Start by preheating your oven to 350°F (175°C). This is an important step because it ensures that your cookies bake evenly and come out perfectly. While your oven is heating up, you can move on to the next step—getting your ingredients ready.

In a large bowl, combine the red velvet cake mix, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix everything together until smooth. The dough will be thick, which is exactly what you want. Don’t worry if it’s a little sticky—this will help the powdered sugar stick when we roll the dough into balls.

Now, the fun begins! Take about 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. You can use your hands, but if you have a cookie scoop, this will make the job a lot easier and help you get perfectly uniform cookies. Once the dough is rolled into a ball, coat it generously with powdered sugar. This is what will give your cookies that iconic crinkled look once they bake.

Place the sugar-coated dough balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Be sure to leave some space between each one (about 2 inches apart), as they’ll spread out a little while baking. Now pop the baking sheet into the oven and bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when the edges are set, and the tops have a nice cracked, crinkled look. Don’t overbake them, though—they should still be soft in the middle.

Once your cookies are done baking, let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. I know it’s tempting to eat them straight out of the oven (I’ve definitely been there), but they’re best when they’ve cooled off just a bit.