Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies

Soft, moist, and wonderfully sweet, these red velvet cake mix cookies use just 5 ingredients to make the very best (and easiest!) cookies for Christmas, Valentine's Day, birthdays, or any time at all!

Prep: 15

Cook: 15

Total: 30

Recipe Makes: 24 cookies

Approximate Cost: $5.15 ($0.21 per cookie)

Equipment

oven
1-2 cookie sheet(s)
parchment paper
gallon-size sealable plastic bag
stand mixer bowl (or large mixing bowl)
stand mixer (or hand mixer)
flat beater attachment for stand mixer (or beater attachments for hand mixer)
cookie scoop with release handle
spatula
1-2 wire cooling rack(s)

Ingredients

For the Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies

▢ powdered sugar (enough to lightly coat cookies)
▢ 1 13.25-ounce box red velvet cake mix (any brand)
▢ 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
▢ ⅓ cup vegetable oil
▢ 1 cup white chocolate chips (any brand)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper and set aside. Add powdered sugar to gallon-size sealable plastic bag and set aside.
Add 1 13.25-ounce box red velvet cake mix, 2 large eggs, ⅓ cup vegetable oil, and 1 cup white chocolate chips to mixing bowl. Use mixer on low speed to incorporate ingredients, then increase speed to medium and mix until ingredients are fully combined into thick cookie dough. Be careful not to overmix.
Using cookie scoop with release handle, scoop cookie dough into portions of desired size.
Roll each scoop of cookie dough quickly between palms of hands to smooth scoop into round ball shape, then place cookie dough ball in bag of powdered sugar. Repeat until several cookie dough balls have been formed, then seal bag of powdered sugar and shake bag to coat cookies in sugar.
Remove coated cookie dough balls from bag, shake excess sugar back into bag, and transfer cookie dough balls to lined cookie sheet(s). Leave approximately 2 inches of space between each cookie dough ball to allow dough to spread while baking.
Repeat process until all cookie dough has been formed into dough balls, coated in powdered sugar, and transferred to cookie sheet(s). Gently press cookie dough balls with spatula to flatten slightly, making sure each cookie is evenly thick from edge to edge. See Notes.
Place cookie sheet(s) in preheated oven. Bake cookies 6 minutes, then begin checking doneness. Continue baking as needed, checking cookies frequently. Remove cookies from oven when edges are just set and centers are still slightly underbaked and soft. Note: if unsure about timing and doneness, removing cookies early is better than removing cookies late!
Once cookies seem ready, remove cookie sheet(s) from oven and set aside. Let cookies rest on cookie sheet(s) 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, carefully remove cookies from cookie sheet(s) with spatula and transfer cookies to wire cooling rack(s). Let cookies cool to room temperature, then serve as desired.

Recipe Notes

Actual number of cookies will depend on size of cookie dough balls.
Prepared Dough: If the cookie dough is sticky or hard to work with after mixing, put the bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15. Chilling the dough can make it more manageable and help it release from the scoop more easily.
Flattening Cookies: You can use the back of the spatula, the bottom of a drinking glass, or your fingers to flatten the cookies as much or as little as you like. Just make sure each cookie is evenly thick all the way across. Try to keep all the cookies as uniform as possible, too. Thinner cookies (or areas) will bake faster than thicker cookies (or areas).
Bake Times: Actual total bake time will vary depending on the altitude of your kitchen, the pans you use, the age of your oven, the efficiency of your oven, the size of your cookies, the thickness of your cookies, etc. I recommend not baking the cookies for more than 10 minutes total since they'll continue to bake on the pans as they rest.
Storage (Baked Cookies): Keep the fully-baked, completely-cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days or in the fridge up to 7 days.
Freezer Storage (Baked Cookies): Once the cookies have cooled completely, return them to the cookie sheet(s), without the parchment paper. Place the cookie sheets in the freezer and let the cookies set up at least 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, transfer them to an airtight container or a sealable food-safe freezer bag and keep them frozen up to 3 months.
Defrosting Frozen Baked Cookies: Move the desired number of cookies from the freezer to the fridge at least 8 hours before you intend to eat them. Once they've defrosted, move them from the fridge to the counter and let them come to room temperature. Enjoy them at room temperature or warm them in the oven at 325° Fahrenheit for 3-5 minutes.
Freezer Storage (Unbaked Cookie Dough): Form the cookie dough into dough balls and coat them in powdered sugar as instructed. Place the coated cookie dough balls on a baking sheet and put the baking sheet in the freezer. Freeze the cookie dough balls at least 30 minutes, then transfer them to an airtight container or sealable food-safe plastic bag. Keep frozen up to 3 months.
Baking Frozen Cookie Dough: Place the frozen cookie dough balls on cookie sheets and bake at 350° Fahrenheit. Increase the bake time by 1-2 minutes or as needed. Remove the cookies from the oven when the bottom edges are just slightly golden brown.

Recipe costs provided are approximate. Actual cost per recipe & serving will vary by location, store, brand, etc. Approximate cost shown does not include costs for any optional ingredients.

Nutrition

Cheap Cheap Eats recipe developed by Cheryl Malik