If you’re looking for a super fast and easy cookie recipe, look no further! These cake mix cookies couldn’t be simpler and bake up in about 10 minutes!
My mom has been making this recipe for years, and the cookies have always been delicious! I decided to try my hand at a gluten-free version last night while making cookies for a friend’s wedding. I used the Aldi brand of gluten free cake mix (liveGfree) and here is what I found:
- When substituting gluten free baking mixes into a regular recipe like cake, cookies, pancakes, muffins, etc., I often need to add some extra moisture to the batter. Gluten free flours seem to soak up a lot more moisture than a wheat flour does. In this recipe, I ended up adding some extra oil to get the right consistency. You want the dough to be moist and able to hold together when you squeeze it.
- This particular brand of gluten free flour definitely did not have as much flavor as the regular cake mix that my mom always used before our gluten allergies were diagnosed. (I think she used to use Duncan Hines yellow cake mix, so if you’re not gluten free, go with that one.)
Although I often buy the Aldi brand of gluten free cake mix out of convenience, I whole-heartedly prefer the 123 Gluten Free brand of cake mix, which is available online at 123GlutenFree.com. The flavor and the texture are PHENOMENAL!!! Definitely the best gluten free mixes I’ve ever had!
They have all kinds of different mixes like spice bars, cookies, cakes, muffins, cornbread, biscuits and more! They even sell some mixes with the option to add your own sweetener, so you can use Stevia or agave or whatever type of sweetener you want! I have served several of these goodies at parties, and no one could tell they were gluten free! I highly, highly recommend trying them out!
In hindsight, I would not use the Aldi brand for this recipe again, but I do think that the 123 Gluten Free brand would be great, since it has a better flavor to it. Because the cake mix I used was lacking in flavor, I ended up making a glaze to put on top of the cookies to try to add a little something to them. With the regular Duncan Hines cake mix, these cookies were always sweet enough on their own without adding icing, but it’s totally your call.
Another note about this recipe, I tried two different techniques of forming the dough. On one sheet pan, I rolled the dough into balls with my hands before placing them on the cookie sheet. On the other pan, I simply scooped some dough out with a meatball scoop and plopped it right onto the pan without rolling it into a tight ball.
I definitely preferred the texture of the cookies that were NOT rolled tightly. They had a nice soft bite to them and a fluffier texture. I was pretty excited that the easier and less time consuming method gave the best result!
Lastly, I was baking off two cookie sheets at a time. I noticed that the ones on the top rack were done in 10 minutes. After removing those from the oven, I moved the cookies from the bottom rack up to the top and cooked them for an additional 2 minutes to get them to where I wanted them to be.
You basically want to take them out of the oven right at the first signs of them turning slightly golden brown. DO NOT let them brown completely or they will turn out to be too dry. (The sheet pan on the left in the picture above was left in the oven a little too long and became dry. I would have gotten them out a minute or two earlier if I had been watching more closely. The cookies on the right turned out just right.)
This recipe is super versatile! You can use ANY flavor cake mix. You can add ANY type of chips (chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, white chocolate), ANY type of nuts, dried fruit or whatever else you may desire!
If you have any questions or comments, please email me at anne@blessingsinsurprise.com. 🙂
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup oil (whichever type you prefer)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- up to 1 cup nuts, chips or dried fruit (optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp. lemon extract
- 4 tsp. water
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Combine the cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla extract in a bowl.
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Fold in your optional ingredient(s), if using.
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Scoop dough onto a cookie sheet using a 1 Tbsp. size meatball scoop. Note: for best texture, do not roll into balls! Just scoop and plop.
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Bake at 350 degrees for about 7-10 minutes or until the cookies just BARELY begin to turn golden brown.
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Allow cookies to cool before glazing, if a glaze is desired.
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Combine the powdered sugar, lemon extract and water in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add more water, if desired, for a thinner glaze.
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Dip cooled cookies into glaze, or drizzle on top.
Notes: 1. You may substitute any flavor cake mix and any flavor extract for the glaze.
2. If using a gluten free cake mix, you may need to add more oil to create a moist enough cookie dough. I added an extra 1/8 cup of oil to my gluten free dough.
3. Feel free to adjust the amount of moisture as needed for any type of cake mix you use. You want your cookie dough to be moist and hold together when you press it.