In today’s post: Learn everything you need to know about making cake mix cookies – the basic recipe only takes three ingredients! You can use any flavor of cake mix you like best, plus you can add mix-ins, frosting, and more to create a myriad of cookie options. Below you’ll find the basic recipe, my best tips to make sure your cake mix cookies turn out amazing, and links to TEN different recipes so you can make everything from peanut butter blossoms to double fudge cookies to easy cheater sugar cookies.
Cake Mix Cookies
So why do I like cake mix cookies so much?
- They’re super easy to make! You can usually mix up a batch of cake mix cookies in one bowl with a wooden spoon in about 5 minutes (no mixer needed!), making this a great recipe for kids.
- Starting with a box of cake mix minimizes the other ingredients you need to measure and add. A basic cake mix cookie recipe only requires a cake mix, a couple of eggs, and one stick of butter – which means you don’t have to measure anything!
- They’re so soft! The texture is just spot on with cake mix cookies. They bake up super soft and delicious.
- They store well and stay soft for days in an airtight container (not that we ever have any left for long!)
- They make a smaller size batch than most traditional cookie recipes. Often we don’t actually need 3-4 dozen cookies, so it’s nice that most cake mix cookie recipes make about 2 dozen cookies. Of course, if you do need more cookies, you can easily double the recipe using 2 cake mixes.
Cake Mix Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 15.25 oz Cake Mix any flavor
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Butter softened
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 365 degrees.
- Stir the three ingredients together in a bowl until combined.
- Scoop onto a lined cookie sheet by rounded tablespoons.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are set and tops are cracked. Cool on the bakng sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Once cool, store in a covered container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Tips
Note: I always use these Nordic Ware Half Sheet Pans for baking cookies – they cook evenly and clean up beautifully!
Why Are My Cookies Flat?
The traditional cake mix cookie recipe can bake up a little bit flat, which makes them perfect for sandwiching with frosting in between. However, if you want puffier cookies, more like a traditional chocolate chip cookie, you can make these adjustments:
- Add 2 tablespoons of flour (or cocoa powder if you’re using a chocolate cake mix) to your batter. Alternately, you can decrease the melted butter by a tablespoon.
- If you live at high altitude, try baking the cookies at 10-15 degrees above the baking temp (decrease baking time by a minute or two).
- Cake mix cookies cook best at smaller sizes. I use just over a tablespoon of dough for each cookie, which yields a slightly smaller cookie with a great texture. I’ve found that if you try to make big cake mix cookies they just don’t bake as well and often end up flat. So if you’re using a standard size cookie dough scoop, don’t fill the cookie scoop all the way.
- Let the dough rest for 10 minutes after mixing together. The dough will stiffen as it rests, giving you puffier cookies.
- Undercooked cookies will go flat, so if yours are quite flat you can try baking a minute or two longer.
Finally, as I mentioned above, if you use the basic cake mix cookie recipe (cake mix + 2 eggs + 1/2 cup softened butter) the cookies will bake a little flatter, which makes them nice for sandwich cookies. If you want a puffier cookie, like for a chocolate chip type cookie, you’ll want to add a little extra flour or decrease the butter (or just follow one of my recipes below).
Cake Mix Cookie Recipe Variations
I’m linking to all of my favorite cake mix cookie recipe variations at the end of the post (scroll down until you see the photos), but the sky is really the limit here! You can experiment with different flavor combinations to get your perfect cookie. Here are some ideas:
- Chocolate Cake Mix with peanut butter chips and M&Ms
- Strawberry Cake Mix with white chocolate chips
- Spice Cake Mix with butterscotch chips
- White Cake Mix with coconut and chopped almonds
Cake Mix Cookie FAQs
I’ve made cake mix cookies with just about every brand of cake mix (including generics) and they all work ok. I do prefer Betty Crocker cake mixes however – I think they give the most consistent results – and my next choice would be a Duncan Hines mix.
You sure can. The only thing I’d mention here is that I’ve found the Red Velvet cake mix flavor tends to give flatter cookies. I don’t know why this one flavor acts differently, but it does. So if you want to make Red Velvet cake mix cookies, I’d recommend using oil instead of butter and decreasing it to 1/3 cup.
I will almost always recommend a homemade frosting, because I think frosting from a can is usually pretty terrible. HOWEVER, the Better Crocker Cream Cheese Frosting is actually pretty good. One can is a good amount of frosting for one batch of cookies. If you’d like a really great homemade cream cheese frosting recipe, you can find one in this post: Soft Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Cake mix cookies bake best when you line the baking sheet with parchment paper or a cookie sheet liner. If you don’t have either of these, use just a very light shot of nonstick cookie spray on your cookie sheet.
Cake Mix Cookie Recipes
Here’s you’ll find a running list of all my cake mix cookie recipes. Click on the photos or links to get the full recipe for each cookie!
Dorothea says
When I was a kid , long time ago. They made a Butterscotch cookie. It was so yummy. I have tried to fone a recipe for that cookie for years with no luck. Do you have any suggestions?
Would really love to recreate that cookie from my childhood.
Marian says
Can you give me some idea what the cookie looked like? Was it layered with peanut butter between the layers? Many years ago, I made cookies that were more like a candy. They were made with butterscotch pudding, and you rolled out the dough, cut it in strips and spread peanut butter on 4 of the 5 strips, then layered the strips with the plain one on top. It was then refrigerated. It was then sliced to serve. If this is the cookie, email me I think I may still have the recipe.
Autumn says
The taste and cooking time will alter slightly if you use oil, but you should be able to substitute oil in for the butter without too much variation in the end result. It may require a little experimenting to get the cooking time perfect. If you try it, let us know what you find out!
Carol says
I made the red velvet cookies for a friend and also made sugar free snickerdoodles with sugar free yellow cake mix and sugar substitute in the cinnamon for his dad that is diabetic the cookies turned out perfect, and as pretty as a picture. Thank you for the ideas.
Anna says
I lovr it
Glenna says
I would like to make orange cookies but can’t find orange cake mix how do I get add orange oil or flavor to get this flavor?
Nancy says
Try using orange soda or orange hi c. I seen a recipe where you use a cake mix and soda