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Soft, luscious Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies are easy, and perfect for holiday festivities. Whether it’s for a party, holiday cookie exchange or gifts for the neighbors, these are perfect.
Who doesn’t love food with word gooey or butter in the title! Try these other incredible gooey foods, Ooey Gooey Chex Mix, Ooey Gooey Lemon Coconut Butter Bars and Gooey S’mores Cookies.
Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
These are not only tempting and fun, the powdered sugar coating makes them extra special. Adding almond and orange extracts makes them taste like Christmas. They are usually a favorite around the holiday dessert table.
Adding the sprinkles to the dough adds color and fun. When you add them afterwards too, it gives a bit of crunch and fun. I love the crunch from the small round sprinkles. They are melt in your mouth amazing. These Gooey Butter Cookies are definitely a cookie recipe you will want to have on hand.
Christmas Cookie Ingredients
Fun and few ingredients to make delicious morsels of goodness.
- Butter:Â Bring to room temperature
- Cream Cheese: Softened
- Egg: Large not medium
- Almond and Orange Extract: Perfect Christmas flavorings
- White Cake Mix:Â The secret to making it easy
- Sprinkles: Make it festive and fun
- Powdered Sugar: Creates the dusting of snow look and flavor
Making Gooey Butter Cookies
Super easy to put together.
- Cream:Â In a medium bowl cream together butter and cream cheese. Add the egg, almond extract and orange extract and mix till combined.
- Add: Add the white Cake Mix and mix until combined.
- Stir:Â Stir in ¼ cup of sprinkles
- Refrigerate: cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Roll: Place powdered sugar in one bowl and remaining ¼ cup of sprinkles in another bowl. Using a 1 inch cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into a ball. Sprinkle with a few extra sprinkles and roll in powdered sugar and completely cover the dough.
- Bake: Place on a greased cookie sheet, bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Tips and Variations Gooey Butter Cookies
- Flavor: The amount of extract gives a hint of flavor, so you can use any flavor you’d like lemon, coconut, vanilla, peppermint etc. You can also just use the decadent flavor of the cake mix.
- Sprinkles: You can use any different colors of sprinkles to create the colors you’d like.
- Type of Sprinkles: Jimmies in the batter don’t seem to dissolve. Other sprinkles that don’t dissolve will work too. Use any other type of sprinkle on the outside.
- Cake Mix:Â You can different type of cake mix to create different color and flavors, you really get creative with the cake mix and extracts.
- Bake: Don’t over bake them, otherwise they won’t be soft and gooey.
Storing Christmas Butter Cookies
- Store: Gooey butter cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Dough: Roll the dough out and freeze on a cookie sheet for half an hour before transferring to an airtight freezer bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and bake as directed.
- Freeze:Â Freeze completely cooled cookies in an airtight freezer bag or container for up to 3 months. thaw and roll in powdered sugar.
More Holiday Cookie Ideas
Everyone needs a good holiday cookie recipe go to, try these out.
- Double Chocolate Peppermint Cake
- Perfect Gingerbread Cookies
- Gingerbread Sugar Cookies Bars
- Christmas Cornflake Wreaths
- Best Christmas Crack Recipe
Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract opt.
- 1/2 tsp. orange extract opt.
- 1 pkg. white cake mix
- 1/2 c. sprinkles divided
- 1/2 c. powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese. Add the egg, almond extract and orange extract and mix until combined. Add the white cake mix and mix until combined. Stir in ¼ cup of sprinkles. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 24 hours. The longer the dough chills, the less sticky it will be.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place powdered sugar in one bowl and the remaining ¼ cup of sprinkles in another bowl. Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into a ball. Sprinkle with a few extra sprinkles and roll in powdered sugar, completely covering the dough ball. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for two minutes before removing to wire rack. Makes around 42 small cookies.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Serves: 42
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
These are amazing !! I Cooked them exactly like the recipe and they are totally perfect!
Do these need to go in fridge after baking because of the cream cheese ?
I may try this recipe with a chocolate cake mix or lemon or spice cake ! Or strawberry !
Omg the possibilities are endless lol
Thank you !!
Also I doubled this recipe and they still came out wonderful ..
I first tried this recipe a few years ago for a cookie exchange event and they turned out great! Ever since they have been a family and friend favorite. Such an easy recipe. The only thing I’ve changed is to omit the sprinkles entirely since I rarely have sprinkles on hand. I always bake at 350F for 9-11 minutes and they turn out perfectly (I wait til they get just the slightest golden color on the top), if you want a firmer/crispier cookie then leave in another couple minutes. I have not had any issues with the cookies sticking to the cookie sheet but I’m sure parchment paper would work great. Still soft when they come out of the oven but become firmer with sitting on the baking sheet for a couple minutes. Definitely recommend!
Anyone try this with peppermint extract?
Yes, it was really good with white cake mix, but even better when I made it with chocolate cake mix the next time. It tasted like the peppermint patties that the kids love.
I discovered your recipe several years ago. I never deviate from the recipe except I only use the long sprinkles, never the small round ones. I change up the color of sprinkles depending on what I’m making them for. I use a standard cookie sheet with parchment paper. Every batch has turned out perfect every time. It is my go-to cookie recipe and everyone in my family requests them for every holiday, party, or randomly.
These cookies are so delicious. I made these for a holiday party the Christmas before last and they were a hit. My family also enjoys these cookies as well.
Just made these cookies. I only used pure vanilla and just rolled the dough in sprinkles then sugar. I needed 12 minutes to bake. Maybe next time I will make smaller balls. I will definitely make these again probably double batch
I have colored sugar crystals (not sprinkles). Will those work? Thanks!
Yes, that will be great!
Our family’s absolute favorite ?
Very good recipe. I have made these cookies often this year. It is always a crowd pleaser.
Made these with only almond extract (no orange). Easy and quite good. Would probably cut down on almond extract next time as the flavor is strong for some.
Can I use a silicone mat for baking these instead of a greased cookie sheet?
Yes, that sounds great! They are the best mats! Thanks for following along with me! XOXO
The recipe was great but very hard to read because the pop up ads constantly have it moving around. So trying to read and write down ingredients that you need is very frustrating!!
10 mins at 350° is not even close to what I needed. I bumped my temp to 365° and it took 18 minutes. They taste wonderful!
Can you freeze the dough?
Yes, of course! That sounds great! Let me know how it goes! XOXO
can you use anise extract instead?
Yes, that sounds great! Let me know what you think! XOXO
Can you make these cookies sugar free because I am diabetic and they look so good I would love to try
HMM! That sounds like a great idea! I have not tried it yet but you are welcome to use Splenda or an alternative sugar to make it to your liking. Hope that helps! Let me know how they taste! Thanks for following along with me! XOXO
My family loves these cookies . These are really simple to make.
If you don’t have the box of white cake mix what would the measurements of the dry ingredients be? I have them all separate. Would love to make these gooey butter cookies.
Really like your recipes, very much, but I have trouble seeing your page. The colors make it difficult to read the very small fonts. If you could change the theme of the page and enlarge the fonts, it would be so much easier to read and enjoy! Bolder and brighter colors may help, too. Thank you.
These cooked so much better on a regular cookie sheet and not stoneware. They wouldn’t set on the stoneware. No matter how long I cooked them. Perfect on the cook sheet.