Chocolate Chip Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies — These chocolate chip red velvet 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.
Since it’ll be until next December before it’s seasonally appropriate to blog about red velvet again, I wanted to squeeze in one last red velvet recipe before Valentine’s Day. If you have a Valentine’s Day party or event, these ooey gooey red velvet chocolate chip cookies will be a guaranteed hit and they’re a cinch to make.
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.
The cookies are gooey, soft, 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.
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.
What’s in These Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies?
To make these chocolate chip red velvet cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Cream cheese
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Boxed red velvet cake mix
- 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 could work. There’s just enough melted chocolate in every bite to perfectly complement the squishy soft, tender cookies.
How to Make Red Velvet Cookies with Cake Mix
Make the cookies by creaming together 8 ounces of brick-style cream cheese with butter. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the cake mix, then stir in the chocolate chips last.
Scoop the dough into balls and place on a tray. I made 16 equal-sized mounds, which look fairly huge when raw, but don’t produce mammoth-size cookies. I didn’t want to fuss with smaller mounds because the dough is so sticky and I didn’t have the patience.
Chill the cookie dough for at least 3 hours before baking. Once chilled, place the cookie dough balls onto a Silpat-lined baking tray.
Because of the size of the dough mounds and how wet it is, I baked the cookies for 13 minutes, and although that’s a long time for most cookies, it was on the extreme end of under-done for these. 13 to 15 minutes, or until your cookies set up and are no longer jiggly on the baking tray, is recommended.
Do I Have to Chill the Dough?
The dough is extremely soft, moist, gooey, wet, and challenging to work with. Don’t even think about not chilling it before baking the cookies or you’ll end up with cookies that spread and bake together like a cake that was baked on a cookie sheet.
I chilled my 16 dough mounds for 2 days before baking them. A food photography rain delay came into play, but you can chill the dough for up to 5 days. I recommend at least a 3 hour chilling period, bare minimum.
How Is the Red Velvet Cake Mix Added?
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.
Can the Cake Mix Be Substituted?
Not a fan of cake mix or don’t have access to it? This may not be the recipe for you. You can google for scratch cookies or you can always develop your own recipe.
But before you turn your nose up at this recipe, just try it! We LOVED this red velvet cookies recipe with cake mix, it’s so good!
How to Store Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
Red velvet cake mix 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.
Tips for Making Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies
Do not use lite, low-fat, no-fat, whipped, spreadable, or anything except good old-fashioned cream cheese. Full fat, full calories, the real deal. Lite versions have more water and will water down the already super gooey batter, and you’ll be left with red slop.
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 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.
I highly recommend sifting the cake mix before adding it to the creamed ingredients for the same reason. Any little bits of undissolved red crumbs stand out like a sore thumb.
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Chocolate Chip Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
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!