Santa’s Loaded Red Velvet Christmas Cookies are soft cake mix cookies packed with white chocolate chips and holiday candy coated chocolate pieces. They come together fast with just a handful of ingredients, bake in about 10 minutes, and make an easy, festive treat for cookie swaps, classroom parties, or last-minute holiday baking.
What Makes This Santa’s Loaded Red Velvet Christmas Cookies Great?
This version keeps things simple without looking simple. The red velvet cake mix gives you a thick, tender cookie base, while white chocolate chips and colorful candy pieces make every bite feel extra festive.
Why You’ll Love It
- Great for busy holiday baking, the dough mixes up in one bowl and goes into the oven fast.
- Helpful for beginner bakers, because the cake mix base keeps the process straightforward and reliable.
- Perfect for parties and cookie platters, since the bright red dough and candy pieces look holiday-ready without extra decorating.
- Easy to make ahead, the baked cookies keep well at room temperature for several days and can also be frozen.
- Good for quick batch baking, each cookie is just a scoop of dough with no rolling, chilling, or frosting needed.
The Cookie Dough
The base of these cookies is all about ease and texture. Red velvet cake mix gives you a dough that comes together quickly and bakes up soft, thick, and tender, with that classic red velvet look that feels instantly festive.
Melted butter adds richness, eggs help bind everything together, and vanilla rounds out the flavor. Then come the mix-ins, which honestly are the best part, white chocolate chips for creamy sweetness and holiday candy pieces for crunch and color.
What You’ll Need for the Cookie Dough
- 1 box red velvet cake mix, 15.25 oz, this creates the base of the dough and gives the cookies their signature color and soft texture.
- 2 large eggs, room temperature, help the dough mix smoothly and hold the cookies together as they bake.
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled, adds richness and keeps the cookies tender.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, adds a little extra warmth and rounds out the sweet flavor.
- 1 cup white chocolate chips, bring creamy sweetness and little pockets of melty chocolate throughout.
- 1 cup holiday candy coated chocolate pieces, add crunch, color, and that loaded cookie look.
How To Make Santa’s Loaded Red Velvet Christmas Cookies
Prepare the Oven and Pans
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper so the cookies release easily and bake more evenly. This is a quick recipe, so it helps to have the pans ready before you mix the dough.
Mix the Cookie Dough
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the red velvet cake mix, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula. Keep mixing until you have a thick, glossy dough.
Fold In Chocolate Chips
Fold in the white chocolate chips and holiday candy coated chocolate pieces just until evenly distributed. The dough will be much thicker than cake batter, and that is exactly what you want.
Portion the Cookies
Use a medium cookie scoop or scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Place the dough mounds a few inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, about 6 cookies per sheet, so they have room to spread. If the dough feels especially soft, let it sit for 5 minutes before scooping, trust me, it makes things easier.
Bake Until Set
Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes. They should look set around the edges, and the centers should no longer look wet. Do not wait for them to brown on top, these cookies are meant to stay soft, so slightly underdone-looking centers are fine as long as they are set.
Cool the Cookies
Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes so they can firm up without breaking apart. Then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled, they are ready to serve or store.
Variations and Customizations
This recipe is already very straightforward, but you can still tweak the look and feel a little depending on what you have on hand. Keep the base dough the same, then make small swaps with the mix-ins if needed.
- Swap the holiday candy coated chocolate pieces for another seasonal color mix if you want the same effect for a different occasion.
- Use all white chocolate chips and skip the candy pieces if you want a softer texture throughout.
- For a slightly more chocolate-heavy cookie, reduce the candy pieces a bit and replace that amount with more white chocolate chips.
- Make them smaller if you prefer mini cookies, but watch them closely since they may bake faster.
Toppings, Add-Ons, and Finishing Touches
These cookies really do not need much once they are baked. The red velvet base and colorful candy pieces already do a lot of the visual heavy lifting. Still, a few simple extras can make them feel even more holiday-ready if you are putting together a cookie tray.
- A few extra white chocolate chips pressed into the tops before baking for a more loaded look.
- A few extra holiday candy pieces on top of each dough mound so the colors really stand out.
- A very light dusting of powdered sugar after cooling for a snowy finish.
- A quick 5-second microwave warm-up before serving if you want the chips slightly melty.
Storing, Reheating, and Meal Prep
Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Make sure they are fully cooled first so they do not trap steam and soften too much in the container.
For longer storage, freeze the cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container with parchment between the layers for up to 2 months. Thaw them at room temperature when you are ready to eat. If you want that fresh-baked feel, warm 1 cookie in the microwave for about 5 seconds. Just enough to soften it a bit, soooo good.
Santa’s Loaded Red Velvet Christmas Cookies
Description
Soft red velvet cake mix cookies filled with white chocolate chips and holiday candies. These festive cookies come together quickly and bake up thick, colorful, and tender.
Ingredients
For the Cookies
Instructions
Prepare the oven and pans
-
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper so the cookies release easily and bake evenly.
Mix the cookie dough
-
In a large mixing bowl, stir the red velvet cake mix, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula until a thick, glossy dough forms. Add the white chocolate chips and holiday candy pieces, then stir just until they are evenly mixed through. The dough will be thicker than cake batter, which is normal.
Portion the cookies
-
Use a medium cookie scoop or scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Place the dough mounds a few inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, about 6 cookies per sheet, to give them room to spread.
Bake until set
-
Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies look set around the edges and the centers no longer look wet. They should stay soft and should not brown on top.
Cool the cookies
-
Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes so they can firm up. Transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely before storing or serving.
Note
If the dough feels very soft, let it sit for 5 minutes before scooping. This makes it easier to portion. Do not overbake these cookies. They should look just set for the best soft texture. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. To freeze, place cooled cookies in a freezer safe container with parchment between layers and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature. If you want to warm them slightly before serving, heat 1 cookie in the microwave for about 5 seconds.
