few tablespoons) in three small bowls for the decorating frosting. Transfer the remaining frosting to a piping bag with Ateco tip #808. Add the beet powder, strawberry powder, and raspberry powder to each of the 3 bowls reserved with frosting. You can add less for more pastel colors or more for brighter colors. Mix it up. If the frosting seems dry, add a few drops of water. If you add more color, you’ll need a bit more water to make it smooth.
- Transfer the colored frosting to piping bags with Ateco tips #4, 6, and 30. I used #30 for raspberry, #6 for beet, and #4 for strawberry, but you can do it however you like.
- Pipe dollops of frosting onto each cookie. Then turn the cookies upside down and smash them against the parchment paper. Place the tray in the freezer to set the frosting. This will take about 30 minutes, the cookies should remove from the parchment paper easily without sticking.
- Pipe hearts, XOXO, or other Valentine’s Day decorations on the cookies. Do this however you like!
- Alternatively, if you don't want to pipe and decorate, you can just spread the frosting onto the cookies and top with red sprinkles!
Recipe FAQ’s
You can still make this recipe, even if you don’t have sourdough discard. Just mix together 28 grams of all purpose flour and 28 grams of water, use this in its place.
Yes, use vegan butter, vegan cream cheese (my favorite is Miyoko’s), and vegan milk (coconut milk is best) and these can be vegan!
No, they do not taste like beets! The beet powder is very neutral flavor and just gives them a red color.
Sourdough discard provides a tangy flavor that goes really well with the cream cheese and chocolate in these red velvet cookies. I'm also using it as an egg replacer as it provides structure in cookies.
Using natural dyes doesn't give you neon red color like artificial dyes do. That's why piping colored frosting on top or using naturally colored red sprinkles can give these cookies a more red forward look, while still keeping them free of artificial colors.
Because these are made with cream cheese frosting, they need to be store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Yes, you can freeze frosted cookies. Place all cookies on a baking sheet (single layer) and freeze for 30 minutes to 1 hour so the frosting freezes. Then, you can stack in an airtight container or large zip bag. Be sure to place pieces of parchment paper in between each layer of cookies so they do not freeze together.
More Ways to Bake Without Food Coloring
If you want to start using more natural food dyes, I have so many amazing recipes to without food dyes! Try Organic Sugar Cookie Bars With Frosting, Cherry Cake With Whipped Cream Frosting, Strawberry Snack Cake, Mixed Berry Hand Pies with Glaze, Strawberry Donut Pound Cake, or Soft Sugar Cookies With Pink Frosting.
More Naturally Colorful Desserts
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Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies Without Food Coloring
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Half Sheet Pan
- Piping Bags
- Ateco Tip #808
- Ateco Tip #30
- Ateco Tip #6
- Ateco Tip #4
Ingredients
Dough
- 113 grams salted butter (softened)
- 170 grams cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 57 grams sourdough discard
- 57 grams milk
- 57 grams cream cheese
- 191 grams all purpose flour
- 28 grams Dutch cocoa powder (sifted)
- 1 tablespoon beet powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Frosting
- 85 grams salted butter (softened)
- 85 grams cream cheese
- 212 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon beet powder
- ½ teaspoon strawberry powder
- ½ teaspoon raspberry powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and there are no butter chunks.
- Add the sourdough discard, milk, and cream cheese. Then add the flour, cocoa powder, beet powder, baking powder, and sea salt in that order. Mix on low until combined into a smooth cookie dough.
- Using your hands, or a cookie scoop, form the dough into 12 balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten them so they are about 2 1/4-inches in diameter. Space evenly apart, you’ll have 6 cookies per sheet.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops look cracked and the edges look dry. Round them out with a cookie cutter after baking for perfectly round cookies (see video). Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets before frosting.
- To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined, then speed mixer up to high and whip for 2 to 3 minutes or until it’s light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl part way through to ensure everything is combined.
- Reserve a small amount of frosting (a few tablespoons) in three small bowls for the decorating frosting. Transfer the remaining frosting to a piping bag with Ateco tip #808.
- Pipe dollops of frosting onto each cookie. Then turn the cookies upside down and smash them against the parchment paper. Place the tray in the freezer to set the frosting. This will take about 30 minutes, the cookies should remove from the parchment paper easily without sticking.
- Add the beet powder, strawberry powder, and raspberry powder to each of the 3 bowls reserved with frosting. You can add less for more pastel colors or more for brighter colors. Mix it up. If the frosting seems dry, add a few drops of water. If you add more color, you’ll need a bit more water to make it smooth.
- Transfer the colored frosting to piping bags with Ateco tips #4, 6, and 30. I used #30 for raspberry, #6 for beet, and #4 for strawberry, but you can do it however you like.
- Pipe hearts, XOXO, or other Valentine’s Day decorations on the cookies. Do this however you like!
- Be sure to store cookies in an airtight container in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- Always use a scale and weigh ingredients for the best results.
- Make sure your butter is soft for both the cookies and the frosting.
- You can use your sourdough discard straight from the fridge. If you don’t have sourdough discard you can still make this recipe by mixing together 28 grams of all purpose flour with 28 grams of water. Use this in its place.
- For chewier cookies add in 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and chill cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Decorating these organic cookies is totally optional. You can skip the piping and just frost them with a butter knife if you prefer. I like to add India Tree's Nature's Colors Red Sprinkles on top if I do it this way.
- Because these Sourdough Red Velvet Cookies have cream cheese frosting, they need to be stored in the fridge. Be sure to store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
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Soft and chewy, these lightly chocolate cookies have cream cheese frosting and taste just like cake but in cookie form!