Red Velvet Crinkle Top Cookies--No Butter Added

Let me be honest with you. This is messiest cookie recipe I have ever handled. I almost thought of binning it at one point as I was getting quite irritated with the mess. However, the cookies are undoubtedly the best Crinkle Top Red Velvet Cookies you would have ever made. What attracted me to this recipe when there were so many available on the net and quite fuss free too? Well, this recipe uses just 3 tbsp oil and this means you can enjoy them more guilt free than the regular buttered ones and without any compromise on taste too. So if you do not mind a little messy kitchen counter and sticky hands for a while then you have come to the right place and you are guaranteed to enjoy your effort at the end of it all. 

Ingredients 

60 gms chocolate melted (the original recipe used white chocolate but I used regular dark baking chocolate)

1 1/4 cup flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder 

1 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs 

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanila extract

2 tsp red food coloring (preferably use gel colour, either strawberry red or cherry red)

3/4 cup granulated sugar 

Confectioners sugar/icing sugar for rolling 

Direction 

Take the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and melt it in the microwave at a 30 second interval until melted and shiny. 

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt and keep aside. 

In the same bowl where you melted the chocolate, add the eggs and whip till smooth. Now add the oil, Vanila, and food coloring and whip again. Add the sugar and mix. Now add the flour mixture and mix well with a spoon till everything is well combined. The mixture will seem quite liquidy for a cookie dough but just go ahead. 

Now cover the bowl with a cling wrap with the plastic touching down on the top of the dough. I had transferred the dough entirely into the plastic wrap and that turned out quite messy while making balls out of the dough. So keep the dough in the bowl and just put the cling wrap tightly touching down on the dough. Put in the refrigerator and chill for a minimum of 2 hrs and upto overnight.

Now grease and line a baking tray and pre-heat the oven at 180 degree celcius. 

Take the icing sugar in a plate and with a tablespoon/ice cream scoop, scoop out small balls and drop on the icing sugar. Roll it on the sugar with your hands and then flatten slightly and roll again in the sugar and place on the prepared tray. Sorry no pictures to share here as my hands were all doughy. Put the cookies 2" apart as they spread out a little while cooking and so keep some space to avoid sticking to each other. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes or till the edges slightly firm up while the top is still a little soft to touch. 

Cool in the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack for cooling completely. Store in air tight containers.