These rich and decadent Ooey Gooey Butter Christmas Cookies are so deliciously soft they will literally melt in your mouth. They’re perfect little confections that are easy to make and are guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser!

red and green sprinkle cookies stacked on top of each other

Gooey Butter Cake Mix Cookies

I won’t go as far as to call myself a cookie connoisseur; however, I do make dozens of cookies (and I mean dozens) every year, especially during the holiday season.

Out of all the cookie recipes I make, cake mix cookies, like these Lemon Cake Mix Cookies, Grinch Crinkle Cookies and these Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies are some of the most requested.

These Ooey Gooey Christmas Cake Cookies with their colorful sprinkles, will be a festive addition to place on your holiday cookie tray. Their rich butter flavor makes them completely irresistible. They really should come with a warning: You can’t eat just one! No, seriously, you can’t. Trust me!

Think of these soft and chewy cookies as homemade cookies with a short cut. It’s a super easy recipe that starts off with just about any flavored box of cake mix you like. A few simple ingredients are added to create a yummy cookie dough. Once the dough chills, powdered sugar, sprinkles or sanding sugar coats the dough balls creating a crinkle look as they begin to bake.

Ingredients Needed to Make Gooey Butter Cookies

Ingredients of Ooey Gooey Butter Cookies on a white counter. These are the following, butter, vanilla extract, cream cheese, yellow cake mix, egg, powdered sugar, and Christmas sprinkles

1/2 cup butter, unsalted, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup Christmas sprinkles (red, green, and white jimmies)

A photo grid process of preparing Ooey Gooey Butter Cookies. Starting off with mixing all ingredients together in a bowl and chilling the cookie dough for 30-40 minutes. Then scooping each cookie and putting it on a tray for baking.

Preheat oven to 350
Place a silpat liner or parchment paper on a ungreased cookie sheet and set aside.
In medium-sized mixing bowl cream together the butter, vanilla, egg, and cream cheese until fluffy and mixed well.

Mix in cake mix and stir until combined. Stir in ¼ cup sprinkles.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill cookie dough for 30-40 minutes.
Remove batter from refrigerator and roll into 1-inch balls.
Roll the cookie balls in sprinkles, then in confectioner’s sugar, until entire ball is coated.
Place dough balls on lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until just golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then complete cooling on a wire rack.

*For optimal freshness, store these cookies in airtight container for up to a week.

Can I Freeze Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies?

Absolutely! These cake mix cookies actually freeze really well for up to a couple of months. I love to bake a double batch and freeze one for when we need last a last minute snack idea. For best results, freeze just a few in freezer bags so that you don’t have to unthaw all of them at once.

Ooey Gooey Butter Cookies on a baking tray.

What other Cakes Mixes Make Delicious Gooey Butter Cookies?

There are so many different gooey cookie variations you could try. You can use this same recipe but change up the flavor of the cake mix to create endless possibilities. Here are a few ideas to give you a little inspiration:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies– Chocolate cake mix with peanut butter chips
Snickerdoodle Cookies-White or yellow cake mix rolled in a cinnamon and sugar
Red Velvet Cookies- Red velvet cake mix with white chocolate chips
Funfetti Cookies- Funfetti cake mix and top the cookies with extra sprinkles
Peppermint Cookies- White cake mix and add in crushed peppermint candies
Strawberry Chocolate Chip– Strawberry cake mix with mini chocolate chips
M&M Cookies– Yellow cake mix with mini M&Ms

Tips for the Best Gooey Butter Cookies

For even baking, use a 1-inch cookie scoop to ensure your dough balls are all the size.
Cake mix cookies are a little more delicate than some cookies. To keep your cookies from breaking apart, allow them to cool completely before you serve them.
Chilling the dough before is important. If you rush this step, the cookies will flatten out too much while baking.
Keep some and give some away! These awesome cookies make wonderful teacher’s gifts, sweet treats for your neighbors and will be all the envy at the next holiday cookie exchange. Place the cookies in decorative cookie tins, or clear cellophane bags with a pretty bow for that extra special touch.

More Christmas Sweet Treats

An ooey gooey Christmas cookie covered in red, green, and white sprinkles sits on a pristine white surface.

Ooey Gooey Christmas Cookies

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 9

Total Time 19

These rich and decadent Ooey Gooey Butter Christmas Cookies are so deliciously soft they will literally melt in your mouth. They're perfect little confections that are easy to make and are guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser!

Video

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350
Place a silpat liner or parchment paper on a baking sheet and set aside.
In medium-sized mixing bowl cream together the butter, vanilla, egg, and cream cheese until fluffy and mixed well.
1/2 cup butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1 egg, 8 ounces cream cheese
Mix in cake mix and stir until combined. Stir in ¼ cup sprinkles.
1 box yellow cake mix, ½ cup Christmas sprinkles
Chill cookie batter for 30-40 minutes.
Remove batter from refrigerator and roll into 1-inch balls. Roll the cookie balls in sprinkles, then in confectioner’s sugar, until entire ball is coated.
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
Place balls on lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until just golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then complete cooling on a cooling rack.

Nutrition

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Categories:

Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Food, Holidays,

4.96 from 23 votes (15 ratings without comment)

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20 Comments

K says:

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These cookies look flat, not round. Should I flatten the round dough ball before going into the oven?
Dorothy Raudebaugh says:

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Definitely a 5 Star
June Benoit says:

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Made these and they are delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and my cookies turned out perfect. I would make 2 suggestions:
1. Sift the confectioners sugar before putting it in a bowl to dip the cookies. I also sifted more confectioners sugar over the cookies once out of the oven.
2. If you have to cook the cookies in 2 batches like I had to, keep half the dough in the refrigerator to keep it chilled in between batches.
Alicia says:

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great tips! So glad you like the cookies.
Neillana says:

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Fabulous cookies. Kids ate them up.
Pat says:

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Can you freeze the Ooey, gooey Christmas cookies
Alicia says:

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Yes. Place the cooled cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in freezer until cookies are just frozen. Remove them and place in an air-tight container or ziptop bag and place back in the freezer. They should last up to 3 months.
Barb Haney says:

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Wonderful recipe! Easy to follow and make! Very festive for the holidays!
Karen Musselman says:

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delicious made 3 batches this month everyone who received them needs a refill daughter can’t stop eating them at 44 She’s a kid inside
just wonderful and easy to make giving this a 10
Alicia says:

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glad you loved them! It’s become one of our favorites! My son asks for these every Christmas.
Isabelle says:

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So simple to make.. I use a gluten free vanilla cake mix, you don’t know they are gluten free. Delicious 😋. I’d like to try lemon, do you have recipe? Thanks
Alicia says:

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thanks! We have a lemon cake mix cookie that we like: https://balancingmotherhood.com/lemon-cake-mix-cookies/
Marion says:

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I made these twice already and they were so good. You can’t just have 1 or 2🤦‍♀️😂. Very easy to make. I’m making it for a (girl) baby shower, I’ll be using pink jimmies. Thank you for sharing
Alicia says:

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I love the idea of using them for a baby shower. They are so interchangeable with different colored sprinkles!
Martha says:

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These look so yummy. Wondering if they can be made in a 9 x 13 pan for bar cookies?
Alicia says:

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I think that’s an interesting idea, but it would need many modifications to work. I haven’t tested that so I can’t recommend. These are a very delicate cake like cookie that need to be dredged in powdered sugar in order to work properly so I don’t think making them in a bar format would work.
Lyndy says:

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These should be called birthday cake cookies! They taste like a yummy birthday cake. I used rainbow nonpareils and the sprinkles mixed into the dough seemed to just disappear into a swirl of color. The outer crust of sprinkles really make these cookies pop. Mixed with the powdered sugar it makes it taste like they are frosted. Sometimes I don’t like the raw taste of powdered sugar, but with this cookie it kind of melds and brings about that frosting taste. So easy and so yummy! I think they will be a hit in my assorted cookie platter that I’m making for Christmas. Thanks for sharing!
Christi winter says:

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My Niece gave me recipe
I’m making them next
Christi winter says:

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My Niece gave me recipe
I’m making them next
Nannie in NJ says:

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These are tasty! Suggest wearing plastic gloves if rolling by hand. I may have made the balls larger than 1” so obviously they took longer to bake. After 10 minutes I flattened them slightly.
I was looking for a quick, easy cookie to make and these fit the bill! My husband thought they were great!