Quick and easy gooey butter cookies recipe, homemade with simple ingredients. Starts off with yellow cake mix. Soft and chewy on the inside, crispy and crunchy on the outside with a rich butter flavor. One of the best classic Christmas cookies ever!
I just love using cake mixes to make various classic cookies, just like these Gingerbread Cookies and these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. Today's recipe is inspired by a gooey butter cake and it's better than any recipe I have tried from scratch.
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How to make gooey butter cookies?
- Mix wet ingredients - In a large bowl, mix together butter, cream cheese, and vanilla extract until smooth
- Add dry ingredients - Add the cake mix to the wet ingredients until fully combined.
- Chill - Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This will make the dough easier to handle.
- Roll into balls - Scoop out small portions of the dough and roll them into small balls.
- Cover in powdered sugar - Roll the cookie balls in a bowl of powdered sugar until fully covered.
- Bake- The best temperature is 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.
- Enjoy! - Sift more powdered sugar on top of the cookies, if you like and dig in!
Variations
- Chocolate gooey butter cookies- Use chocolate mix to add a gooey chocolate taste.
- Lemon gooey butter cookies- Use lemon cake mix for a sweet and sour flavor.
- Gooey peanut butter cookies- Use chocolate cake mix, stuff it with mini Reese's peanut butter cups.
- Thanksgiving cookies- Pumpkin cake mix would be a great substitute.
- Valentine's day cookies- Red velvet cake mix will be a great gift to show your significant other some love. Also try out my Red Velvet Cookies recipe
- Christmas Cookies - To get into the Holiday spirit, use spiced cake mix.
- Mix in some sprinkles- This will make them fun and colorful, especially for kids.
Tips and Techniques
Do you need to refrigerate ooey gooey butter cookies? Yes. This is important because it makes the dough less sticky and easier to roll into balls.
The dough is fairly sticky- It helps to put some powdered sugar on your hands before you roll them.
Butter vs. Oil- Oil cannot be used as a substitute for butter because it makes the dough very sticky and just doesn't have the same wonderful butter flavor.
Use unsalted butter- This prevents the cookies from becoming too salty.
Use full fat cream cheese- This will give the best results for making cookies more flaky and rich. It's best to use the cream cheese bricks and not the ones in the tub.
What cake mix brand to use? Most brands should work just fine. Duncan Hines, Pillsbury and Betty Crocker are good choices.
Can these cookies be frozen? The cookie dough can be frozen in a sealed container for 1 month. The baked cookies cannot be frozen.
All ingredients must be at room temperature - This will allow them to be mixed together better and more evenly. The butter, especially, needs to be softened in order to mix with the other ingredients thoroughly.
Cookie tray must be lined with parchment paper- When the cookies are done cooling, it's easier to remove them from the pan. Baking sprays can be messy and the bottom of the cookies can become greasy.
More Cake Mix Cookie Recipes
- Orange Cookies
- White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cake Mix Chocolate M&M Cookies
- S'Mores Cookies
- Birthday Sprinkle Cookies
- Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies
Recipe
Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies (With Cake Mix)
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Ingredients
- ½ cup Butter Unsalted, Room temperature
- 1 Egg Large
- 8 oz. Cream cheese Full fat, Softened
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 box Yellow cake mix
- 1-2 cups Powdered sugar For rolling cookie dough balls
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter, egg, cream cheese, vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
- Add cake mix and mix until combined.
- Cover bowl and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to make the dough easier to handle.
- Scoop out small portions of the dough and make little balls.
- Roll these cookie balls in a bowl of powdered sugar until fully coated.
- Place them on a cookie tray, lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until edges are firm but the centers are slightly soft (should not be jiggly though!)
- Optional: Sift more powdered sugar on top of the cookies, prior to serving.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a cookie jar at room temperature for up to 3 days.
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Until next time, tata my lovelies!
Lynn
Delicious!!! Melt in your mouth!