Cake Mix Cookies are arguably the easiest cookies to make, and they taste amazing. This recipe features the basic structure of how to make the best 3-ingredient cookies using your favorite boxed cake brand. Whether it be Duncan Hines German Chocolate cake or Pillsbury crinkle Funfetti, you'll love how simple they are to make.
Why This Recipe is the Best
Cake mix cookies are our go-to when we want a quick, fun dessert that the kids can help with! They’re soft, chewy, and bursting with flavor—and since the base is a cake mix, you get consistent, delicious results every time. We love using different varieties like orange, devil’s food, or cherry chip to mix things up and make each batch unique.
This recipe is endlessly customizable. Roll them in powdered sugar for a crinkle cookie, stir in chocolate chips or sprinkles, or sandwich two cookies together with frosting for an easy party treat. No matter how you make them, cake mix cookies are a hit at birthday parties, bake sales, or just a fun weeknight dessert.
We love these cake mix cookies so much. Some of our favorite recipes include strawberry cake mix cookies, red velvet cake mix cookies, and Grinch cookies. They are a fun way to help make holidays like Valentine's Day and Christmas extra fun.
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Key Ingredients
No surprise here, cake mix is the secret ingredient to making these cookies quick and easy. Add in oil and eggs and you have a great cookie dough.
- Cake Mix- The best part about this recipe is you can use any cake mix you'd like. Make your favorite flavor of cake into a tasty cookie. Try flavors like Carrot Cake, Spice Cake, Yellow Cake, or Classic Vanilla. The best cake brands were Duncan Hines and Pillsbury, and the worst was Betty Crocker. The Betty Crocker box is smaller in size than all the rest so it needs less oil and other adjustments (see the recipe card notes).
- Cooking Oil- Vegetable oil has the best results when making these cookies. After lots of testing, we determined if you just don't want to use vegetable oil, using avocado or even extra virgin olive oil yields a better result than using butter.
- Eggs- If possible, use room-temperature eggs. They help the cookie to have a great soft and chewy texture.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Cookies out of cake mix
Learn how to turn a Cookies and Cream Cake mix into a handheld treat. Use the pictures below to help with texture and consistency.
- In a mixing bowl add the vegetable oil and eggs. Beat together.
- Pour in your preferred flavor of cake mix. Mix until just combined.
- If you are adding ingredients like sprinkles or chocolate chips, be sure to mix them in during this process.
- Using your hands or a cookie scoop, roll the dough balls onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. If you are making them crinkle style roll the cookie balls in powdered sugar.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes at 350° F. The cake mix cookies are done when the tops are set and the edges are matte. Cool on a baking rack for 5 minutes before eating.
Hint: It's super important that you don't overmix the dough. They'll be tough and crumbly.
Mix-ins
Mix it up by adding chocolate chips, white chips or even making them crinkled. Other favorite add-ins include stuffing the center with chocolate, rolo, or M&Ms.
Add sprinkles in a white mix for any holiday. You can get creative and make a Halloween, Easter, or Christmas-inspired cookie. Frosting also adds a fun taste and look. We love this cookie frosting recipe. Another great option is dipping them in melted chocolate or white choc and then topping the melted chocolate with mini chocolate chips or sprinkles,
Top tip
We can't tell you enough how great these crinkle! They crinkle so well. To get that iconic look just roll in powdered sugar for the full "crinkle." Make sure to discard the extra powdered sugar once you are done.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Recipe
Cake Mix Cookies
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz cake mix any flavor, see note 1 below for directions to make with another size.
- 6 Tablespoons vegetable oil or avocado
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup chocolate chips, sprinkles and more see note 2 below
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. Add the cake mix and use a spatula and mix until combined.
- Spoon dough balls onto the parchment lined baking sheet. I prefer to roll them into balls using my hands (see note 3 for tips), but you can use a cookie scoop if you like instead. Bake for 7-10 minutes until the tops are set and the edges are matte, plus an additional minute afterwards (see note 4). Allow to cool on the baking sheet at least 5 minutes. Remove and enjoy!
Notes
- I tested Duncan Hines, Pillsbury, grocery store budget brand and Betty Crocker. The best were Duncan Hines and Pillsbury, and the worst was Betty Crocker. After a lot of failed attempts I figured out Betty Crocker are best if you mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch into the cake mix mixture, then use 2 eggs and 5 Tablespoons oil. The Betty Crocker box is smaller in size than all the rest (13.25 oz instead of 15.25 oz) so it needs less oil.
- Try adding in a half cup of your favorite baking chips, sprinkles, mini rolos and more to the dough. See the "variations" section in the post above for more fun ideas.
- If you choose to roll the dough into balls using your hands and they get too sticky, try dampening your hands slightly.
- Usually I say as soon as the tops are set and the edges are matte on cookies, get them out of the oven, but these are not done at that point and will be gooey. To make sure they are fully done, after the tops are matte and edges set they should puff up pretty big and start to crinkle (around a minute or 2 later). Then they are done.
Nutrition
Substitutions and variation
We love adding extra flavor to these fun cookies. Try some of these mix-ins to really spice things up.
- Chocolate chip- Whether they are dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate, add ½ cup.
- White- Needing your classic white cake to be extra white, be sure use 3 egg whites instead of 2 whole eggs, increase oil by 1 Tablespoon.
- With butter- You can certainly substitute the oil for butter at a 1:1 ratio but for this particular recipe, we don't recommend it. The butter changes the texture quite a bit. After lots of testing, we learned that a better substituting is avocado oil or even olive oil.
- Bars- Make fun cookie cake bars by spreading the dough in a greased 9x13, and bake for 20-25 min until a clean toothpick.
Storing Cake Mix Cookies
Store prepared cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The cookies can also be frozen in a freezer-friendly container for 1 month. Eat frozen or thaw and enjoy.
Andrea says
These cake mix cookies are quick and easy to make and I love how you can use any flavor you like!