🍫🍪🍰 My Chocolate Chip Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies have a secret ingredient — cake mix! These cookies are super ooey gooey and ultra-rich!
Red Velvet Cookie Recipe … With Cake Mix!
These are the softest, gooiest, moistest red velvet cookies I’ve ever had. I’ve made tons of soft and gooey things, but these red velvet cake mix cookies truly take the cake and live up to their name.
I’ve mentioned before that my family isn’t really into cookies. What’s wrong with them, really? But these red velvet cake mix cookies were good enough to generate an ecstatic ‘omg those cookies are amazing’ text, which is all I needed to hear. It’s safe to say they’re one of our favorite cookies.
Here’s why it will be one of your new favorite cookie recipes:
- They’re made with red velvet cake mix, cream cheese, a stick of butter, an egg, vanilla, and a bag of chocolate chips. So easy.
- For these red velvet cake mix cookies, I wanted simple, mindless, and guaranteed to work. Enter: red velvet cake mix. With it, all you need are six simple ingredients!
- The cookies are gooey, soft, and moist, and the buttery flavor really shines. The cream cheese gives them a very subtle tang that’s lovely and reminds me of the Softbatch Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies.
So. Dang. Good. OMG — these are fantastic cookies. The cream cheese adds just a bit of tang and the texture of the cookies is pillowy. I made a batch and split it between home and my hubby’s office — rave reviews all around. Keeper recipe for sure.
Andrea
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make these chocolate chip red velvet cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Cream cheese – Make sure to use full-fat, brick-style cream cheese for the cream cheese
- Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Boxed red velvet cake mix – I love the Duncan Hines mix, but any box of cake mix will work. I highly recommend sifting the cake mix before adding it to the creamed ingredients for the same reason. A few readers have asked whether they need to add the ingredients required on the box of red velvet cake mix. The answer is NO, you should add exactly what my recipe calls for. The red velvet cake mix is added to the cookie dough as a dry ingredient
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips – I used semi-sweet chocolate to play up the mild chocolate flavor that red velvet is known for, but white chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips could work. There’s just enough melted chocolate in every bite to perfectly complement the squishy, soft, tender cookies
Tip
Make sure the cream cheese and butter are very well softened to room temp when creaming them, or you’ll never get the light and fluffy results you want. And there will be little lumps of cream cheese that you won’t want to incorporate into the butter, and when you add the red cake mix, the little white lumps will become extremely noticeable and unappealing in your chewy cookies.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Red Velvet Cookies with Cake Mix
Making red velvet cookies using cake mix eliminates the need for endless ingredients like vegetable oil, canola oil, red coloring, etc., and keeps the steps simple. Here’s an overview of this easy cookie recipe:
- Cream the wet ingredients. Then, add the cake mix, and use a stand mixer or hand mixer to beat the dough on low speed to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips, and beat just until combined.
- Portion the dough into 16 equal-sized mounds, roll each portion into a ball, and flatten them slightly. The cookie dough will. be very sticky. This is normal!
- Chill the cookie dough balls for at least 3 hours. Do not skip this, or the cookies will be prone to spreading!
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Place the cookies on the sheet, leaving space between each mound, and bake just until the edges and tops are set. Then, cool the baked cookies on the cookie sheets. There’s no need for a wire rack!
Add a topping!
I think these cookies are plenty decadent on their own, but feel free to get creative with different variations. Cream cheese frosting, like the one used for my red velvet cupcakes, a dusting of powdered sugar, or a white chocolate drizzle would make for a tasty addition.
Or, use this recipe to make red velvet sandwich cookies, filling them with your favorite frosting!
Chocolate Chip Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer Fitted with a Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, very soft
- 8 ounces cream cheese, brick-style (must use full-fat cream cheese; not lite, whipped, spreadable, etc.)
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- one 18.25-ounce box red velvet cake mix, sifted (don’t skip sifting or you’ll have lumps that won’t incorporate)*
- 12- ounces 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, cream cheese, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 5 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the cake mix, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form 16 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly. The dough is very sticky and gloppy; this is normal.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet). If you had a hard time getting dough into neat mounds before chilling, take time now to smooth them out.
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center. Cookies firm up some as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack. Note that baking time is longer than for most cookies due to the very moist and wet nature of the dough and the size of the cookies. If you rolled your cookies smaller, reduce baking time accordingly.
Notes
- When I originally posted this recipe in 2013, cake mix was approximately 18.25 ounces per box and now box sizes have dropped to about 15.25 ounces. Use the largest sized box of red velvet cake mix you can find.
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
- Recipe adapted from Duncan Hines.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Red Velvet Desserts:
Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies — Rich, decadent, red velvet brownies topped with tangy cream cheese swirls! PERFECT for Valentine’s Day, the Christmas season, or anytime you’re craving red velvet! EASIER than you think to make!
Christmas Red Velvet Poke Cake — The EASIEST and most impressive red velvet Christmas cake! You’ll have your friends and family thinking you’re a rock star pastry chef!
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (from scratch) — If you’ve ever wanted to make red velvet cupcakes from scratch that are as good as those you’d find in a bakery, try this hassle-free recipe.
Red Velvet Chocolate-Swirled Brownie Bars (from scratch) — These easy, no-mixer brownie bars are in between a bar and a brownie. Not supremely fudgy to give them true brownie status, but much fudgier and richer than your typical bar, and not cakey.
Red Velvet Poke Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — The cake is fast, easy, and it’s a poke cake so it’s automatically super soft and moist.
Made with Espresso Morsels from TollHouse! Yummo!
I didn’t even know those existed! Sounds delish!
I’m allergic to semi sweet chocolate and darker! Can I substitute milk chocolate chips?
Thank you
yes for sure
Thank you. Look forward to baking these!
Hi! I just made this dough but it’s too gooey to make balls before I chill them. Is it okay to chill before separating into balls? Thanks!
Yes that would be my recommendation.
One of the best flavors I’ve ever achieved in a cookie. I used 1/2 Nestle Dark Chocolate Espresso chocolate chips and 1/2 mini bittersweet chips. The espresso flavor brought these over the top. Perfect pairing.
Instead of using less cream cheese or butter I added 2/3 flour and 1/3 Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder to make up the extra weight.
Great recipe! Thanks. Chill this dough people!
Can I double the recipe?
yes
I also made these with the smaller box mix and reduced the cream cheese and butter by 1.5 tbsp, and they were perfect!!!
hi.. is it a must to refrigerate the dough for step number five?
Yes.
I am sorry for commenting so much but I just wanted to tell you that these were the most delicious cookeies I have ever had in my life. I cut back 1 and a half tbsp on both butter and cream cheese and they were perfect. Thank you so much for the recipe & your help!!
I also made these with the smaller box mix and reduced the cream cheese and butter by 1.5 tbsp, and they were perfect!!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that the smaller box with 1.5 tbsp less butter worked great!
Do you put the ingredients in that the cake mix calls for in the cookie batter or is it just the cake mix
No, just what the recipe in my “Ingredients” section calls for.
Thank you
Hi, these look incredible! I’m planning on making them for Valentines Day but I just checked the box that I bought to make them with and it is only 15.25 oz. Is there anything I can do to reduce something else in the recipe to make it work or would it be better if I just went and bought another box with the right amount?
You could scale the butter and/or cream cheese back by a tablespoon or two, although I haven’t tried doing that and have only made these as I wrote them but I think just a minor scaling-back and you’ll be fine.
Since finding the red velvet gooey butter cookie recipe last year, the one cake mix maker, Duncan Hines, that actually had a 18.25 ounce box has downsized their box to 16.5 ounces also. You need to update the recipe with new measurements since the original recipe says not to use a cake mix smaller or the cookies will be too soft.
Another person just wrote in with a similar question and although I haven’t tried it personally, I gave my suggestions to her in the comment field.
I decided to make these for Christmas, given the color, and they came out perfectly! VERY soft, as you mention – I wouldn’t have expected them to be as soft as they are, but they are wonderful to eat. Now I’ll have to see how they fare over time . . . especially since I may be the only one eating them for a week (long story) ;-)
Enjoy them all by yourself then :) Just keep them very well sealed in a ziplock and they’ll stay soft for many days! And yes, suppppper duper soft doesn’t even describe it but as you said, so wonderful to eat!
In usual cake mix boxes, you require to add oil, egg etc.. Do you follow that or just use the dry powder?
Hi,
If i use the red velvet cake recipe do i still add all the ingredients as per your recipe? or should i just use the dry ingredients from my recipe?? Thanks
I don’t really understand exactly what you’re asking but this is a recipe where you don’t want to substitute; just make it exactly as I wrote it.
If i use a red velvet recipe from scratch and not the cake mix. How do i alter the recipe?
I have no idea since I have no idea what the cake mix consists of, texture, etc.
Annnnnd, I’m drooling. These look SO great Averie! Can’t wait to try them! :)
These look so good! I was planning on making them and checked my box mix and it’s smaller than yours. What would you recommend? Reducing the butter?
It would depend how much smaller. Most cake mixes are within an ounce or so of each other, at which point I’d change nothing. If it’s a significant difference, I’d reduce the butter and/or the cream cheese by 1 tablespoon but I can’t see any more reduction being necessary. LMK how it goes!