These heart-shaped cookies have the softest natural pink color and not a drop of food dye in sight.

If you're looking for a rolled sugar cookie dough with a naturally light pink color, without using food dye, you're in the right place. I took my classic rolled sugar cookie dough and turned it pink simply by adding beetroot powder.

This dough bakes up with clean edges, holds its shape beautifully, and still has that tender, buttery texture you expect from a good cut-out sugar cookie. It's the same reliable base I use for my espresso sugar cookies and cookies and cream sugar cookies, proven to work perfectly for cut-outs every time.

The beetroot powder gives the dough a soft pink hue that stays true in the oven and doesn't turn brown as the cookies bake. I used the dough to make decorated heart-shaped cookies, finished with chocolate and dye-free sprinkles. They're a fun option for any decorated cookie and especially for a dye-free Valentine's Day treat.

Why use beetroot powder for baking?

Beets are one of the most naturally vibrant vegetables, and many dye-free baking recipes rely on puréed beets to create pink color in cakes and cookies. Beetroot powder is much easier to work with. It's shelf-stable, eliminates the extra step of puréeing, and doesn't add any unwanted moisture to the dough.

The color from beetroot powder is also more reliable and consistent from batch to batch. 

Beets do have a mild, earthy sweetness, but it doesn't interfere with the flavor of these cookies. I add a small amount of cinnamon and cardamom to complement the cookie's flavor profile. Once the cookies are decorated with frosting, chocolate, or sprinkles any hint of earthiness disappears. 

Ingredients for Beet Powder Sugar Cookie Dough

• Pantry basics: all purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt
• Egg: One large egg provides structure and helps bind the dough.
• Unsalted butter: The butter should be cubed and cold.
• Flavorings: Vanilla extract, cinnamon, and cardamom add subtle flavor to the cookies. I wouldn't skip the vanilla, but feel free to adjust the spices to your taste.
• Beetroot powder: This is what gives the dough that beautiful pink hue. Beet root powder can be found in many grocery stores, health food stores and online. 

How to Make Naturally Pink Sugar Cookie Dough

This rolled cookie dough is made in a food processor. It cuts up the cold butter into the sugar nicely and is much faster than a stand mixer. Because the butter is cold and it mixes fast, the amount of time the dough needs to chill is significantly less time. 

Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and spice together in a medium bowl and set it aside. Add the butter and sugar to the food processor and pulse until well combined. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and beet powder and mix until incorporated. Be sure to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

Add the flour mixture in three batches and process until just combined. The dough may start to clump together and become difficult to process. If so, return the dough to a mixing bowl and mix by hand until flour is no longer visible. 

Divide the dough in half and roll each half between two sheets of parchment paper to ¼ inch thickness. Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator or 15 minutes in the freezer before cutting them out. Bake the cookies for 7-10 minutes. They should look dry on top and just barely golden at the edges.

Decorating Heart Shaped Cookies

There are several ways to decorate these cookies. For the version shown here, I chopped a bar of chocolate and melted it in the microwave at 20 seconds intervals and stirred in between. I transferred the chocolate into a parchment paper cone to make drizzling easy and to cover the smaller heart cookies completely in chocolate. 

Once the chocolate was drizzled, I added colorful dye free sprinkles while the chocolate was still wet. 

Dye-free sprinkles are becoming more readily available. If you don't see it on the shelf, ask the bakery department. I found this Valentine mix being sold by weight at my local grocery store (Wegmans) where they sell their store made baked goods (not the baking aisle!) 

More Decorating Ideas:

You can make decorated cookie pops with this dough. See my tutorial on heart shaped cookie pops for full details on how to make them in any shape.

Decorate with classic cookie icing in your own creative style. Try covering the cookie with plain white icing and personalizing each cookie as shown below. Package them individually and tie with a colorful ribbon. 

Storage 

Cookie dough, rolled or unrolled, can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature. Undecorated cookies freeze well in an airtight container for up to 1 month.   

Troubleshooting & FAQs

• My color was too dark or too light: The intensity of the color depends on how much powder you use. Brands and even packages within the same brand can vary in color since it's a natural product. Start with the amount listed in the recipe and adjust in future batches if needed.
• My cookies spread out: The butter was not cold, the dough was not chilled long enough or the cut cookies had too much time to warm up before going into the oven.
• Can I use a different shape cutter? Yes, any shape works
• Can I make this without a food processor? Yes, cream the butter and sugar, then add wet ingredients, then dry ingredients.
• Do these cookies taste like beets? No, the subtle earthy taste is not noticeable when combined with sugar, spices and icing or chocolate.
• Can I use fresh beets instead of powder? No, fresh beets add moisture and will affect the cookie texture. While there are cookie recipes that use fresh beets, this recipe was written specifically for beetroot powder.