Red Velvet Cake Mix Crinkle Cookies

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• Why We Like This Recipe
• About The Ingredients
• How to Make
• Variations
• Expert Tips
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Other Red Velvet Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
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If you love the ease of these red velvet crinkle cookies from cake mix, then we guarantee that you'll love both these cookie recipes. Our lemon cake mix cookies and the cake mix chocolate cookies are quick, easy, and will be loved by the whole family! They are all perfect for cookie exchanges.

And if you want to make your own cake mix, check out our simple homemade cake mix and DIY chocolate cake mix recipes too.

Why We Like This Recipe

It is an incredibly easy recipe to make. If you have ever wondered how to make red velvet crinkle cookies without spending hours in the kitchen, the key is cake mix. This easy way will save you a ton of time and makes the recipe unimaginably easy!

It isn’t very labor-intensive. While these red velvet crinkle cookies cake mix recipe does take about an hour and a half, most of the time is spent waiting for the cookies to chill. And even then you can still cut out some time by chilling them in the freezer.

These are incredibly chewy cookies. These red velvet crinkle cookies are chewy, soft, and still have a slight crispiness to them.

These delicious cookies are rich and moist. We love red velvet in general, but the flavors of these red velvet cookies are out of this world! And, if you love red velvet desserts in general, then you will love our red velvet cupcakes too.

They are perfect for special occasions and holiday parties. Just change the sprinkles you use to make it fit the theme. For example, we use red or pink sprinkles for valentine's day and use the sprinkles you see here for a christmas cookie decoration.

About The Ingredients

Oil: We like to use light olive oil for this easy red velvet crinkles recipe. But, you can use any vegetable oil that you’d like or even softened or melted butter. We used softened butter in our delicious red velvet cookies with cream cheese icing which are also made using cake mix.

A box of red velvet cake mix: For this recipe, we used Betty Crocker cake mix, however, you can also make these red velvet crinkle cookies using Duncan Hines. Which you use comes down to personal preference.

Adding more food coloring in red velvet recipes is entirely optional. You don't have to use it. We add it to give the crinkle cookies a more vibrant red color. If you want to add coloring, we recommend using gel food coloring. It gives a much more vibrant color without changing the texture of the cookies.

How to Make

These red velvet cake mix crinkle cookies are easy to make and have an incredibly chewy, soft, and slightly crunchy texture. You can even make the dough in advance and use it when you're ready!

1. Preheat the oven. You can preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking or parchment paper.

2. Make the cookie dough. Start by combining the eggs and oil in a large bowl. Whisk them well to make a uniform mixture. Then, add the food coloring and mix well.

3. Using a spatula, gently combine cake mix with the egg mixture. The dough will be very sticky. You can do all these steps in a stand mixer if you want.

4. Rest and shape the dough. Once you have a uniform dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and allow it to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but preferably an hour.

5. Use a small cookie scoop, small ice cream scoop or a teaspoon to scoop out red velvet cookie dough balls. Roll them into neat balls before rolling them into the powdered sugar. Place them onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2-inches between each.

6. Use a cup with a flat bottom and slightly press each ball – this is what makes these easy red velvet cookies their crinkled look.

7. Bake the red velvet cake mix cookies. Bake the cookies in your preheated oven for about 7 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are set.

8. Remove them from the oven and allow them to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then, transfer them to a cooling rack to completely cool. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Variations

You can definitely add dark or white chocolate chips to this recipe. White or milk chocolate chips works the best, but you can also add dark chocolate chips.

You can also add a little vanilla extract in the dough mixture if you want. If you don’t want to make crinkle cookies, you can also try red velvet cookies stuffed with Nutella. They are extremely soft, chewy, and still have a luscious mouthfeel.

Expert Tips

• The box of cake mix that we used for these red velvet cookies from cake mix was a 15 ounce (425 gram) box. If you are using a slightly larger box of 16.5 ounces (468 grams), then use ⅓ cup oil. Alternatively, you can just measure out 15 ounces and follow the recipe as-is.
• The color of red velvet cake mixes isn’t very vibrant. This is why we’ve added more food coloring just like we did for our traditional red velvet cake and our red velvet bundt cake recipes. You can easily adjust the amount by adding more or less than the recommended 2 teaspoons.
• We add the gel food coloring to the egg and oil mixture. But, if you are still not happy with the color after making the dough, you can gently knead it into your dough.
• You have to allow the dough to cool inside the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This helps firm the mixture, reduced the stickiness of the dough, and will help prevent the cookies from spreading in the pan too much. Alternatively, you can rest the dough in the freezer for 15 minutes if you are short on time.
• Try to work quickly once you are shaping the dough and dusting it in powdered sugar. Warm hands and the temperature of the room can soften the dough quite quickly. The soft dough can potentially spread in the oven. This results in flat and un-crinkly cookies.
• It is also very important that you do not overcrowd the cookies. If they do spread, even a tiny bit, they can run into each other and create a sheet cake instead! Give them at least 2 inches on each side.
• Only use a cup with a flat bottom. This will create nice uniform crinkles in the red velvet cookie. A flat-bottomed measuring cup also works well.
• Don’t press the cookies too hard. You want to gently press until you see cracks on the edges of the cookies.
• The baking times will vary slightly depending on the size of your cookies and the temperature (or hot spots) of your oven. However, do not bake them for more than 8 minutes. These are soft cookies and won't crisp up inside the oven. They will also continue cooking on the hot cookie sheet (for 5 minutes) once you have removed them from the oven. This will ensure that the eggs are fully cooked while not over baking the red velvet cake cookies.
• Transfer the cookies onto a wire rack  after they sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes.
• Bake a batch of red velvet crinkle cookies at a time. Don't bake two cookie sheets at the same time.