Easy Cake Mix Cookies
These Cake Mix Cookies are my favorite sweet to bake up when I’m short on time. Mixing up a box of cake mix with just eggs and oil gives you two dozen soft, chewy cookies that taste like you actually spent time measuring things out. They’re ready to hit the cooling rack in under 15 minutes, making them a total lifesaver for those last-minute sugar emergencies!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Easy Cake Mix Cookies
- Ready In: 15 minutes
- Serves: 2 dozen
- Main Ingredients: 1 box, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- Why You'll Love It: These Easy Cake Mix Cookies are a brilliant three-ingredient shortcut for anyone who wants soft, chewy treats without the flour and mess. Using just a box of mix, eggs, and oil, you can whip up a batch of cookies in under 15 minutes. It's a simple recipe that’s easy to customize with your favorite mix-ins and always satisfies a sweet tooth!
A Brilliant Shortcut for Busy Bakers
Hey friends! I hope you’ve been enjoying the Christmas season. I have been spending lots of time with my family, so not as much with Southern Plate. I know y’all are busy with family as well and neither one of us would have it any other way! Still, I am looking forward to slowing down and connecting with y’all more once the holidays are over.
Today I’m sharing some of my favorite cookies when I want to make up a treat but am limited on time (and don’t want the mess). There are endless variations and we each have a favorite. Brady loves the chocolate chocolate chip, Katy the red velvet, and Ricky and I are very partial to the strawberry. If you came to one of my book signings for my latest book, Sweetness, and had a cookie (or two), it was this recipe.
These would be an easy addition to your cookie trays, and yet another blessing to others, this Christmas! Of course, Sweetness would also be a great gift. It’s a book of memories, love, blessings, and recipes written in honor of and dedicated to my grandparents. Click here to see it on Amazon and purchase it for around $10.
Also, make sure to check out this list of my favorite muffin recipes!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Cake mix
- Large eggs
- Vegetable oil
Variations of Easy Cake Mix Cookies
- Red Velvet Cookies: Use red velvet cake mix and stir in 1 cup white chocolate morsels after mixing.
- Chocolate Chippers: Use chocolate cake mix and stir in 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels after mixing.
- Strawberry Crinkles: use strawberry cake mix and stir in 1 cup white chocolate morsels after mixing. Roll the dough balls in confectioners’ sugar before placing on the baking sheets for a pretty snow-capped crinkle.
- Butter Pecan Crinkles: Use butter pecan cake mix and stir in 1/2 to 1 cup pecan pieces after mixing. Roll the dough balls in confectioners’ sugar before placing them on the baking sheets.
How to Make Easy Cake Mix Cookies
1. Prep and Mix
Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine your cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil. Grab your electric mixer and beat it on medium speed for about 2 minutes. You’re looking for a thick, smooth dough that holds its shape!
2. Scoop and Roll
Form the dough into small balls, aiming for a size just slightly smaller than a golf ball. Place them on ungreased baking sheets. If you’re making the “crinkle” version, this is the part where you’d roll those balls in a bowl of powdered sugar before putting them on the pan.
3. Bake and Set
Slide them into the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Remember, we’re looking for just a hint of gold on the edges. Once they’re done, let them sit on the hot baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before moving them. This “carry-over” heat finishes the centers without drying them out.
4. Cool Completely
Move the cookies to a wire rack or just let them stay on the sheet until they are totally cool. This helps so they don’t break apart when you pick them up!
Storage and Freshness
These cookies stay soft for a surprisingly long time! Keep them in an airtight container or a simple zipper-seal bag at room temperature for up to a week. If you want to get ahead of the game, you can even freeze the baked cookies and just pull one out whenever the mood strikes.
Ingredients
- 1 box 15 to 18 ounces cake mix (see variations for flavors)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the cake mix, eggs, and oil in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended, about 2 minutes.
- Form the dough into balls a little smaller than a golf ball size and place them 2 inches apart on 2 ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake until very lightly browned at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely before removing from the baking sheets.
*sniffle* So sweet! I feel you, my baby girl is 41 and I promise you, it keeps getting better and better! God bless you and yours, this season and the coming years. You have been a blessing to our family for some time now. Thank you for all the memories you helped create and the love and good cheer that goes into each blog. You are part of our extended family, and we all love and appreciate you Christy!!
I adore the book, Sweetness, got it on pre-order. My dear husband eyeballs the book and asks, “ooooh, what are you going to make next?” I am thinking, these cake mix cookies!
I recently read a tip about how to make cookies rolled in powdered sugar look prettier: First roll the ball of dough in granulated sugar, then roll in powdered sugar. For some reason this helps prevent the dough from absorbing the powdered sugar. I have tried it this year and found it really does work.
Will these cookies freeze well?
Helenwell – After the cookies completely cool, put them in Ziplock freezer gallon size bags. Place a paper towel between the layers, if you plan to stacking the cookies. This always works well for me.
(((Hugs))) Christy, he’ll always be your little man, just now in a grown man’s body.
Enjoy these times, looking back is bittersweet, but making new memories is nothing but sweetness.
This momma thought life just wouldn’t be the same once her boy went off to college.
But he came home often and always brought friends with him. We were only 45 minutes from campus so I got to be a little reminder of home for many fine young people during those years. I learned how to make really BIG batches of rice krispie treats (25 cups of cereal at a time, lol, so every guy on the hall could have one).
He never moved back home after graduating but he still brings friends back for home cooking and hugs.
There are great adventures awaiting you in the grown-up Brady years! He’s gonna make you prouder than you can imagine right now. And you are going to be better than fine because it’s all a part of God’s plan.
Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy making those wonderful memories!
Wow! I’m not Christy, but thank you for your kind, encouraging words. I needed that!
I needed to hear this too. My son is 21 and in college near home so he still loves here, but he will be moving to college before long to finish his degree. Thanks for the encouragement!
Just to let you know I teared up with you after reading this!! That’s so sweet!!
I love this quick cookie recipe also!! I’ve done it with a cherry chip cake mix that was yummy too!!
I use chocolate cake mix with white baking chips. After baking and while still warm, I roll the cookies in confectioners sugar. Delicious!
i’ve been making these cookies for probably 20 years – they’re so quick and really tasty. but the recipe i got was for 1 stick of melted butter, 1 egg, and 1 box of cake mix, so that’s how i’ve always done it. i might try with two eggs just to see the difference!
we usually do a yellow cake mix, with chocolate chips, for a quick cookie everybody likes.
…i also want to add that one night i was super tired and forgot to put the egg in, so it was just a stick of melted butter and cake mix, with chocolate chips. and the cookies still turned out ok! not nearly as good, and a lot crumblier, but they weren’t terrible. it wasn’t until they were all already wolfed down that i confessed i’d forgotten the egg.
… so if you’ve ever got a hankerin’ for cookies and have a cake mix and either oil or butter, but no eggs, it might be worth a shot to try it all on-purpose like. 🙂