Learn how to make the easiest cookies ever with a box of cake mix. Using only 3 ingredients, you can have some delicious cake mix cookies baking in your oven in no time. Need some quick cookies for a party? I’ve got you covered with 25 different varieties of this basic, easy 3 ingredient cake mix cookie recipe. As a wife, mom, and veteran member of many work-related social committees, I have taken served these cake mix cookies at many events including baby showers, bridal showers, tea parties, church potlucks, and family picnics. If you need a quick solution to a dessert dilemma, this is for you. Read on for the easy cake mix cookie variations using different cake mix flavors like chocolate, lemon, strawberry, yellow, funfetti and more.
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My 3-Ingredient Cake Mix Cookie Backstory
Have you ever been in a situation where someone, usually a family member, says, “We have to leave in an hour and we need to bring something for dessert.” Or, how about this one, “I need to bring some cookies for our bake sale tomorrow.” Either of those sound familiar? Similar things have happened to me. Rather than stopping by the store to pick something up, here’s a way to quickly put together a homemade treat. Once you know the basic recipe, there are numerous possibilities for variations. All you need are three simple ingredients. You may already have what you need. If you’re looking for easy cookie recipes with few ingredients, you’re in the right place. Today, I’m happy to share with you the easiest cookie recipe ever with 25 variations.
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In Praise of Cake Mixes
Before proceeding to the recipe, I would like to put in a good word for cake mixes. They are versatile, inexpensive, and many amazing things may be made from them. An essential ingredient in pea pickin’ cake is a yellow cake mix. However, cake mixes are not just for making cake. One of my favorite recipe books gives some incredible ideas about baking with cake mixes. If you feel like trying some delicious cake mix experiments, this book is for you!
Ingredients for the Easiest Cookie Recipe
1 box of cake mix
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
Instructions for the Easiest Cookie Recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add the cake mix, oil and eggs to a large mixing bowl.
Mix them together to form the cookie dough.
Add the mix-ins, such as chocolate chips and dried raspberries. Stir to combine thoroughly.
Drop teaspoon-sized quantities of the dough onto an ungreased baking sheet about one inch apart.
Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.
Using a spatula, remove cookies from the baking sheet onto a rack to cool completely.
If you are frosting the cookies, wait until they are completely cooled before frosting.
Makes up to three dozen with mix-ins, about two dozen without. If you make sandwich cookies, you will get about one dozen.
The Easiest Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 box cake mix
- ½ cup oil
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add the cake mix, oil and eggs to a large mixing bowl.
- Mix them together to form the cookie dough.
- Drop teaspoon-sized quantities of the dough onto an ungreased baking sheet about one inch apart.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.
- Using a spatula, remove cookies from the baking sheet onto a rack to cool completely.
Variations on the Basic Easy Cookie Recipe
The reason why there are so many variations of this recipe is that there are many different cake mix flavors. The type of cake mix I use most is a chocolate or devil’s food variety. It’s amazing what you can do with just one simple recipe. Not only are these delicious cookie recipes, in most cases they’re cheap cookie recipes as well. As a bonus, these are all easy cookie recipes for kids to make, if you have some little helpers in your kitchen.
Chocolate Cake Mix Options
Chocolate Chip or M & Ms Cookies
Add one cup of chocolate chips or M & Ms chocolate candies to the easiest cookie recipe ever and you will get double chocolate chip cookies or chocolate candy cookies. They are extremely fudgy and delicious. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream for a decadent treat.
Chocolate Chip Raspberry
In addition to one cup of chocolate chips, add 1/3 cup of dried raspberries. If you’re not sure how to dry raspberries, be sure to check out my post about my favorite foods to dry. I like to store my dried raspberries in the freezer. When I use them in recipes I sometimes crush them a little to make a sort of raspberry dust. The raspberry dust mixes in well with cookie dough. Not all of the crushed, dried raspberries will be reduced to dust, but there will be enough crushed dried raspberries to spread more evenly throughout the batter.
Butterscotch Chip
Add one cup of butterscotch chips to the batter. If you are a fan of butterscotch and chocolate, this one’s a winner!
Peanut Butter Chip
Add one cup of peanut butter chips to the batter and you will have chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. If you are looking for easy peanut butter cookie recipes, this variation might be interesting to try.
Walnut
Mix in one cup of walnuts for a delicious experience in crunchy, nutty chocolate goodness.
Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Frosting
If you let the cookies cool completely, you can spread vanilla frosting on the flat side of one cookie and top it with another cookie, flat side down on the frosting. What a delightful little cookie sandwich.
Sandwich Cookies with Peanut Butter
Going back to the chocolate and peanut butter theme, you could spread some peanut butter in between two of the chocolate cookies and make your own chocolate peanut butter sandwich. If you have a good peanut butter frosting recipe you like to make, that could be an option here as well.
Yellow Cake Mix Options
Chocolate Chip
This is definitely an easy chocolate chip cookie recipe, even if a bit non-traditional. Just mix in 1 cup of chocolate chips and you’re set!
Raspberry White Chocolate Chip
Another delicious combination to try is to mix in 1 cup of white chocolate chips with 1/3 cup dried raspberries. Delicious!
White Chocolate Chip Macadamia
I love the combination of white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Add 1 cup of white chocolate chips and 1/2 a cup of macadamia nuts to the batter and satisfy your white chocolate macadamia nut cravings.
White Chocolate Chip Cashew
Cashews are my favorite type of nut. When 1/2 cup of cashews are added along with one cup of white chocolate chips, the result is pretty amazing.
Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Frosting
The yellow cake mix cookies also lend themselves well to being made into sandwiches. Spread some vanilla frosting between two cooled cookies and enjoy!
Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate Frosting
Let’s get some chocolate in there. Make yellow cake mix cookies into a sandwich with chocolate frosting. Yum!
Lemon Cake Mix Options
Cream Cheese Frosted
For some reason, lemon cookies taste especially good topped with cream cheese frosting. No need to make these into sandwiches. I like to put the cream cheese frosting on a single cooled cookie, place the cookies on a platter, and watch them disappear.
Raspberry
Mix in 1/3 to 1/2 cup dried raspberries (crushed into dust and smaller bits, if you prefer).
Blueberry
Add 1/3 to 1/2 of dried blueberries to the cookie batter. This combination might even make you feel like you’re doing something good for your body. Blueberries are healthy, right?
Strawberry
I like to slice strawberries thinly and dry them as well. They become delicous little strawberry chips. Break up 1/3 to 1/2 cup of them and add them to your lemon cookie dough.
Sandwich Cookies with Lemon Frosting
Buy some lemon frosting or make your own. Either is delicious in a lemon cookie sandwich.
Strawberry Cake Mix Options
Strawberry
I like to eat the strawberry cookies all by themselves, with no mix-ins. Adding 1/3 to 1/2 cup of dried strawberries is also a treat.
Cream Cheese Frosted
Cream cheese frosting goes well with strawberry cookies. Just as with the lemon cream cheese frosted cookies, spread the frosting on a single cookie. They probably won’t last long.
Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Frosting
Make some strawberry sandwich cookies. Just put vanilla frosting in between cooled cookies for a quick treat.
Other Flavors of Cake Mix Options
Funfetti or Birthday Cake
Add some more color to these colorful cookies by adding vanilla frosting and decorating with colored sprinkles.
Gingerbread
These gingerbread cookies are delicious with or without vanilla or cream cheese frosting.
White Cake
Add some chocolate frosting on top of white cake mix cookies for a tasty experience.
Carrot Cake
Are you a fan of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting? Try carrot cake cookies with cream cheese frosting and see what you think.
Never a Burnt Cookie With These Cookie Sheets
When I moved into my first apartment after graduating from college, a fortunate thing happened. My grandmother was downsizing and moving to an assisted living facility. Guess who received her cookie sheets? I was the lucky recipient. I excitedly began to try baking with them, but quite frequently my cookies were too done on the bottom. Part of the problem was my inexperience as a baker, but the other issue was the dark, nonstick surface of the cookie sheets. As much as I loved my grandma, I needed to try something else. I bought some AirBake cookie sheets, and my cookies turned out so much better.
The baking sheets are put together like a sandwich, with metal layers sandwiching a space of air. The difference in my cookies was amazing! I still have my grandma’s old baking sheets. She baked a lot of homemade rolls on them. I still use them as well, just not for baking cookies. My trusty AirBake cookie sheets have been with me for over 20 years, and I highly recommend them.
Which of these Easy Cookie Recipes Might You Try?
Are you craving cookies now? If you decide to try any of these recipes, I’d love to know what you think. I hope you’ll agree that the basic recipe with just the three ingredients is the easiest cookie recipe ever. Did you try more than one variation? If so, which was your favorite?
Other Sweet Treats
Are you on a roll with making sweet treats? Here are some other recipes you might like to try: berry gelato, death by chocolate trifle, easy apple crisp, easy blueberry hand pies, easy blueberry cobbler, easy cake in a mug, white chocolate raspberry scones, and pea-pickin’ cake. Notice how a lot of the recipes have the word “easy” in them? They truly are easy and delicious!
More Food Inspiration
Maybe after reading this you feel inspired to make an entire homemade treat gift basket with dark chocolate peppermint bark, peanut butter fudge, milk chocolate toffee, white chocolate raspberry truffles, dark chocolate raspberry truffles, and chocolate scotcheroo bars. Any of these treats would be perfect for a tea party as well. Whether you are planning a tea party, making a treat, or making a meal, it’s always nice to have a plan. If you’re looking for a way to get more organized with your food planning efforts, I’ve got something for you. Free, editable meal planners! The templates can be used over and over, as often as you need them. You can make as many duplicates as you like, and you’ll be able to save old meal plans for future reference. I hope it simplifies things for you.
Get my digital, editable, printable templates!
I hope you enjoy making dark chocolate raspberry truffles. May all of your treat-making endeavors meet with great success!
Lisa Mitchell is a wife, mom, and school librarian who likes to create and share recipes, often using fresh ingredients from her family’s small Pacific Northwest farm. To learn more about what this website has to offer, click on over to the Welcome page.
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I love how easy these recipes are! I can make them any time! My son is a cookie monster! 😆
This recipe is perfect for anyone who needs to make a lot of cookies!
Wow! This really is easy! And I love all these variations. Definitely there is something to please anyone. Thanks Lisa!
I’m so glad you found it appealing. Have fun baking cookies!
I love a good cookie recipe. My husband and daughter always need a little something sweet after dinner. This would be a great recipe to follow for a quick dessert. My husband would like the peanut butter, I would like strawberry, and my daughter would LOVE chocolate.
Something for everyone, then. I hope you all enjoy the cookies!
Lisa, this is so helpful! It is a great idea to add at the top of the post these two buttons: print recipe and jump to recipe! 🙂
I’m so glad you like the new format. I appreciate the feedback!
Wow this looks easy enough that even I could do it. Thanks for sharing.
Of course, although you are no shabby cook with that fancy jalapeno stuff you made.=)
What an easy cookie recipe! With the many variations, there will be something to please everyone. Thanks for the post.
You are most welcome! Have fun baking cookies!