These cake mix cookies are quick, easy and really good! Dare I say quick and easy enough to keep a little kid’s attention from start to finish! And as a bonus, I have a bunch of other delicious cookie recipes at the bottom of this post!
I’ll start this by saying that I did NOT have high hopes for this recipe. Although I am not a big baker, I like to think that I have enough skills to pull together a decent cookie from scratch. However, with two little boys literally running everywhere, I no longer have the time to bake everything from scratch. I also wanted a simple cookie recipe that I could (attempt to) make with Silas. The only thing shorter than the amount of time I have to make cookies, is his attention span.
So I decided to try something different and googled cake mix cookie recipes. And then I completely redid the recipe I found to fit what I wanted. Let me tell you, when I took that first bite of warm cookie I was…. unimpressed.
It turns out this cookie really shines after it’s cooled off completely.
Here’s what I found when I tried them again later in the afternoon. First off, they were really yummy. I had a thin cookie that was the perfect amount of chewy with just a little bit of crisp. I left them out on the counter overnight and the next morning I expected to have a dry, crumbly cookie, instead I still had perfect chewy cookies. That combined with only taking 30 minutes start to finish was enough for me to realize that this recipe was a keeper.
The secret to a chewy cookie is butter!
With this recipe coming together so quickly I think it’s a perfect “Santa Cookie”. There’s no way I can take an hour or more to make cookies for Santa from scratch in between normal dairy farm life and all of the Christmas activities we have going on, but 30 minutes is pretty doable.
This recipe is also flexible. The Santa that comes to our house likes dark chocolate so I used a dark chocolate cake mix. But if your Santa likes a vanilla cookie or maybe lemon, you can totally switch it up.
The decorating is easy too! Silas loved dipping the cookie dough balls into the sprinkles. I used a combo of THESE sprinkles and THESE really sparkly sugar crystals and I think they came out with the right amount of festive cheer with minimal effort on my part. That’s another win in my book.
I can’t wait to leave a cold glass of milk and these cake mix cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve! If you’re looking for a great Christmas morning recipe, check out my Potato Gratin or Fast and Delicious Fruit Coffee Cake.
Cake Mix Santa Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 box Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
- 2 Eggs
- ⅓ cup Melted Butter
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a large bowl combine: cake mix, eggs, sugar, melted butter and vanilla. Using a large spoon, mix until a dough forms.
- Pinch off pieces of dough and roll in your hands, making 1″ balls.
- Dip half of each ball into sprinkles and place sprinkle side up on parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Cookies will be flat and crackled when done. Be careful to not over bake.
- Let cookies rest on cookie sheet for 1 minute before removing to a cooling rack.
Looking for more Christmas cookie recipes? Check out the Houseful of Cookies- Christmas cookie blog hop I am taking part of!
What is Houseful Of Cookies?
Houseful of Cookies is an annual, virtual cookie hop, hosted by Natasha Nicholes of Houseful of Nicholes. She really likes playing on the “Houseful” theme when there is more than one of something, and since there’s more than one cookie…here we are. Each year, she gathers a bunch of us from the internet to bake up our epic cookie creations and share them with all of you! It’s a fun time, and we all have dealt with butter, flour, and various flavorings to bring you our goodies each year. This year, we present to you, our cookie hop.
Houseful Of Cookies Participants
Brownie Cookies – Houseful of Nicholes
The Perfect Christmas Sugar Cookies – Love, Jaime
Candy Cane Cookies – Brooklyn Active Mama
Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Shortbread Cookies – Honest & Truly
Gingersnap Cookies – Divas With A Purpose
Decorated Ugly Sweater Cookies – 1000 Directions
Mickey Christmas Headband Cookies – Cutefetti
Birds Nest Cookies – My Crafty Life
Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies – Kenya Rae
Gluten-Free Russian Tea Cakes – Day by Day in Our World
Not His Mamma’s Tassies – Heather Spins a Yarn
Molded Peanut Butter Cookies – This Mamas Life
Not Your Mama’s Milk & Cookies – Life of a Ginger
Peanut Butter Marshmallow Chocolate Chunk Cookies – Mama Harris’ Kitchen
Coffee Sandwich Cookies with Browned Buttercream Filling – How Was Your Day?
Butterscotch Cornflake Cookies – Omadarling
Coffee Cookies – Someday I’ll Learn
Toffee Bits Cookies – This Worthey Life
Fruitcake Cookies – Sugar, Spice, & Glitter
Keto Almond Joy Cookies – The Crunchy Mommy
Cutest sous chef ever! We like easy around here as well, and as homeschoolers, I love being able to be around but not in full control when it comes to cooking. Looks like we’ll be adding this to our math and science rotations for this month. Thanks for also giving the other Santa tip. Santa around here is pretty done with dark chocolate, so we’ll try another flavor.
I look forward to the day that the boys can make me cookies with minimal guidance!
Oh yum! That is my favorite cookie texture – chewy with a slight crisp! I will definitely be trying these with my girl this weekend.
I love a good chewy cookie!
These look so good – and so easy to make!!
I’d say easy is my middle name but you might get the wrong idea!
My dough was too wet to roll into balls, so I scooped it into the parchment paper and shook sprinkles on the the jar . Still turned out delicious.
I make some just like this except 1 egg and 8 oz cream cheese- our family favorite!
Oh, I’ll have to check that out. More dairy is always a big win in my book!
How many days in advance do you think I could make these?
They stay soft for several days jist being out on my counter so I think you’d be fine making them pretty far in advance.
These cookies are so cute!!
My oldest is 5 and likes vanilla so we made them from a French vanilla cake mix. They were a bit runny so we couldn’t make them into balls. I had to spoon them, but they still turned out fabulous! OMG they are soooo good and super easy! Both my 5 and 3 year old help make them. Trying chocolate ones tonight!
I forgot to add that I also use muffin mix for waffles and pancakes. So great to use these for other things! Makes life easier and more fun!
These were so easy to make and tasted great!
Right now, there is no way you can roll these into balls. The dough is too sticky & soft. We shall see.
Have you tried to freeze these?
I have not. Sorry!