These Pink Velvet Cookies are thick, buttery strawberry cookies with creamy white chocolate chips and festive sprinkles. Pink velvet cookies are soft, tender cookies with a pretty pink color, often topped with frosting. This version gets its pink color and flavor from strawberry cake mix, so you don't need food coloring, and there's no dough to chill. Enjoy them plain, or finish them with an optional pink buttercream.
These oversized cookies are perfect for Valentine's Day, bridal and baby showers, homemade gifts, or an afternoon treat. For a lighter cookie with a powdered sugar crinkle finish, try our strawberry cake mix cookies.
Pink Velvet Cookies at a Glance
- 🍓 Flavor & Texture: Sweet strawberry, creamy white chocolate, and thick, buttery cookies with tender centers.
- 🛒 Main Ingredients: Strawberry cake mix, butter, egg, egg yolk, vanilla, white chocolate chips, and sprinkles.
- ⏱️ Total Time: Approximately 42 minutes, including cooling.
- 🍪 Servings: Approximately 12 large cookies (3-tablespoon scoop).
- 🎀 Optional Topping: Pink buttercream, enough for all 12 cookies.
- 🥗 Dietary Info: Contains wheat, dairy, and eggs. Check ingredient labels for other allergens.
- 🥛 Best Served With: Cold milk, coffee, or hot chocolate.
- 🧊 Make Ahead?: Yes. Bake in advance and store or freeze.
- ❤️ Why You Will Love It: Thick, buttery, and pink without food coloring.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Bakery-Style Texture: Thick cookies with tender centers and lightly set edges make every bite satisfying.
- Easy Cake Mix Shortcut: No measuring flour, sugar, or baking powder, and no food coloring.
- Perfect for Parties and Gifts: Pink cookies with white chocolate and colorful sprinkles are ideal for Valentine's Day, showers, and gift boxes.
How We Tested Pink Velvet Cookies
- Butter vs. Oil: Melted butter produced richer, more buttery cookies, while our oil-based strawberry cookies were lighter, softer, and chewier.
- Extra Egg Yolk: Adding a yolk helped keep the centers tender. Using only one whole egg resulted in a cakier texture.
- Size and Shape: A 3-tablespoon scoop made about 12 large cookies. Lightly flattening the dough created a traditional cookie shape, while unflattened dough stayed puffier.
- Baking Time: 11-12 minutes worked best, with set edges and centers that still looked slightly soft.
- Decorations: Pressing extra sprinkles and white chocolate chips onto the dough before baking gave the prettiest finish. Minor color bleeding was normal.
- Frosting: We preferred the cookies without frosting because they're less sweet, but they're still delicious with pink buttercream. Raspberry powder added raspberry flavor and pink color, while food coloring added only color, and both tasted great. Milk made a lighter, easier-to-spread frosting with a sweet-butter flavor, while cream was richer, silkier, and held a swirl better, but it can soften in a warm kitchen.
Ingredients
You only need a box of strawberry cake mix and a handful of baking staples to make these colorful cookies. A simple pink buttercream is optional.
For the Cookies
- Strawberry Cake Mix: A 15.25-ounce box provides the strawberry flavor, the pink color, and the cookie base, so no food coloring is needed.
- Unsalted Butter: Melted and slightly cooled for a rich, tender result.
- Egg and Egg Yolk: Bind the dough and contribute moisture.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the sweetness and flavor.
- White Chocolate Chips: Add creamy pockets of chocolate throughout.
- Sprinkles: Valentine's Day or other festive sprinkles give the cookies a festive finish. Jimmies generally hold their color and shape better than tiny nonpareils.
For the Optional Pink Buttercream
- Unsalted Butter: Creates a creamy, spreadable base.
- Powdered Sugar: Sweetens the frosting and gives it structure.
- Milk or Cream: Loosens the frosting to a spreadable consistency.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds flavor.
- Freeze-Dried Raspberry Powder or Pink Food Coloring: Adds the pink color. Raspberry powder also adds raspberry flavor.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Lemon Strawberry: Add ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest for a bright citrus flavor.
- Smaller Cookies: Scoop 2-tablespoon portions and begin checking for doneness earlier.
How to Make Pink Velvet Cookies
These cookies come together in four simple steps using one mixing bowl.
Step 1: Prepare. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the melted, slightly cooled butter, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth.
Step 2: Mix the Dough. Stir in the strawberry cake mix until combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles.
Step 3: Shape and Decorate. Scoop approximately 3 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Roll into balls, place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets, and lightly flatten. Press additional chips and sprinkles onto the tops.
Step 4: Bake and Cool. Bake for 11-12 minutes, checking at 11 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers still look slightly soft. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Optional Pink Buttercream
If you'd like frosted pink velvet cookies, this quick buttercream makes enough for a light spread or small swirl on all 12 cookies. See the recipe card for amounts.
Beat the Butter and Sugar. Beat the softened butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined.
Add Flavor and Color. Add 1 tablespoon of milk or cream, the vanilla, and the raspberry powder or food coloring, and beat until fluffy. Add the second tablespoon only if the frosting is too stiff to spread.
Frost the Cookies. Spread or pipe a small amount on each cooled cookie. Double the recipe for a thick swirl on every cookie.
For another easy pink cookie, try our cool whip cake mix cookies. They use whipped topping for a different soft cookie texture and have a pretty powdered sugar finish.
Storage Directions
Room Temperature: Store completely cooled, unfrosted cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Store frosted cookies in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 2 days, and if you stack them, put parchment paper between the layers so the frosting doesn't stick.
Refrigerator: Refrigeration isn't necessary for unfrosted cookies. If you refrigerate them, keep them airtight for up to 1 week. Refrigerate frosted cookies if your kitchen is warm, where they keep for 4-5 days. Let them sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before eating so the frosting softens.
Freezer: For longer storage, freeze the cookies unfrosted in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 2 months, separating layers with parchment paper, and frost them after thawing. Frosted cookies can be frozen, but the frosting may weep or soften as they thaw.
Pink Velvet Cookies FAQs
Pink velvet cookies are soft, tender cookies with a pink color, often topped with frosting. This version doesn't need food coloring or frosting, because the strawberry cake mix provides the pink color and flavor, and white chocolate chips and sprinkles finish it.
No. This recipe is designed to be scooped and baked immediately.
Cake mix contains leavening ingredients that make the dough rise. Gently flattening the dough balls before baking helps them spread into a more traditional cookie shape.
Yes. Leave them out or replace them with another type of chocolate. The cookies will still have their strawberry flavor and pink color.
Yes. Use the optional pink buttercream above, which covers all 12 cookies with a light spread or small swirl. Double it for a thick swirl on every cookie.
These cookies use melted butter, an extra egg yolk, and larger dough portions for a richer, thicker texture. Our original strawberry cake mix cookies use oil and a powdered sugar coating for a lighter, crinkly finish.
Serving Suggestions
- Valentine's Day Dessert Platter: Arrange these cookies with Valentine Oreo balls and Oreo hearts for a festive assortment of pink and chocolate treats.
- Cookie and Candy Gift Boxes: Package them with homemade strawberry truffles and sugar cookie blossoms for a thoughtful edible gift.
- Family Dessert Night: Serve with peppermint hot chocolate or cold milk for an extra-special treat.
More Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes
Keep the celebration going with these sweet treats from Kitchen Divas.
If you try this recipe and love it please leave a star rating in the recipe card below or even better, drop a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to follow along with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube for more easy recipes!
Pink Velvet Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 box (15.25 oz) strawberry cake mix
- ¾ cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup Valentine's Day sprinkles plus more for topping
Optional Pink Buttercream (enough for 12 cookies)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, or 4 tablespoons, softened
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon freeze-dried raspberry powder or 1-2 drops pink food coloring
Instructions
- Prepare. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the melted, slightly cooled butter, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth.
- Mix the Dough. Stir in the strawberry cake mix until combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips and Valentine's Day sprinkles.
- Shape and Decorate. Scoop approximately 3 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Roll into balls, place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets, and lightly flatten. Press additional chips and sprinkles onto the tops.
- Bake and Cool. Bake for 11-12 minutes, checking at 11 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers still look slightly soft. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Optional Pink Buttercream
- Beat the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined.
- Add 1 tablespoon of milk or cream, the vanilla, and the raspberry powder or food coloring. Beat until fluffy. Add the second tablespoon only if the frosting is too stiff to spread.
- Spread or pipe a small amount on each cooled cookie.
Notes
- Cake Mix: Use a 15.25-ounce strawberry cake mix.
- No Chilling: No chilling is required. Scoop and bake right away.
- Baking Time: Start checking for doneness around 11 minutes.
- Sprinkles: A little color bleeding from the sprinkles is normal.
- Storage: Store unfrosted cookies airtight for up to 4 days. Store frosted cookies in a single layer, airtight, at room temperature for up to 2 days, with parchment between any layers, or refrigerate them in a warm kitchen for 4-5 days and let them sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before eating. Freeze unfrosted cookies for up to 2 months and frost after thawing. Frosted cookies can be frozen, but the frosting may weep or soften.
- Frosting Amount: The batch covers all 12 cookies with a light spread or small swirl. Double the recipe for a thick swirl on every cookie.
- Milk or Cream: Milk makes a lighter, easier-to-spread frosting with a sweet-butter flavor. Cream makes it richer, silkier, and a little thicker, so it holds a swirl better, but it can soften in a warm kitchen. Start with 1 tablespoon of either.
- Raspberry Powder or Food Coloring: Raspberry powder adds raspberry flavor and pink color, while food coloring adds only color. Both taste great.
- Nutrition: Nutrition information is for an unfrosted cookie.
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