Easy Red Velvet Bars - Made with boxed cake mix! (2024)

These easy red velvet cookie bars are made with cake mix and canned frosting, so they’re super easy and inexpensive to bake up for the holidays! And the red velvet bars are a crowd favorite, too!

With all the get-togethers and parties during the holiday season, you’re going to be doing a lot of baking!

This year, why not ditch the overwhelm and have a few super simple holiday recipes ready to go for those last minute celebrations? These red velvet cake mix cookie bars aren’t just quick and easy to make! They’re also so festive thanks to the red coloring in the cookies and holiday sprinkles on top.

Your kids will have fun helping you decorate these yummy red velvet bars, and you’ll have fun making them since they don’t require you to dirty up every dish in the kitchen and drag out a 50 pound mixer! That’s my kind of baking!

What Do I Need to Make Red Velvet Bars?

Since these quick and easy red velvet cookie bars are made using boxed cake mix, you only need five ingredients (including decorations) to whip them up! To make your own Christmas cookie bars, you’ll need:

• Red velvet cake mix – Look for a 15.25 oz box
• Vegetable oil
• Eggs
• Cream cheese frosting
• Red and green sprinkles

How Do You Make Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookie Bars?

Using cake mix to make cookies and cookie bars is one of my favorite ways to prepare a quick and easy sweet treat. That’s because you don’t need any special ingredients or appliances to make it – just some cake mix, a bowl, and a spoon! And starting with a boxed cake mix is often cheaper than having to buy a bunch of different dry ingredients separately like flour, sugar, baking powder, etc.

First, add the cake mix, vegetable oil, and eggs to a large bowl. Carefully stir the ingredients together until a thick dough begins to form. Make sure not to overmix the ingredients as you’re stirring to keep your cookie bars from becoming too dry.

Once you have your cookie dough ready to go, line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper and spray it with nonstick cooking spray. This will make it super easy to remove the cookie bars from the pan when they’re finished baking.

Then, spread the dough over the top of the parchment paper. The dough will be thick, so you may need to use your hands to help work the dough toward the outer edges of the pan. Then, press the dough down with your palms to make sure it’s spread evenly over the pan like this:

Now it’s time to start baking your cookie bars. Place them in your preheated oven and cook them for 20 to 25 minutes. You’ll know the red velvet cookie bars are ready to come out of the oven when the edges are just beginning to brown and pulling away from the sides of the pan. Be sure not to over-bake them.

When your cookie bars are finished baking, remove the pan from the oven and allow the bars to cool completely. Then, run a knife around the edges of the pan and carefully lift the bars out of the pan using the edges of the parchment paper.

Transfer the baked bars to a cutting board and spread the cream cheese frosting in an even layer across the top of the bars. Decorate the icing with red and green sprinkles, then cut the dessert into squares and serve.

You could also switch out the green sprinkles for pink ones and use this easy recipe for Valentine’s treats also!

Cake Mix Cookie Bar Recipe Ideas

Once you try this recipe, you’re going to love it because it’s so simple! And since it’s so easy to make, these cookie bars are also easy to customize.

Try these recipe ideas to create a unique dessert every time you prepare it:

Try different cake mixes.

Red velvet cake mix makes festive cookie bars for the holiday season, but it’s not the only flavor of cake mix you can use for cake mix cookie bars! The recipe works perfectly with just about any flavor. The key to getting the right consistency is to check the size of your cake mix box. Since the recipe is designed for a 15.25 ounce box of cake mix, it may not work with other sizes.

Add some chocolate chips.

Decorating the top of your cookie bars with icing is a great way to add a little bit more sweetness to your treats. But if you don’t have any icing on hand, try mixing chocolate chips into the batter instead. You can use dark chocolate or white chocolate chips with your red velvet cake mix for a decadent dessert for the holidays.

Make some cake mix cookies instead.

This versatile recipe can be used to make cookie bars as well as cookies. After mixing your cake mix ingredients together, use a cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet and light press down the top of each cookie. Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to brown. This is similar to what I did for these cute Spider Web Cake Mix Cookies!

Try a homemade icing for your red velvet bars.

I’ve got an AWESOME homemade buttercream frosting recipe here with these Candy Corn Cookie Bars… seriously one of the best homemade icing recipes I’ve ever tried!

How Do You Store Red Velvet Bars?

The method you use to store your red velvet cookie bars will depend on how you decorated them. If you used cream cheese frosting, like I suggest in my recipe, the cookie bars will need to be stored in the refrigerator. That’s because the cream cheese in the frosting could spoil if it’s left at room temperature for too long. Simply place the cookies in an airtight container and store them in the fridge. They’ll stay good for up to 4 days, but they may harden the longer they sit in the fridge.

If you did not decorate your cookies with cream cheese icing, you can store your treats in an airtight container at room temperature. For best results, place them in a cool, dry place and they should stay good for up to four days.

Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookie Bars Recipe

Use the card below to print this easy red velvet bars recipe and add it to your list of sweet treats to make this Christmas:

Other Easy Treats to Bake for the Holidays

Want some other baking ideas that are super easy to prepare for the holiday season? Try these delicious recipes:

• No Bake Christmas Cookies from Store Bought Pizzelles – Just warm up icing, decorate store-bought cookies, and add them to a pretty gift tin!
• Easy Reindeer Sugar Cookies – Your kids will LOVE decorating these super cute Christmas cookies!
• Chocolate Covered Ritz Cracker Cookie Pops – I love the combination of sweet and salty in these cute dessert pops!

Hope you love these easy cookie bars! And don’t forget to PIN this post for later: