Most cake mix peanut butter cookies use just four or five pantry staples: a box of yellow cake mix, creamy peanut butter, eggs, and oil, plus a little granulated sugar for rolling the dough balls if you want that traditional, lightly crisp, sugared surface.
The wet ingredients are mixed together first, the dry cake mix is stirred in to form a thick dough, and then the dough is scooped, rolled, optionally coated in sugar, and flattened with a fork in a crosshatch pattern before baking. Because the cake mix already contains flour, sugar, and leavening, there is no need for extra baking soda or precise measuring, and the cookies bake up soft and cakey‑chewy with very little effort—ideal for new bakers or busy days when you want homemade cookies without starting completely from scratch.
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl to combine the peanut butter, eggs, oil, and cake mix.
- Hand mixer or sturdy spatula/wooden spoon to mix the thick dough.
- Measuring cups and spoons for the peanut butter, oil, and sugar.
- Baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats to prevent sticking.
- Cookie scoop (about 1–1½ tablespoons) or tablespoon for portioning dough balls evenly.
- Small bowl for rolling dough balls in granulated sugar.
- Fork to press the classic criss‑cross pattern into the tops of the cookies.
- Wire cooling racks for cooling cookies so they stay soft and don’t overbake on hot pans.
Ingredients (with measurements)
A typical cake mix peanut butter cookie recipe looks like this and makes about 18–24 cookies.
- 1 box (about 15.25 oz / 432 g) yellow cake mix.
- 1 cup (about 250 g) creamy, no‑stir peanut butter.
- 2 large eggs, room temperature.
- ⅓–½ cup (80–120 ml) vegetable oil or other neutral oil (many recipes use ½ cup; some use ⅓ cup for slightly less rich cookies).
- ⅓ cup (about 65–70 g) granulated sugar, for rolling dough balls (optional but recommended for texture and appearance).
Some more elaborate versions add ¼ cup brown sugar and a bit of shortening to the mix for extra chew and flavor, but the simple four‑ingredient versions rely entirely on the cake mix, peanut butter, eggs, and oil.
Instructions and steps
The process for making cake mix peanut butter cookies is straightforward and very forgiving, which is part of their appeal. The oven is preheated to 350°F (175–180°C), and baking sheets are lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats so the cookies won’t stick and will brown evenly. While the oven heats, a small bowl is filled with granulated sugar if you plan to roll the dough balls; this step can also be done after the dough is mixed.
In a large mixing bowl, the wet ingredients are combined first. Peanut butter, eggs, and vegetable oil are mixed together with a hand mixer or sturdy spatula until the mixture is smooth and cohesive, with no streaks of egg or oil.
This step ensures the peanut butter is loosened and easy to incorporate with the cake mix. The dry cake mix is then added to the bowl—either all at once or gradually—and mixed in on low speed or by hand until a thick, uniform dough forms.
The dough will be quite thick and slightly sticky, but it should hold its shape when scooped or rolled; scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl once or twice helps catch any pockets of dry mix.
At this point, the dough is ready to portion, and there is usually no need to chill it. Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, dough is portioned into roughly 1–1½ tablespoon balls.
Each portion is rolled between the palms to make a smooth ball, then rolled in the bowl of granulated sugar until fully coated on all sides, if using sugar. The sugared dough balls are spaced on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading as they bake.
Before baking, the classic peanut butter cookie pattern is added. The tines of a fork are pressed gently into the top of each dough ball, then turned 90 degrees and pressed again to create a criss‑cross pattern, flattening the balls slightly into thick discs in the process.
This not only gives the cookies their traditional look but also helps them bake more evenly by ensuring a more uniform thickness.
The cookies bake in the preheated 350°F oven for about 9–15 minutes, depending on size and specific recipe. Shorter bake times (around 9–11 minutes) tend to produce very soft, chewy cookies, while 12–15 minutes yields cookies that are still soft inside but more set around the edges.
Visual cues include lightly golden edges and tops that look dry and slightly cracked but not deeply browned; like many peanut butter cookies, these can dry out if overbaked, so it’s better to err on the side of slightly under‑baking.
Once the cookies come out of the oven, they are left on the baking sheet for a few minutes to firm up. Most recipes recommend cooling them on the pan for about 2–5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
They will continue to set as they cool, so even if they look a bit soft right from the oven, they usually reach the perfect chewy texture as they cool to room temperature. After they’re completely cool, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature, where they tend to stay soft for several days.
Variations
Cake mix peanut butter cookies are extremely flexible, and many recipes suggest easy ways to customize them. The simplest change is swapping the cake mix flavor: while yellow cake mix is the standard, white cake mix also works for a slightly lighter flavor, and chocolate cake mix turns them into chocolate‑peanut‑butter cookies with a brownie‑like vibe.
Some bakers add a splash of vanilla extract or a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor, especially if the cake mix itself is on the sweet side.
Mix‑ins can also transform the cookies. Chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or chopped peanuts can be folded into the dough along with the cake mix to add extra texture and pockets of chocolate.
Pressing a chocolate kiss into the center right after baking gives you fast peanut butter blossom‑style cookies without making a separate dough. Holiday‑ready versions roll the dough balls in colored sanding sugar instead of plain white, or press red and green M&Ms onto the tops before baking for a simple Christmas twist.
A few recipes go slightly beyond the basic four‑ingredient formula by adding brown sugar and shortening to the cake mix, peanut butter, and eggs; this yields a dough that behaves a bit more like traditional peanut butter cookie dough, with a slightly richer flavor and slightly crisper edges.
On the other hand, if you want to simplify even further, there are three‑ingredient peanut butter cookie recipes that skip cake mix entirely, using only peanut butter, sugar, and an egg, but these have a denser texture and a stronger peanut flavor than the softer, cakier cake‑mix version.
Regardless of the tweaks, the core idea stays the same: cake mix peanut butter cookies harness the structure and sweetness of a boxed cake mix combined with peanut butter, eggs, and oil to create ultra‑easy, soft peanut butter cookies in a fraction of the time it takes to assemble a traditional recipe from scratch.
