Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

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Red Velvet Cookies with a surprise cheesecake filling inside and a delicious drizzle of white chocolate. These Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies are a great dessert for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or any occasion.

Red Velvet Cookies with cream cheese frosting

Perfect Holiday Cookies

Red velvet cake is so pretty and perfect for the holiday season. We all know my heart belongs to cookies, not cake, so I decided it was time for me to create a red velvet cookie…and not just any red velvet cookie, but a Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookie. This cookie is the cookie of all cookies. If you think your holiday baking list is set, think again. You have to make these cookies! They will wow everyone who takes a bite!

Red Velvet Cookie Recipe with bowl of frosting

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

I normally don’t bake with boxed mixes, but I cheated and used a red velvet cake mix to make these cookies. I know, gasp! I think you will forgive me when you taste the cookies:) I did doctor the cookies up by adding a creamy cheesecake filling and a white chocolate drizzle. No one will ever know these are cake mix cookies. It is our little secret:)

You do need to chill the dough and filling before you bake these red velvet cookies, so make sure you plan ahead. I promise the cookies are worth the wait.

The cookies are almost too pretty to eat, but when you get to that surprise cheesecake filling, you will forget all about the beautiful cookie. You will want to eat another one and another one!

red velvet cheesecake cookies on cooling rack

Red Velvet & Cheesecake…Mmmmm

If you are a Cheesecake Factory fan, chances are you have had their Red Velvet Cheesecake. These cookies remind me of that cheesecake, but of course they are better because they are cookies:) I made the cookies giant size because it’s the holiday season and indulging is A-OK in my book:) I am going to leave a plate of these cookies out for Santa. I know he will leave me everything on my wish list after he takes one bite of these Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies. They are the best holiday cookie ever! Promise me you will make them!

If you like these Red Velvet Cookies, you might also like:

red velvet cookies from scratch

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Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookie Recipe

Red velvet cookies with a creamy cheesecake filling and a drizzle of white chocolate. These bright red cookies are perfect for Christmas or Valentine's Day.
4.15 from 35 votes

Ingredients
  

For the cookies:

For the cheesecake filling:

For the white chocolate drizzle:

  • 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips melted

Instructions
 

  • To make cookies, in a large bowl combine cake mix and flour. Whisk until clumps disappear. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake mix, flour, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap. The dough will be oily. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
  • To make the cheesecake filling, using a mixer, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Using a teaspoon, scoop out cheesecake filling and place on a plate. Continue scooping out cheesecake filling into teaspoon balls until you have 10. Place plate in the freezer and freeze for at least two hours.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. To assemble the cookies, take about ¼ cup of red velvet cookie dough and flatten in your hands. Place a teaspoon of cheesecake filling in the center and wrap the cookie dough around the filling. Gently roll into a ball and place on prepared baking sheet. Scoop onto lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheets. Only bake 3 cookies at a time. The cookies are large and will spread. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until the cookies begin to crackle. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Remove from baking sheet to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
  • Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or over a double-boiler. Drizzle the white chocolate over the cooled cookies. Let the cookies set until the chocolate hardens. Serve and enjoy!
  • Note: if you are going to store the cookies for more than a day, you may want to keep them in the refrigerator. You can make the cookies smaller. Just use less dough and filling. You want to make sure you completely wrap the cookie dough around the filling before baking-so it doesn't leak. Enjoy!

Have you tried this recipe?

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Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies-you will love the cheesecake surprise in these easy red velvet cookies! #redvelvet #cheesecake #cookies #ValentinesDay #Christmas
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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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  1. OMG…you are right..I am not set with my holidays cookies…I am going to make these. Very soon, actually. I have actually used the boxed red velvet mix from DH for cupcakes and it’s really pretty great so I am sure that you would never know in these cookies. Plus, with all of the baking going on, sometimes it’s nice to have a mix. I can only imagine how wonderful the cheesecake filling tastes with this. It’s perfect since you usually have a cream cheese frosting on Red Velvet Cake.

  2. I wish we had that cake mix here:( I will have to be creative because those sound wonderdful

  3. What a fun surprise in the middle! I’m not much for the mixes either- but they are so fabulous in a pinch 🙂

  4. You are definitely forgiven, although I’d be even more convinced if you sent a few of these my way:-)

  5. omg, Maria..you just took my breath away. I am in LOVE with red velvet anything and this just took the cake. I’m so going to try this immediately. This looks absolutely delicious! Thanks so much for this 🙂 🙂

  6. These are gorgeous…inside and out. The frosting, the filling, the color. Guaranteed shoe-in for the foodie sites 🙂 and yes, I need to add these to the baking lineup!

  7. Those do look great! I saw some red velvet biscotti made with a cake mix, too. I’ve never even noticed red velvet cake mix in the stores. Better look!

  8. These look delicious. Hi, do you know if they will turn out just as good if I make them smaller? I want to stretch the recipe for a holiday treat exchange :). Thanks.

    1. I only made giant cookies, but I am sure smaller ones would work. Just make sure the dough is wrapped around the cream cheese filling so it doesn’t leak out:) Enjoy!

  9. I’m sure there are many cookie swappers who are busily revising their baking plans after seeing this recipe! Gorgeous, and perfect for the holiday.

  10. These are beautiful! My husband looooves cookies, and red velvet is his favorite cake. That is what he wants every year for his b-day. He will flip when I make these, which I will!

  11. omg, i made such a horrible mistake coming here before lunchtime!
    these look deeeelicious! i love red velvet, ESPECIALLY the red velvet cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory!
    must. try.

  12. Should these cookies be refrigerated if not eaten right away? I’m always unsure about what to do when cream cheese is involved. I can’t wait to bake some of these cookies!

  13. These look and sound amazing! My husband loves all things red velvet. I think I need to make these for him this weekend!

  14. I can definitely promise you that I will make these cookies. They look simply totally amazingly awesome! Wow…you really out-did yourself…again. What a great recipe!

  15. You know, I’m not a fan of cake mix either but this one sounds like it would be great with that cream cheese filling. I made Devil’s Food cake cookies using boxed mix and they were great too. Some flavors just work! Best part, they stay moist.

  16. hiya I live in the UK I would love to make these Red Velvet Cockies but we don’t have the boxes red velvet cake mix do you know how else i can make them please? thank you

  17. I love red velvet, too! And your cookies are just gorgeous. I’ll have a couple and a big glass of milk, please 🙂

  18. These are gorgeous! The perfect colors for the holidays. I love getting to use a box mix and turning it into something amazing!

  19. howwww am i supposed to finalize my holiday baking list when you keep adding amazing things like red velvet cheesecake cookies?!! although these will probably just end up being red velvet cookies since i will have eaten all of the cheesecake filling 🙂

  20. I may be blind, but I don’t see anywhere on this post how many cookies I can get out of this? Need to know how many batches I am going to HAVE to make 😀

  21. I made red velvet black and white cookies last year and so I think I’m due for another red velvet-y cookie! These look fabulous! That cream cheese center sounds downright addictive.

  22. These look divine! Two of my favorites – red velvet + cheesecake – in one! I just had the Cheesecake Factory red velvet cheesecake the other day and made mini red velvet cupcakes with cheesecake “frosting” so this cookie is totally down my alley!

  23. I had no idea there was such a thing as Red Velvet Cake Mix! Woo-hoo…actually am really excited about that!
    These cookies are so smart and look so delicious!

  24. Ils sont très beaux j’adore
    Voilà des images bien méritantes
    Je te souhaite une excellente journée
    Valérie

  25. I am adding these cookies to my list as well! Do you have any suggestions if I try to make the red velvet from scratch? Can I just use the regular recipe, or do I need to add/subtract anything from it?

    1. I have never made them from scratch. You will have to add more ingredients if you try to. The cake mix is the bulk of the cookie base.

  26. These cookies are beautiful. I am not a cheesecake fan, you think I could just make regular sized cookies and add white chocolate chips?

  27. All I can say is wow! My daughter loves red velvet cheesecake so these are definitely going on the baking list for Christmas! Thanks!

  28. Love the cheesecake filling! And don’t let anyone hate on you for using box mix instead of baking completely from scratch – having an infant is a lot of work!

  29. Love these, but not a fan of cheesecake. Think the recipe would work making smaller cookies, omit the cheesecake filling and just adding white chips?

  30. I really, really love the idea of these Maria, and they’re oh so festive with their red color and white drizzle.

  31. Made these tonight and they are delicious and pretty easy (I’m young and don’t bake often so if I say they’re easy than they must be). I was a little worried at first because the cookie mixture was super thick and it was hard to mix. It got stuck in my mixer and I had to use a knife to get it all out of the beaters. Also, I only cooked three at a time but I could have definitely fit 5 on the cookie sheet. After I transferred them to the wire rack the middle fell right through one of the cookies =(. It’s ok though, we ate it anyway! I cooked them for 12 minutes but they probably could have used an extra minute or two. I didn’t use all of the dough yet so I will correct all of my problems tomorrow. It would be awesome if these could be made smaller but I am too much of an amateur to figure out the time and temperature smaller cookies would need on my own. Over all great recipe and my family loves them! Thanks!

  32. Thank you for all the wonderful recipes! Everything I’ve made on your site has been fabulous and received rave reviews! And my xmas cookie list has grown! I can’t wait to try my new recipes! Keep up the inspiration!

  33. I have been wanting to make some type of Red Velvet Cookie for quite some time! And yours look truly delicious 🙂

  34. I made these this morning – my first foray into “from scratch” (if you don’t include the mix) baking. I made them for a cookie exchange party tonight – am hoping they taste as good as they look. 🙂

  35. Have you ever frozen the dough and then baked them later? I would like to make them in advance but don’t want to kill their goodness!

  36. I just made these and they’re a site to behold. Beautiful cookies and so freaken easy! how’s that possible?! and you bite into them and it’s like ‘surprise bet you didn’t expect that eh?”

    thanxx for the recipe!!

  37. Can anyone say Yum!! I made these cookies today. The first pan, I did exactly by the recipe. They are huge. The rest of the batch I made half size, if you can it that. It’s still a good size cookie, just not humongous. In my oven, they cooked the same amount of time as the big ones 13 minutes and I was able to get 6 on a tray instead of 3. Thanks so much for this lovely recipe. I’m new to your site but will be visiting again and often! Merry Christmas baking!!

  38. Your recipes look delicious – I am new to your blog. I just have to ask, and please forgive me if it’s rude, but how do you stay so thin? Do you actually eat any of the things you bake?!

  39. Anyone at 5,000 feet (altitude) try this recipe yet?? I really want to do this, but baking anything in Denver is always tricky…

  40. A quick question. I made the cookies Saturday and now on Monday the filling seems to be separating. It’s very grainy. I haven’t kept them in the fridge and have slept just fine. Is this just the nature of the beast and we should have eaten them faster? Thanks for your help.

    1. I am not sure because ours didn’t last that long:) You can try keeping them in the fridge next time…or just eat them faster..ha!

  41. Made these cookies and they are a HUGE hit! Definitely making them for neighbors and Christmas parties. But we are eating the first batch ourselves! 🙂 Thanks for sharing.

  42. I made these Sunday and they are beautiful and delicious. I will definitely be making them again for Christmas! I did cut the size in half so I got six on each cookie sheet. I did have one issue though…the centers of mine did not spread all the way. I have a big lump of the filling in the centers, they are not flat like yours.

    I followed the recipe exactly, just made the cookies smaller. Any suggestions? I really like the filling but would rather have it spread more evenly. Next time I may mix white chocolate chips in the cookies and pipe the cheesecake on top. Thanks for an awesome idea! I love your recipes!

    1. I haven’t tried it, but I am sure you can! I would use 6 tablespoons, at room temperature. Let me know if you try it!

  43. I made these cookies for a cookie exchange party on Sunday night. They were a HUGE hit!!! My entire family loved them also.

  44. I had issues with the filling. Mine came out very loose. It wouldn’t form into little balls. I’m refrigerating them right now and hope they will firm up enough for me to form the balls and then freeze. Any suggestions on fixing the issue in the next batch so it’ll be a stiffer mixture?

    1. Did you put the filling in the freezer? The filling won’t be solid, but cold enough to work with.

    1. I don’t know because I only made the cookies using a mix. I haven’t tried playing with the recipe. Sorry! If you can find a red velvet cookie recipe from scratch you can use that.

  45. I just made these tonight!!! Adjusted the size a bit – they were a huge hit!!! Thank you guys so much 🙂

  46. Hi!
    I am making these fabulous looking cookies for family with along 9 other cookies. I want to know how long these will keep for. I need them for Christmas Eve and am just wondering what day you think I should make them. Thanks so much!

    Jessica

    1. If you can make them, make them the day of or the day before. Cookies are always best fresh, if you ask me:)

  47. these sound awesome…do you think it would be possible to make smaller cookies? or does it become too difficult to get the cream cheese in the center?

  48. these sound awesome…but would it be possible to make smaller cookies? or does it become too difficult to get the filling in the middle?

    1. Jon-I wanted to make jumbo cookies to give to friends. I haven’t tried to make them smaller, but I am sure it will work. Just use less dough and less filling. Make sure the dough is tucked all the way around the filling. Enjoy!

  49. These cookies are baking in my oven right now as I type!! My only question is – do you have to refrigerate the cookies due to the cream cheese filling??

    1. I gave most of them as gifts, but kept 2 cookies for us. I kept them in a ziploc bag on the counter over night and they were fine the next day. You can store them in the fridge if you wish.

  50. Hello,

    These look so good and I’m about to make them but I realized something kinda silly (I don’t bake much). Do I need the ingredients listen on the back of the cake mix???

    Like, the Hines mix calls for 3 eggs and water and oil, do I ALSO need those?

    …. I’m feeling so dumb for asking, I think the answer is no..?

    1. Don’t feel dumb:) You don’t need to pay attention to the box, just the recipe. Only use the ingredients listed in the recipe-not the box:)

  51. I was planning on starting my baking tomorrow for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, is it too soon to bake these?? How long will these last and have you ever stored them in the freezer?? I’m Excited to make these!

    1. I would wait if you can. I gave them as gifts and we kept a few but they were gone the next day. I wouldn’t make them more than a day or two in advance-just to be safe.

  52. I made this on Sunday morning, and though they turned out delicious, the filling leaked through on all but one cookie. I’m not exactly sure why because I made sure each cookie completely covered the filling, but I suspect that it happens as a result of the cookie dough stretching out as it bakes.

    Either way, thank you for the recipe. If you have any further recommendations, please let me know. Thanks!

    1. Hmmm, mine didn’t leak, maybe make sure you have a thicker layer of cookie dough around the filling.

  53. I found your recipe via Tatertots & Jello on Facebook. I made these last night…actually it ended up being in the wee hours of this morning, but they were so worth it! OMG! I baked these to give to my 3 yr. old son’s teachers at his preschool as part of their Christmas gift. I should have doubled the recipe, because I barely got to eat one! They are so, so delicious! One thing I did want to point out or rather ask if you experienced the same thing: I let the dough chill in the fridge for 3 hours. When I took it out and attempted to flatten the 1/4 C in my hand, it stuck to me like glue! I swear, my hands looked like something from a crime scene! So, I scrapped it all off, washed my hands and sprayed them with cooking spray each time I patted and balled up the dough, which worked out perfectly for me. I’m just curious if it was something I did wrong with the recipe or if you experienced the same thing when making yours. In any instance, they were awesome and yummy, and I think I’m going to have to go by the grocery store on the way home from work to pick up more ingredients to make another batch!

  54. So far this week I have made 5 batches of these cookies!! I would have to say they’re a hit! The only thing I’ve changed is that I used vegetable oil instead of canola because the canola seemed to over power the flavor in the first batch I made. This is such a great recipe and easy to remember! Thanks!

  55. I just baked these! I tried them smaller and they do NOT work smaller….I even tried less cream cheese filling in them. They end up oozing and smash out totally flat, so I went back to the size you have on recipe and they worked and tasted AMAZING!!!! Perfect for Christmas time! 🙂

  56. Hello,

    I made the cookies and they turned out OK. I would like to point out two problems I came across. First, for those who don’t read ahead in instructions, I belatedly noticed, twice, that two hours refridgerating then freezing are required. Ended up not making the cookies til the next day. This happens to often to me so I need to read ahead, but also those instructions could noted first.

    My other problem is really weird and I’m not sure what happened. I bought Nestle Toll House Premium White Morsels. When I went to melt them I couldn’t get them to a liquid consistency? I feel like I overshot the desired consistency both times as there was a sorta mushy stage followed by a thick/crumbly stage that couldn’t be passed. I didn’t know that white chocolate was so hard to melt, is this a known issue or did I buy the wrong kind of white chocolate?

  57. i just started the batter this morning.. and when i mixed the cake mix and all the ingredients it’s still so liquidy. it’s not doughy at all. did i do something wrong? i’m just thinking there’s no way i can roll this up into a ball!

    anyway they’re in the refrigerator right now.. i hope it turn into dough afterwards

    1. It shouldn’t be “liquidy.” The dough is oily, but thick enough to roll into balls. Did you mix it long enough? Sorry you had trouble!

  58. I just made these for a girls brunch and everyone raved about them. They were so delicious. And I did make mine smaller and was able to get a little over 2 dozen out of the mix of medium to small cookies. I will definitely make them again before Christmas.

  59. I made these yesterday for my son’s school bake sale. My sister-in-law and her family stopped by as I was baking them and sampled them – they were amazing! I took a few to my sister’s family last night and they were a fast new favourite. They look gorgeous and different from other holiday cookies, and they really taste great.

    We are in Western Canada and I could not find the Duncan Hines red velvet mix at our store, so I used the Superstore brand red velvet mix and it worked great. I don’t know about the Duncan Hines mix, but the Superstore brand doesn’t use any artificial colours, which made me feel better about serving red cookies 😉

  60. I am absolutely going to make these for a Christmas Cookie Exchange I am going to this week. They sound fabulous!

    1. Probably best to store them in the fridge. I kept two out on the counter overnight and they were fine though.

  61. I made these yesterday, they were AMAZING. But I just wanted to make a note about the cheesecake filling; am I supposed to have any left over? When I used my teaspoon scoop, I ended up having lots of filling left over, so then I thought that maybe you made an error and made them all tablespoon scoops. However, I realized after trying to roll my dough around the first cookie that tablespoon scoops were way too big. Also, is it normal that my dough was cracking when I was trying to roll it around the filling?

    1. I had leftover filling too. The dough does crack a little, just squeeze it together to make sure all of the filling is covered. Glad you enjoyed the cookies!

  62. Hi! I just wanted to thank you for this recipe! I love erd velvet and love cheesecake, so when I saw this I HAD to make them. I actually made them for the first time for a company cookie contest and WON! Everyone loved them. I personally thought the filling was a little too sweet, but they were a hit! However, I did make the cookies smaller, with half of the teaspoon filling enable to have more for the party. I did not make the white chocolate drizzle, instead I purchased a white chocolate drizzle in a bottle (just heat in the microwave and drizzle over the cookies). I absoutely love this recipe and now everyone at the office is requesting them for every party! Definately plan on making these for Christmas! Thank you so much! Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

  63. I love anything red velvet, I’ve had the red velvet cheesecake and it is sinful so I imagine the cookies are too.
    Thanks

  64. is it okay if the dough and filling are fridged and froze (respectively) for more than 2 hours? i was planning on making the dough and filling then baking the cookies the following evening.

  65. I just finished making these in a smaller version and they turned out great. i cut the ball of dough in halfs and quarters until i had 16pieces and i used 1/2 tp of the cream cheese filling, and i had no issues and had enough filling for a whole other batch.

  66. I made these cookies for my coworkers and they love them!!! Everyone wants the recipe and i refuse to show them this site because I want to hog the wonderful red velvety goodness to myself

  67. Hi, will the recipe work if used Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix? Made these and they were easy and good. By the way hands also got all sticky with the mix, so I ended using the plastic wrap to use to make the cookie balls and to flatten the mix to put un the filling. It worked well and no sticking.

  68. hey so do you mix the red velvet cake mix (following the back of the box) first and then add in the flour and so forth or just add the cake powder *i hope that makes sense:/

  69. I just made these & they LOOK amazing! My 8 year old son & I had fun! Even my husband got involved when I started fussing about the stickiness of my hands. He said it looked like a crime scene!! Anyway, I recommend spraying each hand with Pam, rolling it into a ball in your greased hands, then flattening them in your hands. My son placed the cream cheese ball in the cookie dough & I wrapped it up! Worked wonderfully! Thanks so much for sharing this!

  70. These are fabulous. I made them as a last minute Christmas cookie addition. They were by far the favorites of the family. Thank you so much for sharing! Totally going on my rotation.

  71. I made a double batch of these cookies for a Christmas gathering. They were a huge hit! The only thing is, following instructions to use 1/4 cup dough, the cookies were huge, and melted into each other. After they cooled, I just cut them up into odd, manageable shapes. Everybody loved them! This is a keeper recipe, one I’ll use for all kinds of gatherings in the future.

  72. I have been looking for this recipe. Someone brought these for a holiday cookie exchange at work and they were amazing! I wouldn’t share the batch I got to bring home with anyone else because they were just too goo to share. These are highly addictive!

  73. I stumbled across your wonderfully delicious blog and made these cookies the other day. They were so very good and a hit in my house! I even had one for breakfast today.. whoops 🙂

    Following!

    xo

  74. I’ve made these cookies 1 1/2 times. I say 1 1/2 because I had cream cheese filling leftover from the first time so I only had to make the cookie dough the second time. The first time I made them they came out absolutely perfect. The cookies were soft and stayed that way (I don’t like crisp cookies) and they were gone very quickly. I did add a little extra oil and an extra half an egg because it needed just a bit more moisture to mix. The second time I made them, I made them the exact same way as the first time but as I rolled them up I could tell that for some reason they were much oilier than the first batch I made. That was a bit odd as the first time I had added extra oil to the dough and this time I did not. Then, I ended up having to cook the cookies far longer than the recommended 13 minutes seeing as how when I pulled them out, even after waiting 15 minutes for them to cool, the top was still not settled and waaay too mushy. That led to me accidentally overcooking the cookies. I put them in for a couple more minutes at a time and then I got irritated and put it in for a whole 5 minutes at a time and…well…that was a mistake. I don’t know why there was such a difference though since I kept things pretty much the same the second time around. With the memories of my first batch I will probably make these again, they were wonderful. I might cut the sugar in the cream cheese filling in half though, it was way too sweet for my taste as well as my fiance’s. Thank you for the recipe and for opening my mind up to cake-mix cookies!

  75. Do you think I could make carrot cake cookies subbing out the Red Velvet boxed cake and subbing IN carrot cake mix? I have a carrot cake mix in my pantry (for no reason…I usually make carrot cake from scratch!).

  76. These sound amazing! I’m really wanting to make them heart shaped for valentine’s day for my fiancé. Is that possible with the consistency of the dough?

  77. Ok firstly, I have to say that 2 cups of powdered sugar is way too much for that amount of cream cheese. We made these and they were fantastic but only used 1 cup sugar. Trust me I’m all for dessert and everything sweet…you can ask anyone who knows me! I love cooking/baking and my girls know yummy stuff when they see it. It was actually my 7 yr old who stumbled across this recipe. Now, for those who cannot find red velvet cake mix, you can either use any other flavor because it would be equally delish or I’m sure you can transform a yellow cake mix with buttermilk, cocoa powder and red food coloring. I have a formula in my head but I will try it this weekend and post back with my results. Thanks for the recipes…your site is beautiful and inspires me to bake more!

  78. Okay so I am making your recipe tonight. I’ve made them before but I used sugar cookie mix, cocoa powder, and beet juice. So Im ready to taste and compare.

  79. These cookies looked amazing from the beginning!! so pretty and everything(: They tasted amazing!! Best cookies by farrr((:

  80. I’m in the process of making these as we speak! dough and cheesecake mixture tasted yummy…. started baking them and there was soo much smoke coming out of the oven! i was worried i was going to start a fire! haha so be prepared!

  81. Hi there 🙂 your recipe looks wonderful, but i gotta ask
    how long will they last after you store them in the fridge?
    Do you think it could last for a week?

  82. I think you did a fantastic job on these cookies, they look amazing. I love your blog, always fresh and exciting keep up the great work!! I really wish right now there was a way I could reach thru the screen and take one of those cookies:)

  83. I made these, but smaller and it worked out great! But how did yours get all nice and flat? My filling stayed in a hill in the middle :/ Tasted great and everyone loved them though!

  84. I just made these cookies last night and they are fabulous! They are so much easier to make than I thought they would be. Everyone loved them, and they are so perfect for Valentine’s Day! Thank you 🙂

  85. Hey! so i really wanna make these but i just have a question.. do you make the cake mix like it says to on the back of the box and then use it or do you just use the powder of the cake mix?

  86. I made these yesterday and found the dough to be kind of crumbly, which was hard to work with since you have to wrap it around the filling, i refrigerated the dough for a day.. Can you tell me what i done wrong.. the cookies baked nicely but since the dough was so hard to work with i only made 6 cookies.. but they taste good and soft.

  87. My little grocery store didn’t have red velvet cake mix, so I made them with the vanilla and rainbow bit flavour and they are delish!! I made them smaller, I made 20 instead of 10, so I did half tsp balls of cream cheese. I had sooo much cream cheese and powdered sugar mix left over though?? Not sure why? They were for a birthday so I just used the leftover as icing on the cookies. They were really fun to make and they’re so soft, thanks for the recipe!

  88. I made this on a whim last Friday Night, and they were FANTASTIC. This is the first time I’ve ever made a cookie dough that needed to be chilled (I feel so grown-up now!), and I was really excited at how easy they were to make. I actually made 3 dozen smaller cookies using the recipe, and 1 big cookie (for myself, of course), and everyone who had them loved them!! I gave up chocolate for Lent, so these were literally a Godsend!!

    Next time, I will get to try out the White Chocolate drizzle on top, and I can’t wait…going to try substituting the Red Velvet for plain old Chocolate Cake mix, and Chocolate Chips! Thanks so much for this recipe!!

  89. I am thinking of making a slightly doctored version of these cookies for a St. Paddy’s party I am going to this weekend. I thought they would be amazing as a GREEN velvet version, possibly with a mint flavor for the cheesecake filling (I am still debating that). I was wondering, however, your recipe says to refrigerate the cookie dough at least 2 hours – would be it okay to refrigerate it overnight, do you think? I am hoping so, so that I can make the dough Friday and assemble and bake the cookies Saturday morning. Anyway, a friend did make your original recipe over the holidays and she was kind enough to share with me. They are DELICIOUS. I will probably be making them again later this year, for Christmas. Such a good recipe! And they look even more gorgeous and delicious in person!

  90. These cookies look awesome. I wanna bake them this weekend. Can I use Wilton candy melts for the topping instead of white chocolate chips?

  91. can I use a family red velvet cake recipe and just add 2 more tablespoons of flour or would it be better using the pre packaged cake mix and the ingredients on the recipe?

  92. quick question; do you also use the ingredients on the back of the Duncan Hines box or do you just pour the Duncan Hines mixture and combine with all the ingredients you only listed?

    1. Use the dry cake mix and then the ingredients listed. Don’t follow the box instructions.

  93. These are now top of the ‘MUST Bake’ List – they sound like one of the best things on this planet! Wish I could jump into the screen and eat them.

  94. I made these today for my boyfriends birthday and he LOVED them! He ate 5 today, including 3 in just one sitting. The extra cookies were loved by my whole family and friends as well. Thank you so much for the recipe, I love your blog!

  95. I’m from Germany and can’t get my hands on one of these boxed mixes. Do you have a suggestion on how I can deal without it?
    thank you in advance 🙂

    1. Hi Judith-I haven’t made the cookies without a box mix. You can try finding a red velvet cookie recipe and then adding the filling.

  96. The cheesecake filling is way too runny to “make into balls”. It’s more of a cream cheese frosting than a cheesecake filling. I even tried adding butter to thicken it up. Wondering if anyone else had this problem? I think the recipe needs to be tweaked.

  97. I just baked a batch today! They taste amazing! I recommend this recipe! I do suggest cutting the filling amt in half… I had lots of little filling balls left. I will probably make another batch with the rest.

  98. I’m not sure what we did, but we only got 5 HUGE cookies out of this mix. Also, no one could finish more than one. Many of us couldn’t even finish one (and these are people who LOVE sweets). We went to bed feeling miserable, shaky, and nauseous. However, when I woke up in the morning I wanted another bite. I’m not sure if they were good or bad. They were the devil though.

  99. These look AMAZING. My boyfriend’s birthday is coming up next week and he loves red velved cake. We have been on somewhat of a health kick together lately, though, so I though maybe cookies would be a better option (because we could each have one, and then I could freeze the rest more easily than I could freeze a cake in our small freezer).

    How many cookies did this make for you? You said they were big–how big? I don’t have a wire cooling rack– is this absolutely necessary?

    Thanks!

  100. Yum! I made these for my little cousin’s birthday party. After posting a picture on facebook, I got some requests to make them for other events. Definitely a new favorite around here. Thanks for posting!

  101. I love that you used a box mix for this! Nothing wrong with that! 😛 I feel like now. . whenever people pull out the box mixes for cakes or brownies or whatever, they feel like they are cheating or something. . I do bake from scratch a lot but I don’t discriminate! 🙂 box mixes are great too when needed and when you’re in a rush! Thank you for the post! It’s about time I saw this one. . (from 2011). . I LOVE Red Velvet anything!

  102. I actually stumbled upon this recipie from the CTFxC daily Vlogs. Alli was making them in one of her videos and they looked amazing. I decided to make them for my boyfriends birthday since he LOVES red velvet but a random thought crossed my brain… Since they make such huge cookies would it be possible to place the ball into a greased cupcake pan instead and make it into more of a cupcake than a cookie or does the mix just not work properly for that? Hmm….. I’m highly tempted to try it.

  103. So the other day my friend got me a huge cupcake cake pan and a DH red velvet cake box… I instantly thought about saving the cake pan for another time. I than thought “What was that recipe that I made around x-mas last year that involved cream cheese and red velvet boxed cake batter?” I thought it was red velvet whoopee pies. I searched high and low and non of them made me complete. I knew this wasn’t the thing I baked.. For some reason I looked on my stumble upon HOPING that I saved your recipe. Well I FOUND IT ON THERE! And thus i am waiting for my cookies in the oven! They are the most amazing cookies ever! I added drk blue food coloring for the filling and adding orange to the white chocolate for Halloween!

  104. living in new zealand – what do you mean by powdered sugar? is that just normal white sugar or icing sugar or caster sugar?
    these sound yum!!

  105. These cookies are a hit when I make them, I add a little extra vanilla and cream cheese when I make these, I also use Betty Crocker cake mix. Absolutely amazing thank you! My finances coworkers love them, they sell at the bake sales so fast regionally my favorite cookie 🙂

  106. One other thing Iwanted to add was the fact that I’ve made these many times and I live rolling the dough in balls before putting it in the fridge! Then reroll them after they come out of the fridge they are smoother and don’t crank as much 🙂

  107. I just made these cookies and I have so much leftover cream cheese filling. It says to only make 10 balls of filling but I have over half a bowl of filling leftover! Did I do something wrong?

  108. Hi!
    What if I want this recipe to yield 20 cookies?
    I would make 20 half-teaspoon balls of cheesecake, and use 1/8 cup cookie dough instead of 1/4.
    But would this change the baking time/the amount that can be baked at once?
    Thanks!

  109. Thank you. I made these cookies for a party that my sister was baking for, and they were a hit. Very easy to make it. I made extra and froze for a next time. this is a recipe I will be coming back to.

  110. just made these for my office holiday bake sale…piped the white chocolate into snowflake patterns onto some of the cookies… didn’t have proper piping tools so just used a ziploc bag… first time baking anything (and this was at 3am) but this recipe was really easy to make 🙂 also, i substituted canola oil for half olive oil and half coconut oil – consistency was perfect. https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/603911_2033681055823_1349842292_n.jpg

  111. I made these for a bake sale and they were a big hit. I made them smaller and they turned out great.
    Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe!

  112. These cookies look wonderful! I can’t wait to make them for a cookie exchange at work next week! Where I live in Canada I can only find a box of red velvet mix that makes 12 cupcakes or a small cake, where I know most box cake mixes would make 24 cupcakes or a larger cake. So I was just wondering if you have an actual quantity of how much box cake mix you used (or did the box mix make what a “normal” boxed mix would)? In that case I will use two of the kind I have!

  113. Maria, Josh awesome yet simple recipe. Tried it out yesterday. Worked like a charm. Some minor issues, my filling didn’t freeze, even over night, so it got messy. but follow the link and check em out hahaha

    Thank you.

  114. Made these for a cookie exchange this past Saturday and they were a resounding hit! Some comments on the recipe, however…
    1. Cheesecake Amount – I didn’t skimp on the size of my cheesecake balls and still had ALOT of it left over. The portioning doesn’t seem correct. I multiplied the recipe x3 and had enough filling for almost 60 full-sized cookies.
    2. Filling doesn’t freeze solid, which makes sense. My solution was to freeze on a few different sheet pans and rotate them out to avoid too much meltage. Worked out well.
    3. White chocolate chips needs to be blended with vegetable shortening. This is the only way to make it thin enough to drizzle. Otherwise, you just get a thick white chocolate paste. I also had the same issue where I made a batch for 30 cookies worth and still had alot left over after 60 cookies.
    4. For size reference. these come out about the circumference of a compact disc. I can’t imagine wanting to make them any smaller with the risk of not being able to enjoy enough filling!

    Shared this recipe with everyone. Got comments like “This is the best cookie I’ve ever had!”. Thanks again for an awesome idea to contribute to my cookie exchange party!

  115. I just made these and they are so good! I made smaller ones – used 1/2 tsp for the filling and about 1.5 tbsp for the cookie dough. I got 32 cookies out of it! The dough is really sticky, so it was a little hard to handle, but I just made sure to flour my hands in between forming each cookie. Maybe chilling it longer would help; I only did the minimum of 2 hours. If you are thinking about making these, you should!

  116. I made these last year for family Christmas gatherings, and everyone LOVED them! I intend to make them this year for a cookie exchange at work. I want to bake the cookies as close to the party as possible, but I was hoping to make the batter in advance. Would it be okay to leave the cookie and cheesecake mixes in the refrigerator overnight and bake the next day?

  117. I am making these cookies for the first time today! I got my first ones baked & I must say they look amazing! Can’t wait to put the white chocolate on there & try one! A little twist I did was color the cream cheese mix green for Christmas! Will repost when I try one!

  118. I’ve been baking for a long time, and really truly wanted these to be delicious… but they’re not. They are oily and gross. They LOOK beautiful. Well, 4 of them looked beautiful. The rest of the batch exploded all over the baking sheet, even though I tried several different methods of sealing the cookie around the cream cheese filling. Oh right, the filling. Let’s talk about the filling. I LOVE vanilla, but there is so much vanilla in this filling that it tastes like crap. I didn’t think it was possible to have too much vanilla flavor, but apparently it is. I’d recommend cutting the vanilla to 1/2 tsp if you want to actually taste the cream cheese. I’m not sure what could save the dough, though. All I could taste was oil.

  119. Made these tonight. They are AMAZING…. and ironically taste a little like brownies at first. Anyone else think so? Either way, they are simply delish! Thanks for the recipe!

  120. Just finished making these. They look and taste divine. They are not difficult to make but a process waiting on the fridge time. I would put more cream cheese in the filling and hope they turn out the same way. P.s. I used candy melts for the drizzle topping. I got a little water in the cady melts the first time I tried to melt them and had to re-do the drizzle. Haha. Boyfriend is very very happy.

  121. I’ve got my mix and my cheesecake balls ready to go. Refrigerating over night to bake around noon tomorrow! Excited to taste the turnout!

  122. Hi! This is seriously the most amazing idea for a cookie ever! I actually made a gluten free version for my friend’s birthday. She always gets the shaft when it comes to baked goods, so I wanted to make her something special. Not only did she love them, but everyone at the office is always so obsessed when I bring them in. The gluten free version is so good, that people don’t even notice! Thank you so much for the inspiration!! http://bit.ly/YZMu1I

  123. I made these once and they were great! However, this time I made them the cheescake filling is disappearing into the cookie. WHen I break one oopen it can’t be found? I did change the oil to butter and am cooking them at325 for 12 min on a silpat. Do you think any of these things are making the difference?

  124. Amazing cookies!! I tried Duncan Hines cake mix, it is great!! One day I wanted to make it again but our grocery store didn’t have it in stock but they did have President Choice – red velvet cake mix, here I am “great what should I do?” I end up buying the PC and use it. OMGosh taste even better than Dencan Hines. Not sure if PC is sold in the US but Canadian ppl u must try it. Mmmmm!!

  125. I stumbled upon this recipe while browsing through Pinterest for Valentine’s baking ideas. I made a batch for my parents, my boyfriend, and a friend. All of them were in LOVE. I felt like a hero. My boyfriend says it’s by far the best cookie he’s ever had. I made the cookies the day before I delivered them, and I kept them separated on a plate over night in the fridge. The next day I simply placed three or four in a gladware container and delivered them. They are much better warm or at room temperature, so I let them set out before eating them.

  126. These look sooo good! I want to make them but we don’t have red velvet cake mix here. Can I use a Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge mix instead? Thank you so much!

  127. I wish that people would only comment after they have actually made a recipe. I would like the opinions instead of all the “Oh My, these look so yummy”. It really isn’t helpful at all.

  128. So, I made these two weeks ago (minus the white chocolate drizzle, because I thought it’d be overkill) and they were a hit! Although they were a pain to construct, the outcome made it very much worth it. My only problem was with the cake batter, because I couldn’t get it smooth. I literally had to piece cake around the filling. The extra oil did make it a tad easier. Any tips on better batter in the future?

  129. These cookies are amazing! I made them for a friend’s birthday a while back and everyone is always asking me to make them! Haha, instead of freezing the filling I like to fill a pastry bag with it and poor a small amount into the cookie before folding it like normal. It ended making a MUCH smaller mess! Haha, terrific recipe! <3

  130. I’ve made these twice and everyone loves them. I was even asked if I could turn this into a cookie cake… Any tips on how to acheive that??

  131. These look great. Thank you for sharing this recipe, But I have to ask can they be frozen after they are made? Could you please let me know as I would like to make a batch of smaller cookies for a Christmas cookie exchange. Thanks a bunch.

  132. I am making these right now and I am having trouble! I am hoping you can help me and maybe give some pointers. So I followed your directions for the dough and the cheesecake filling, now I am trying to put my cheesecake teaspoons in the dough but the dough is so sticky its sticking to my hands but because my cheesecake filling is frozen it is not sticking to it making it very hard to get it to wrap around. Any suggestions?

    1. I haven’t tried freezing them, but I am sure they would be fine. Just freeze them before you do the glaze. Let them defrost on the counter and then glaze them!

  133. Help! I made these and they tasted okay but the dough was so sticky I couldn’t get the cake mix off of my fingers. The only thing I did different is that I used melted butter instead of the canola oil. Is that why? Also if you put white chocolate chips in instead do you mix it with the batter and bake for the same amount of time? Thanks!

  134. Okay – so these turned out way better (and prettier) than I expected! Delicious, easy and they look gourmet! Thanks for sharing!

  135. Are you supposed to mix the cake mix according to the directions on the box? I followed what I thought the instructions said and mixed two tablespoons of flour with the cake mix and it turned into a ridiculous, sticky slime. If that’s the case, perhaps you could make the instructions a bit clearer.

  136. The cookies were delicious, cooked them for about 12.5 minutes and they were perfect! A great recipe! Thanks!

  137. This recipe didn’t work! I bake all the time with recipes taken from websites, and it seems like there was something very wrong with dough itself. It never firmed up enough to form into a cookie…

    I wonder if the authors left a step out?

  138. I made these for gifts for our neighbors. I made regular size cookies and they worked out just fine. All of your baked goods are always so moist, easy to make, and absolutely delicious!

  139. I kept the dough overnight, it was still TOO greasy and very hard to shape the balls as its sticky. Worst dough i’ve ever made.

  140. I made these and the consistency of the dough was impossible to work with so I couldn’t fill them with the cream cheese filling (which wasn’t the best) but they tasted ok but I won’t be making them again

  141. Soooo… I just tried this recipe out and it did not come out properly. The dough was not workable so I had to adjust the recipe to thicken it up. And then after baking it, it came out all hard (it was only baked for 13 minutes) and tasted like sawdust with sugar. I used a different cake mix Betty Crocker’s.

    It looked good though. 🙂

  142. I made these today and (even as a 19-year-old with no baking experience) the recipe was simple and they came out perfectly.

    (I’d just use less sugar in the filling.)

  143. So, I tried making these only with chocolate in the middle instead of the cream cheese (not everyone in my immediate family cares for cream cheese), and I was slightly disappointed.
    I pretty much just followed this intensive recipe to end up with chocolate chip cookies. They didn’t even really have the signature red velvet taste to them at all.. and I used the recommended cake mix brand. So.. I’m not sure where I went wrong, but I thought I would leave some feedback.

  144. Made this cookie about 2 years ago, and it singlehandedly inspired me to get into baking. Made this again last week, bringing back fond memories. Thank you!

  145. I made these and they turned out AMAZING!!! Everyone at school lovee them. Making them again today…..a big hit

  146. I tried this recipe out on my blog this past weekend and all of my co-workers loved these cookies! I made them a lot smaller though. I was worried that these would be a lot of work, but they actually came together really easily. Thanks for sharing and hope you like the pictures I did of my attempt at these!

  147. These cookies were so pretty! Unfortunately, they were just too sweet for us. I could only finish about half of one cookie. Even my kids thought they were overly sweet. (And we normally do enjoy cookies and other sweets). I thought we might try making them again but alter the recipe to use only half as much powdered sugar mixed in with the cream cheese. But two years have passed and the kids haven’t asked for the red velvet cookies again, so we’ve just gone on to try other dessert recipes instead.

  148. Is it possible to make these into a shape? I was thinking of trying to make them into candy canes but I don’t know if they will spread too much and lose their shape.

  149. I found this recipe and made a triple batch for a Christmas cookie exchange at work. Very inexpensive and totally Devine!!!

    A few warnings. Take the time to read through all of the directions. I just skimmed them and then was in for a surprise when I started rolling up dough and saw the you bake so few at a time. I did make mine a little smaller but they are still big cookies.

    Next, I needed an extra pair of hands to put the cookies in and out of the oven because my hands were covered in dough. Of course if I hadn’t been making so many that would have went smoother.

    And finally, have some oil in a small bowl to rub on your hands between the cookie assembly to keep the dough from sticking to your hands as badly.

    Of course I did make a few extra for the family but they have already demanded their own batch this weekend.

    Merry Christmas!

  150. Hey, I tried to make those cookies and they were heavenly.. but they were so sticky! Any ideas why and how I could fix that?
    Thanks!

  151. You lost me at “ONLY BAKE THREE COOKIES AT A TIME”  Who in the heck has that kind of time to bake a full batch???

  152. 4 stars
    while these cookies are not hard to make they are a little time consuming but worth the effort. I made the filling, them froze & then rolled into balls & froze individual balls.

  153. I have made these a handful of times over the last few years and everyone absolutely loves them. A few recommendations I figured out after several trials: I make them smaller than the recipe suggests. You can get a few more out and they are still a decent size. After covering the cream cheese ball with dough, I put an extra little patch of dough on the bottom of the cookie to prevent any leakage. I also bake them a few minutes longer than the recipe calls for. Pro tip: spray your hands with cooking spray before sizing out each cookie. Makes the dough much easier to work with!

    1. I was wondering about if they are shippable as well, they look like they would make a beautiful valentines present for my BF if they are

  154. I had terrific trouble working with the dough?? It wanted to stick to my hands. I tried flouring my hands. Didnt help. I tried using food prep gloves. Didnt work. I chilled my dough 3 hours. What am I missing?

  155. My cookies do not spread enough and if I try to bake them longer they just get very crunchy.. what am I doing wrong?

  156. 5 stars
    These are amazing!! My family loves them so much. They only made like 12 cookies though, so we doubled the recipe

  157. 5 stars
    I’ve been using this recipe for years and it’s gotten rave reviews from friends, family, and especially my students (I make extra large ones for their birthdays with their names written on it :)!! They are so easy to whip up and I’ll often prepare extra dough and freeze it (it freezes well for up to 3 months, approximately). These delights are so moist and tasty and when I feel like giving myself an extra treat, I make a cookie ice cream sandwich with them…divine!

  158. I have the red velvet in the fridge now and I have made the cream cheese filling. If you want a really festive cookie, try dying the cream cheese filling green!

  159. Although they were delish, I will try them with half the powdered sugar in the cheese mix.. They were just too sugary and could hardly taste the cheese..#twopeasandtheirpod