Decadent bownies meet deeply colored, rich red velvet in this fun recipe for Red Velvet Brookies! Take two different delicious cookie doughs, squish them together, and create a brand new cookie that will wow your friends and family.
What is a Brookie?
Brookies are an amazing mash-up of two favorite desserts: brownies and cookies.
We’ll make two different cookie doughs for this recipe. One will be a rich chocolatey brownie batter that is thick enough to bake into cookies. The other is a bright red velvet cookie dough.
To bake brookies, we’ll gently swirl the two cookie doughs together, creating the perfect chewy, chocolate red velvet treat!
If you like chocolatey cookies and brownies, we have some delicious and decadent recipes here! Try fudgy caramel bear claw cookies made with chocolate cake mix, or peanut butter buckeye brownie cookies after you enjoy these red velvet cookies.
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Why You Will Love This Brookie Recipe
These Red Velvet Brookies have a really great, unique look to them. They’re on-trend for Valentine’s day, because of their bright red color and rich chocolate flavor.
They also remind me of red mushrooms with white spots (amanita muscaria), which are all the rage at the moment in art and fashion and a Christmas and winter tradition too. Since amanita mushrooms are totally poisonous, these red velvet cookies with white chocolate chips are definitely a better option!
This isn’t the easiest cookie recipe ever, since we are making two separate types of cookie dough, but I promise that the effort will be well worth it, as soon as you bite into these sweet, chocolate red velvet brookies!
Key Ingredients
These are the ingredients needed to make both styles of cookie dough. I find it’s helpful to measure everything out for each dough separately first so that nothing gets mixed up! The exact amounts of what’s needed are detailed in the recipe card below.
Complete list of ingredients with quantities and instructions is located in the recipe card below
- Flour, Cocoa Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt: These are the dry ingredients used for both cookie doughs.
- Unsalted Butter: I almost always bake cookies with unsalted butter. Salted butter can vary in the amount of salt it contains, so it’s safer to add salt to the recipe instead.
- Chocolate Chips: Add semi-sweet chocolate chips to the brownie dough, and white chocolate chips to the red velvet cookie dough.
- Instant Coffee: A small amount of instant coffee intensifies the chocolate flavor. You won’t taste it, but it makes a big difference.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla is also a flavor enhancer – it makes everything taste better!
- Sugars: You’ll need both regular granulated sugar and light brown sugar for this cookie recipe.
- Eggs: Two eggs total, one for each dough. Let the eggs sit out for a bit before you start mixing. Room temperature eggs are easier to incorporate into a smooth cookie dough.
- Red Food Coloring: This is a must for getting the color of red velvet correct.
How To Make Brookies
Make the Brownie Cookie Dough
- Melt Chocolate: My favorite brownie recipes start this way! Add chocolate chips and butter to a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring, until smooth. You can also do this in a double boiler on the stovetop. Allow the chocolate to cool down slightly while you continue mixing the other ingredients.
- Whisk Dry Ingredients: In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee granules, salt, and baking soda, using the amounts listed for the brownie dough. Whisk to combine.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg and granulated sugar until light yellow in color and the sugar has fully dissolved. Then add the melted chocolate, and whisk again.
- Combine Wet and Dry: Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined. Cover and refrigerate while you work on the red velvet cookie dough. At this time, you can also preheat the oven to 350ºF/180°C and line 2 cookies sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.
Make the Red Velvet Dough
- Mix Dry Ingredients: Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: Add softened butter, sugar, and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, then add the egg and red gel food coloring. Continue mixing until well combined.
- Combine: Add the flour mixture, and beat on low speed until just combined.
- Add Chips: Fold in white chocolate chips. There’s no need to chill the red velvet dough, so you’re ready to bake!
How to Bake Brookies
- Portion Brownie Dough: Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into 18 equal portions, and place each portion of dough on a cookie sheet, about 3 inches apart.
- Portion Red Velvet Dough: Do the same with the red velvet cookie dough, placing these scoops next to the brownie dough scoops.
- Roll: Use your hands to gently press and roll the two dough portions into single dough balls. Top with additional white chocolate chips if desired. Place the dough on the cookie sheets so that the seams between the colors are facing up.
- Bake: Bake in a preheated oven for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges are just turning golden. The center of the cookies will look a little bit underdone. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Top Tips
- Stay organized! You are making two completely different cookie dough recipes, so be sure to pay close attention to the ingredients and measurements while you’re mixing.
- The white chocolate chips are optional, but I love the extra sweetness that they add! To make your cookies look like the ones in the photos, add extra chips to the dough balls just before baking so that they stay visible.
- To get deep red color in your red velvet desserts, use gel food coloring. liquid food coloring won’t have the same vibrancy.
- Let the melted chocolate cool a bit. If you add very hot chocolate to the brownie batter, you may end up cooking the egg!
- Pay attention to how you bake these. If you don’t put the dough on the sheet so that both colors are showing, you won’t be able to see both colors when the cookies are baked. Make sure that the seam between the two colors is at the top.
- For soft, gooey centers, avoid overbaking your cookies. They will look slightly underdone when you take them out of the oven, but will finish cooking as they cool.
How to Store Brookies
Just like most other cookies, brookies should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. These soft cookies are best within 2-3 days, and will start to dry out after that.
The cookie dough can be made ahead of time and stored covered with plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 2 days.
More Fun Cookies You’ll Love to Bake
- Red Velvet Thumbprints
- Crumbl Chocolate Cupcake Cookies
- Nutella Stuffed Cookies
- Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies
- Cake Mix Cookie Bars
- Bacon Cookies
FAQs
Of course! As written this recipe makes about 18 large cookies. Feel free to scale it up to make as many as you need.
Red velvet is chocolate flavored! The difference between the two cookie doughs in this recipe is that the brownie batter has a deeper chocolate flavor from instant coffee and melted semi-sweet chocolate. The red velvet is flavored with vanilla and cocoa powder, so the chocolate flavor is different, but still tasty.
You are going to be so impressed with yourself when you pull a tray of brookies out of the oven! The finished treat is well worth the few extra recipe steps, I promise!
Red Velvet Brookies
Ingredients
For the brownie dough:
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee this helps intensify the chocolate flavor
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
For the Red velvet cookie dough:
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons red food coloring gel I use Wilton no-taste red
- ¾ cup white baking chips optional
Instructions
To make the brownie dough:
- Place the chocolate chips and butter in a bowl, and melt in a double boiler, or microwave (microwaving 20 seconds at a time until completely melted)
- Place ⅓ cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/8 teaspoon baking soda in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
- Place the granulated sugar and egg in a large bowl and whisk until lemon yellow-colored and the sugar has dissolved (about 1 ½ minutes).
- Add the melted chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until just combined.
- Put brownie dough in refrigerator while you work on the red velvet cookie dough
To make the red velvet cookie dough:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF/180°C and line 2 cookies sheets with parchment paper
- Whisk together 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl to combine.
- Place the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer).
- Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy
- Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined
- Stir in red food coloring until fully combined
- Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined
- Fold in white baking chips if using
To make the brookies:
- Scoop out chilled brownie dough into 18 portions, and place 3 inches apart on cookies sheets.
- Repeat with red velvet dough, setting each scoop next to a brownie scoop
- Quickly roll each combined scoop into a ball with your hands, and place back onto the cookie sheet seam side up to ensure that both brownie dough, and cookie dough can be seen.
- Top with additional white chips if desired.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are just turning golden, and the center still looks a little under done.
- Let cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling
Video
Notes
- The white chocolate chips are optional, but I love the extra sweetness that they add! To make your cookies look like the ones in the photos, add extra chips to the dough balls just before baking so that they stay visible.
- To get deep red color in your red velvet desserts, use gel food coloring. liquid food coloring won’t have the same vibrancy.
- Stay organized! You are making two completely different cookie dough recipes, so be sure to pay close attention to the ingredients and measurements while you’re mixing.
- Let the melted chocolate cool a bit. If you add very hot chocolate to the brownie batter, you may end up cooking the egg!
- Pay attention to how you bake these. If you don’t put the dough on the sheet so that both colors are showing, you won’t be able to see both colors when the cookies are baked. Make sure that the seam between the two colors is at the top.
- For soft, gooey centers, avoid overbaking your cookies. They will look slightly underdone when you take them out of the oven, but will finish cooking as they cool.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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