Red Velvet Cookie Dough Bars Recipe - We are not Martha (2024)

Perfect for showing your love this Valentine's Day, these no-bake Red Velvet Cookie Dough Bars are composed of a pink cookie crust, a luscious layer of chocolate chip red velvet cookie dough, and a white chocolate ganache topping. And don't forget the sprinkles!

Though I have a really hard time keeping up with all the Gen Z trends these days, I think I make up for it by staying on top of food trends and basically having the shelves of my grocery store memorized.

Red velvet everything came really into style a few years back and never ended up leaving.

It's a cake, cookie, and all-around dessert flavor that can be enjoyed year round, but it's especially welcome during the Valentine's Day season.

You can make these Red Velvet Cookie Dough Bars any time, but they're an extra special way to show your love on February 14.

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

While I made these Red Velvet Cookie Dough Bars specifically for Valentine's Day festivities, they're also quite suitable for awards show season, Super Bowl watching, and more.

They're easy to make, but their pretty layered look will make people think you spent a whole lot of time on them!

🗒 Ingredients

Though these cookie dough bars are three layers, you don't need too many ingredients for them. Here's everything you need for each layer (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

Cookie Crust:

• Golden Oreo Cookies
• Unsalted butter
• Pink food coloring

Red Velvet Cookie Dough:

• Unsalted butter
• Light brown sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Salt
• All-purpose flour
• Cocoa powder
• Whole milk
• Red food coloring
• Mini chocolate chips
• Sprinkles of your choice

White Chocolate Ganache:

• White chocolate,roughly chopped
• Heavy cream

💕 How to make pink cookie crust

I made the cookie crust with Golden Oreos, but added a little food coloring when I crumbled them up to get to a nice shade of pink. If you're looking for a good food coloring, I've been using Wilton's Color Right System for the last few years and can't recommend it enough. It seriously makes it so easy to get your baked goods the perfect shade.

Put Oreo Cookies in a food processor and blend until they turn into fine crumbs. Pour in melted butter and food coloring and pulse a few times until well blended.

Line an 8×8 baking pan with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray. Pour cookie crumbs into baking pan and press down into even layer on bottom of pan.

Place pan in freezer for 30 minutes while you prepare the cookie dough.

🍪 How to make red velvet cookie dough

The red velvet cookie dough is basically a big batch of edible cookie dough with mini chocolate chips and red food coloring mixed in. It's similar to the red velvet cookie dough I made for my Red Velvet Cookie Dough Ice Cream, but with a little more flour to stabilize it a bit more for the purpose of these bars.

In the bowl of a mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add vanilla and salt and blend until combined.

With mixer on low, slowly add flour and cocoa powder to bowl until well combined. Mixture will likely look crumbly.

Keep mixer on low and add milk in until dough comes together. Mix in red food coloring and mini chocolate chips until just combined.

Remove pan with cookie crust from freezer and press cookie dough into an even layer over cookie crust.

🤍 How to make white chocolate ganache

Place white chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream in the microwave util near boiling.

Pour cream over chocolate and let sit for about 1 minute before whisking until the chocolate is completely melted and the ganache is smooth.

👩‍🍳 How to assemble cookie dough bars

Now that all your red velvet cookie dough bar elements are made, the rest is easy!

Pour the white chocolate ganache over the top of the dough and smooth evenly with a spatula.

Add a generous amount of sprinkles over the top.

In case you're wondering, I used my Sweetapolita Twinkle Sprinkle Medleyfor these. But you can use any Valentine's Day sprinkles.

Place pan in fridge chill for at least 45 minutes. Once chilled, remove bars from pan by lifting foil. Using a sharp knife, slice into squares.

Hello, lover. But seriously. If you don't have a valentine this February 14, these red velvet cookie dough bars would be very happy to be your valentine. And if you do have one, I'm sure they'd appreciate a batch of these on the day of love.

Chris and I don't do gifts or dinner out on Valentine's Day anymore (way too many bad experiences with overly crowded restaurants and "special" menus that aren't actually special at all), but we try to do something a little nicer at home with dinner and treats like these.

Though, who am I kidding, you know Chris gets cookies and brownies pretty much on a weekly basis, so Valentine's Day is no different!

When I first taste tested these, I was worried they were too sweet. So, when Chris got home, I asked him to try one. He immediately sat down and ate one in about three bites, assuring me they were not, in fact, too sweet. But he does have a very big sweet tooth, so beware if you're making these that they are indulgently sweet.

🍫 Can I use milk chocolate instead of white?

A lot of the sweetness of these bars is due to the white chocolate ganache. I actually recipe tested these several times and during one round, I used milk chocolate instead of white and it was also delicious. I bet dark chocolate would be amazing, too.

They won't have the same look with the sprinkles popping, but just know you can use whatever kind of chocolate you prefer.

White chocolate isn't my favorite, but Chris LOVES it and since he is my valentine and all...

🎉 More variations on this recipe

Apart from using milk or dark chocolate instead of white chocolate, there are lots more variations you can make on these bars to suit them to your tastes. Here are some ideas:

• Make a graham cracker crust or chocolate cookie or chocolate Oreo crust instead of using Golden Oreo cookies.

• Add peanut butter to the cookie dough layer. Or add peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, toffee bits, or mint chocolate chips.

• Add sprinkles into the cookie dough layer.

• If you don't care for red velvet, make the middle layer any flavor of cookie dough you want.

• Melt a little raspberry or strawberry puree into the white chocolate ganache for a pink fruity layer.

• Make these the perfect Christmas treat by using crushed candy canes instead of sprinkles.

I'm really not sure how we existed before edible cookie dough was a thing and that's certainly not a time I'd ever want to go back to.

🥳 More edible cookie dough recipes

In case you don't know, I'm absolutely obsessed with all things edible cookie dough and have lots of delicious recipes that I make over and over again. Here are some of my favorites:

• Lemon Cookie Dough Bars
• Red Velvet Ice Cream with Cookie Dough
• Coconut Flour Cookie Dough (gluten-free)
• Lucky Charms Cookie Dough Bars
• Funfetti Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cups
• Cookie Dough S'mores
• Oreo Cheesecake Cookie Dough Bars (from Lights, Camera, Bake)
• Edible Peanut Butter Cookies Dough (from Parsley and Icing)

And this is officially your call to start celebrating Valentine's Day! The holiday is always a wonderful excuse to have a few extra baked goods in your house.

Even though I've made them several times already, I might just have to make these red velvet cookie dough bars one more time before Valentine's Day is over!

How do you celebrate Valentine's Day?

📖 Recipe

View web story for this recipe.