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These gooey chocolate cookies will satisfy both the kiddos and adults. They’re easy and start with a cake mix!
Cake Mix Is The Base
One thing I love doing is using something for other than it’s intended purpose. Cake mixes are one of my go-to items for achieving this.
OK, so maybe cookies aren’t that far from being cake so use of a cake mix isn’t too radical, but it’s what you do with it that counts. At least in my book.
So a nice chocolate cake mix forms the base here, but it’s the additions that make this pretty special and give the cookies their unmistakable texture. Another plus to these cookies (if they last that is) is that they are very good keepers. I had some left in a Lock & L9ck container that I’d forgotten about for a week and they tasted just like the day I made them.
Shrinking Packages
This was adapted from an old recipe which called for an 18 ounce box of cake mix. That used to be the size of a double-layer-sized box of mix. Have you noticed now that we’re missing 3 ounces?
I’d made a straight-up mix cake a few months ago and wondered why the 13 x 9-inch cake looked a bit skimpy. I know I didn’t underbeat it. Then I looked at the box. The box seemed skinnier and then I looked at the weight. Yep, and it’s noticeable in the finished product as well.
To compensate for the lesser amount now in the box, I added 2 tablespoons of flour to the mix for these cookies. Otherwise I feared that the cookies wouldn’t turn out well.
Room Temperature Ingredients Are Important
Since it’s important to the texture of these cookies that the cream cheese and butter be perfectly blended, it’s vital to have both of those ingredients at room temperature. You should be able to stir the cream cheese easily with a spoon–that’s how you’ll know it’s at the right stage.
The Recipe
Gooey Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temp
- 1/2 cup butter at room temp
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 2 tbs flour
- confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese & butter till smooth.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Mix in in the cake mix and the flour.
- Cover & refrigerate for 2 hrs to firm up the dough.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Roll the chilled dough into balls about 1-inch in diameter.
- Place on ungreased cookie sheets 2-inches apart.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 1 minute. Then place on a rack to cool completely.
- Dust with confectioner’s sugar once cooled.
Laura Strnad says
I love that this recipe has so few ingredients and they are not expensive either. I cannot wait to make it.