Now that Thanksgiving is out of the way, it’s all Christmas, all the time, for 25 more days! Which means cookies, cookies and more COOKIES — starting with these crazy easy Spice Cake Cookies made with a box of cake mix!
This is our third time making these Spice Cake Cookies this holiday season already. The first time was an experiment to test the recipe.
The second batch the girls helped me make for some friends who were having a bad week. You should have seen how much cookie dough twin toddlers can get stuck to everything.
These cookies would be perfect to make for a cookie exchange, especially if you aren’t the most experienced baker — these cookies are really hard to screw up!
They have e a classic spiced flavor that everyone loves and they keep really well and stay soft when packaged up for a few days. And when you roll them in sugar, they sparkle!
If you are looking for more ideas for your cookie exchange, I have to recommend a few of my other favorites: Almond Meltaway Cookies, Chocolate Biscoff Macarons, Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, The Best White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, and my personal top favorite cookie — these Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.
Every year I buy those holiday cookie and candy tower tins at Michaels and load them up with goodies for all our family, friends and neighbors.
I spend a couple of days in the kitchen baking up all of my favorite treats and I love giving them out to everyone. It’s one tradition I am really excited to get the girls involved in as they get older.
This year, my first two recipes to be added will be these Spice Cake Cookies and my new favorite candy, Pecan Caramel Bars!
You need a whopping 5 ingredients to make these cookies and they only need one bowl and one spatula to make! OH! And they take less than 30 minutes to make including cooling time — score!!
I hope you and your family enjoy these soft Spiced Cake Cookies as much as mine did. Don’t miss the quick little baking video I made at the top of the page if you have any questions!
Spice Cake Mix Cookies
Delectable Spice Cake Cookies are soft holiday cookies made from a box of spice cake mix. These are perfect for your Christmas cookie platter!
Ingredients
- 18.25 oz box spice cake mix
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with a silicon mat or parchment paper. Place granulated sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine cake mix, oil, eggs and vanilla extract until there are no large lumps left.
- Roll 1 heaping tablespoon of dough into balls and coat in granulated sugar. Place on cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches for spreading.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until the tops have cracked and the tops look set (the centers will still be gooey). Let sit for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm or store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
20Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 149Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 195mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 0gSugar: 15gProtein: 2g
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Wow! Never would know it was cake mix!! This opens a whole new category for cookies!! The possibilities are ENDLESS!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!! There were none left within 3 hrs!!
These look interesting. I had to add a quarter cup of flour just get them to the sticky point. I sprinkled in a little pumpkin pie spice because I was afraid the extra flour would diminish the flavor. They were like brownie batter before that. Just took them out of the oven, and they are cracked and look good.
So far so good, but mine look nothing like your pic, or any other cake mix cookie I’ve made. Mine spread considerably, which is actually fine as I intended to make crean cheese frosting sandwich cookies with them, but oddly there is a huge difference in appearance between my silpat sheet and my parchment paper sheet. Guess we will see how they taste!
I just made these tonight and they are fantastic!! Thank you for such a tasty & easy recipe.
I made these today with my kids and they were great! I used someone’s suggestion of adding cocoa powder to make up the difference for a 15.25 oz cake mix. They turned out rich and chocolately with a warm spice flavor. I am sure the original recipe is great too and will try it when I find a 18.25 oz spice cake mix. Super easy too!
I was out of vanilla, but had to make cookies for work tomorrow. I substituted 1/2 tsp almond extract.
Awesome flavor.
Thanks for a great recipe.
Can you add raisins and pecans or walnuts to this recipe?
Can you bake these and then freeze them? I’m trying to get ahead on my baking for Christmas and not stress about getting everything done last minute!
Just finished a batch of these, yum. Super easy, I added ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon because we like spicy. they work best to just drop a fork full into the sugar then roll it around, a bit stick on the fingers but baking is messy sometimes. They taste great, I will make them again.
Tried this recipe and the cookies were a big hit. Dough was very sticky, however, a little water on my fingers and I was able To roll it into balls very easily. It’s a winner! Will be making them again soon.
I made these today. Absolutely amazing, the best spice cookies ever! Super moist, very tasty. My new recipe for spice cookies. And SO easy lol
On a side note, my Duncan Hines spice cake mix was only 15.25 Oz, I made the recipe exactly as it stated here on this site, and they are absolutely perfect. They are very sticky, so when you roll them into the sugar that’s helps you move them easier. I used a large melon ball scoop, put them right into the sugar. And rolled it around, this made it possible to move them to the pan.
Will regular fine sugar work?
I used regular sugar, worked great.
So, my husband accidentally ordered 12 boxes of spice cake mix instead of just one for me, and I’ve been looking for fun ways to use them instead of just making regular spice cake over and over again haha. This recipe looks like it could work, but do you have any tips for using a smaller box? My box is only 15.25 and I’d really love to make these cookies, do you have any subsitution tips? Like perhaps add a little flour or something? I’d appreciate any tips as I’d love to make these cookies.
That’s what size my Duncan Hines spice cake mix was, and they turned out absolutely delicious. I followed the recipe exactly as it is, and they’re delicious. Super moist and yummy!!
I used a 16.5 oz spice cake mix and added 2 oz Calicutts Winter Chai Spiced Cocoa. This made a wonderful chocolate spiced cookie. Perfect for dessert at a chili cook off!
Can I sub veggie oil for olive oil?
Try apple sauce.
Perhaps 1 egg instead of 2. I added extra flour and I still couldn’t roll them into balls. I thought it would be a good first baking experience for my 7 yr old grandson. It wasn’t.
I am making the cookies as I type this and realized from someone else’s comment, the normal cake mix box size is 15.25. I mixed all the ingredients without even noticing, but now my dough is very sticky and I am unable to roll the balls!! PLEASE HELP ASAP!!!!!
For me the key was to refrigerate the dough before rolling it into balls.
Saralyn, I do that with all of the cake mix cookies. It really does help.
helps with frosting too
Yum, these look great!
THESE SPICE CAKE COOKIES LOOK YUMMY! I’M WONDERING HOW I CAN USE MY BOX OF
BETTY CROCKER SPICE CAKE MIX THAT IS ONLY 15.25 OZ. INSTEAD OF WHAT YOU’RE
USING, 18.25. THANKS MUCH!
What a great sounding and looking cookie! I wish I was stuffing my face with them right now!
Oh boy. I have to get my baking going. These cookies look delicious. Loving the spices.
Everyone needs a really good, easy cookie recipe for the holidays. These look and sound so delicious – I’ll definitely be adding them to my baking list.
Yay for cookies!! This is definitely my favorite season :-)
I LOVE cake mix cookies! These look perfect. :)
My daughter is coming home from college in a few weeks. Do these freeze well?
Hi Paula, I think these are best fresh. They are really easy to make, maybe your daughter will help you make them!
These cookies look absolutely delicious!! YUM!!
These look so good! I love that they will keep for a few days too.