Have you ever been craving cake so you pick up a box of cake mix, bring it home, and then decide that maybe, what you really want, is cookies? So now what?
All you have is cake mix but your stomach is screaming coooooookies!!! If only there was a way to turn that cake mix into cookies… Well you’re in luck, because there is!
Making cookies from cake mix is actually quite easy so sit back, relax and read on. You will be eating cookies in no time.
The Basics
There is a general formula that you can choose to follow which will turn just about any box cake mix into cookies and that is: 1 box of cake mix + 1/2 cup oil + 2 eggs.
Using these ingredients rather than what is instructed on the box will make the cake mix much more dense and cookie like. No need to whip the batter a certain amount of time or add the ingredients in any specific order, all you have to do is throw everything in a big bowl and stir.
This basic formula will work for almost any box of cake mix that you have. Chocolate cake, funfetti or red velvet, it doesn’t matter! Just eggs and oil will make cookies!
While most box cakes recommend you use vegetable oil in their instructions, feel free to switch this up too. Give coconut oil a try or even melted butter will do (especially since cookies are usually made with butter anyway).
Once you have mixed your makeshift cookies together, scoop them onto a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees. The time may vary depending on the type of cookies you are making and the cake mix which you used. I always start checking the cookies after 6 minutes of baking to see how they are looking.
Just like with regular cookies, you are looking for browning around the edges and for the centers of the cookies to be set (no longer liquid). Use your best cookie judgment to see when they are ready to be pulled out! You’ll be eating cookies from cake mix in no time!
Another Cookie Trick
After following the basic method of turning boxed cake mix into cookies, you can make your mix even more cookie like by adding some typical cookie mix ins, aka chocolate chips.
You have the batter ready, now grab a bag of chocolate chips and mix them in too- your makeshift cookies will instantly be more like a traditional cookie!
Just as you can mix so many things into regular cookie dough, the case is the same with cookie dough made from cake mix. Add some chopped nuts, M&M’s, or even sprinkles- anything your cookie craving heart desires!
Cinnamon added to vanilla cake mix cookies will give you a snickerdoodle type cookie, while adding sprinkles to yellow cake mix will be a birthday cookie cake explosion. Get creative- that’s what baking is all about!
Roll Them
If you don’t want to add things to your improvised cookie dough, you can always just roll the dough in toppings to be more like a cookie and less like a cake.
Roll your cookie (cake) dough in cinnamon and sugar before baking. Powdered sugar is also a great cookie topping as it will cause a cool crackle effect as it bakes. Just roll the dough in sprinkles rather than mixing them in for a candy-crunch shell on the outside of your cookie.
Whatever you do, just don’t leave that cookie dough plain- how boring… (but seriously if you want to leave it plain, it will still be tasty enough to eat a whole dozen).
Check out this video showing the process:
Transform Your Cake Mix
So if you are really craving a specific type of cookie, there may be a way to make it even when you just have cake mix. For example, if you are dying for peanut butter cookies but only have yellow cake mix, you can add 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup oil and 2 eggs to make peanut butter cookies.
Roll these cookie dough balls in granulated sugar and mark them with a fork before baking and no one will ever know that you used cake mix to make cookies.
Do you need red velvet cookies but only have chocolate cake mix? No problem. Red food dye, a teaspoon of vinegar and some white chocolate chips will give you a delicious red velvet cookie. If you don’t have red dye, skip it and just call them black velvet cookies!
Make carrot cake cookies by combining vanilla cake mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup shredded carrots, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Scoop, bake and eat a carrot cake cookie! Way better than regular old carrot cake…
If there is another type of cookie you are dying to make when you are stuck with only cake mix, just think about the main ingredient in that cookie and add it to your batter.
What makes snickerdooodles so great? Cinnamon- add that to your mix. Get oatmeal raisin by adding oatmeal and raisins (that one was easy!).
Using the basic cake mix to cookie formula and adding the ingredient you crave will make you the cookies your belly has been yearning for.
Are They Any Good?
Now that you probably have a good grasp on how to make cookies from cake mix, the question remains, are they any good? The answer- yes. It is actually quite surprising that anyone ever makes cookies without using cake mix because the result is just so, absolutely delicious.
It is so simple to just mix three ingredients together by hand that you are probably going to end up never making traditional cookies again. Why bother when you can have gooey, tasty cookies in a matter of minutes (maybe even seconds).
And with the unlimited number of ways you can alter cake mix to become the type of cookie that you want, cake mix is like the top-secret cookie ingredient no one ever told you about!
Not only can you get cookies from that box of cake mix you bought but you can get amazing cookies really quickly. So don’t be discouraged by the box of cake mix staring you in the face, you do not have to bake a whole cake.
Make some cookies, any kind you’d like and give that boxed cake mix a whole new life! Happy baking!
For more cake mix hacks, check out our article covering all the things you can do with cake mix.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.