Red Velvet Cookies

At a glance

What stands out: These red velvet cookies couldn’t be simpler to make—you only need 4 ingredients! They’re great for a last-minute Valentine’s Day treat or any time you’re in the mood for a red velvet treat.

How long it takes: 5 minutes to prep, 10 minutes to bake
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl and baking sheets
Servings: 36 cookies

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

These thick, chewy cookies are full of red velvet flavor. They’re reliable 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 good idea.)

Straightforward 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.

Straightforward to mix. This is a simple drop cookie recipe. You don’t have to soften butter, chill the dough, roll the cookies into balls, or do anything that’s time-consuming. Cake mix cookies are reliable 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 reliable M&M cookies have year-round appeal too!)

Kid-friendly. Because the cookies are so darn straightforward 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 straightforward kid-friendly treats, try Rolo pretzels or snowman Oreo pops, too!

What goes in

• Unsalted butter: The butter should be melted (we usually use our 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 rich, too.

How it comes together

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.

Recipe Tip

Although you can bake two sheets together, we recommend baking one sheet at a time on the middle rack. This produces more consistent results. Since the cookies only take 10 minutes to bake, you can bake the first batch while scooping the dough onto the second pan and then pop that in the oven when the first sheet is done.

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.
• Not a fan of red velvet? You can make straightforward cake mix cookies with pretty much any cake mix. Boxed cake mixes come in lots and lots of different flavors, and you can stir in any type of baking chip.
• Make bars. Try our straightforward cake mix blondies with colored sprinkles.

Keeping leftovers

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.

Straightforward Cookie Recipes

• Yield: 36
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 10 minutes
• Total: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 box (15.25 ounce) red velvet cake mix (we like Duncan HInes, see notes)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper for easy clean-up.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine butter, cake mix, and eggs. When combined, fold in white chocolate chips. Dough will be very thick.
3. Using a cookie scoop (1 tablespoon), scoop cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheet, about 2 to 3 inches apart.
4. 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.

Notes

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, we prefer to do one cookie sheet at a time, on the middle rack of our oven. We do use two cookie sheets, so that we can put unbaked cookies in the oven as soon as we take out a batch of baked cookies.

Chocolate chips: We also tested these with dark chocolate chips instead of white chocolate chips. We 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.