Description
Strawberry White Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies are delightfully soft and chewy cookies made with a strawberry cake mix base, enriched with cream cheese and studded with white chocolate chips and optional M&M's. These cookies are incredibly easy to make, taking advantage of a box mix for convenience while delivering bakery-style taste and texture with minimal effort.
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 1 box (15.25 ounces) strawberry cake mix
- ½ cup unsalted butter (melted)
- 1 large egg (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup M&M’s (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheet: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking and for easy cleanup.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted unsalted butter, room temperature egg, vanilla extract, and softened cream cheese. Stir these together until the mixture is smooth and creamy, ensuring the cream cheese is fully incorporated.
- Add Cake Mix: Gradually add the strawberry cake mix into the wet ingredients, stirring gently until a soft, cohesive dough forms. Avoid overmixing to keep the cookies tender.
- Incorporate Add-ins: Fold the white chocolate chips and optional M&M’s into the dough evenly to distribute throughout each cookie.
- Chill Dough: Cover the dough and refrigerate it for at least one hour to firm up, which helps the cookies hold their shape during baking.
- Shape Cookies: Once chilled, scoop rounded cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing each about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.
- Bake: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the edges are set but the centers remain slightly soft, ensuring a chewy texture.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes to firm up before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- For best texture, ensure that the egg and cream cheese are at room temperature before mixing.
- Refrigerating the dough is crucial to prevent spreading and to develop flavor.
- Feel free to swap M&M’s for other mix-ins like white chocolate chunks or freeze-dried strawberries for variation.
- Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage.
