Easy Red Velvet Cookies

These days, you see “red velvet” everything. Some of the recipes are labor intensive, some easy, but all have the chocolate taste you love and that unmistakable red hue. Red velvet is perfect for the upcoming love bird holiday (great for Christmas too!) but I say it’s great any time of the year.

These thick, chewy cookies are full of red velvet flavor. They’re perfect to send off to school with your kids. Or for a Valentine’s bake sale. Or to mail to a friend who might need a little surprise on Valentine’s Day. (Or you could just eat them yourself. That would be a good idea too. A very good idea.)

Easy Peasy Red Velvet Cookies

Just 4 ingredients. You read that right. Only four ingredients are needed to make these red velvet cookies. How many cookie recipes are that simple?! Next time you’re at the grocery store, pick up a box of red velvet cake mix and a package of white chocolate chips. All you need to do is stir in melted butter, a couple of eggs, and chocolate chips, and you’re ready to bake cookies.

Easy to make. This is a simple drop cookie recipe. You don’t have to soften butter, chill the dough, roll the cookies into balls, or so anything that’s time-consuming. Cake mix cookies are perfect for last-minute treats.

Versatile. While popular for Valentine’s Day, these cookies are also great for Christmas (that red color!) or any time of year. (These coffee cookies and perfect M&M cookies have year-round appeal too!)

Kid-friendly. Because the cookies are so darn easy and most of the measuring is done for you thanks to the cookie mix, this is an excellent recipe to have your kids help with. If you’re looking for a couple more easy kid-friendly treats, try Rolo pretzels or snowman Oreo pops, too!

Ingredient Notes

• Unsalted butter: The butter should be melted (I usually use my microwave) and cooled slightly before you start the recipe.
• Red velvet cake mix: We tested both Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker. Even though there’s a two ounce variance between brands, both cake mixes work just fine. However, we did prefer the flavor of the cookies made with Duncan Hines cake mix.
• Eggs: Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl to mix the yolks and whites, before adding them to the other ingredients.
• White chocolate chips: White chocolate adds a little bit of decadence. Be aware that some cheaper white chocolate chips are waxy and lackluster in flavor, so spring for the good stuff if you can. Semi-sweet chocolate chips are delicious, too.

How to Make Red Velvet Cookies

Prep. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Make the dough. Stir together the melted butter, cake mix, and eggs, then fold in the white chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be thick.

Form the cookies. Use a one tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the cookie dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Set them 2 to 3 inches apart. If you don’t have a cookie dough scoop, use a round 1 tablespoon measuring spoon (or simply guess) and then another, smaller spoon to scrape the dough out onto the baking sheet. We did try making the cookies with a two tablespoon scoop and found that the cookies turned out better when they were smaller.

Bake. Place the cookies in the oven and bake at 350ºF for 10 minutes. They should be fairly firm and not mushy. They won’t brown because of the red velvet color.

Cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes to firm up, then use a large spatula to transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. 

Simple Variations

• Use dark chocolate chips. If you prefer dark chocolate over white chocolate, feel free to swap those in.
• Add sprinkles. Skip the white chocolate chips and add white jimmies to the tops of the cookies before baking.
• Finish with cream cheese frosting. For red velvet cookies with red velvet cake vibes, slather each one with cream cheese frosting. Frosted cookies should be stored in the refrigerator.
• Make bars. Try my easy cake mix blondies with colored sprinkles.

Room temperature: Red velvet cookies will stay fresh for up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Be sure they are completely cooled before you store them, otherwise they’ll get soggy and spoil faster.

Freezer: You can also freeze these cookies for up to 3 months. Place them in an airtight container or freezer bag with parchment between the layers to keep them from sticking to each other. Thaw at room temperature, or warm them in the microwave in 10-second intervals.

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper for easy clean-up.

• In a mixing bowl, combine butter, cake mix, and eggs. When combined, fold in white chocolate chips. Dough will be very thick.

  6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly, 1 box (15.25 ounce) red velvet cake mix, 2 large eggs, beaten, 1 cup white chocolate chips

• Using a cookie scoop (1 tablespoon), scoop cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheet, about 2 to 3 inches apart.

• Bake for 10 minutes. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes to let them firm up before moving to a cooking rack to cool completely.

• Cake mix variations: We tested this recipe with a 15.25 oz box of Duncan Hines cake mix, and with a 13.25 oz box of Betty Crocker cake mix. They both turned out great in spite of the weight difference but we did slightly prefer the cookies made with the 15.25 Duncan Hines box, so the recipe reflects that. If you can only find a 13.25 oz box, it will still work. Keep all other measurements the same.
• Baking: You can bake two sheets of these at once, but depending on your oven’s heat disbursement and rack positions, the two trays may not turn out exactly the same. For the most consistent results, I prefer to do one cookie sheet at a time, on the middle rack of my oven. I do use two cookie sheets, so that I can put unbaked cookies in the oven as soon as I take out a batch of baked cookies.
• Chocolate chips: We also tested these with dark chocolate chips instead of white chocolate chips. I generally prefer the taste of dark chocolate to white chocolate, but white chocolate pairs well with red velvet, and gives the cookies a prettier appearance. Feel free to use what you like or happen to have.
• Storage: Cool cookies completely before storing in an airtight container.
• Recipe retested and revised December 2024.

Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 99kcal, Carbohydrates: 12g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 15mg, Sodium: 107mg, Potassium: 58mg, Fiber: 0.3g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 73IU, Vitamin C: 0.03mg, Calcium: 30mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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