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These Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies are the perfect combination of gooey butter cake, rich chocolate brownies, and a chewy soft cookie. Being from St. Louis, I am a big fan of gooey butter cake, and I love it even more when I add chocolate and transform it into simple, delicious cookies. This cookie recipe comes together in just minutes and disappears just as fast.
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“I’ve already made these with various flavors, and they get DEVOURED every time! It’s my husband’s favorite cookie—and I have made some elaborate out-of-love desserts for him, but this was the champ!” -Melissa
Easy Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies Recipe
Here in St. Louis, we have a favorite dessert, it’s called gooey butter cake. This chocolate version of the gooey butter cookies recipe is one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes, and not a year goes by that they don’t make an appearance at my holiday table.
I’ve taken a store-bought chocolate cake mix and combined it with cream cheese and butter to make the most decadent, chewy, creamy chocolate cookie. I roll them in powdered sugar before I bake them, and I can honestly say, they practically melt in your mouth when you eat them.
I love making these cookies for my holiday table, cookie exchanges, or just to have on hand when the craving hits. They are so easy to make and come together in minutes—it’s a little dangerous.
Tips for Beginners
- Use room temperature ingredients. This is key for the ingredients to combine well. If you try to make the batter with ingredients straight from the fridge, you’ll end up with lots of lumps.
- Any cake mix will work. I love the chocolate flavor a dark chocolate cake mix adds to the cookies, but any chocolate cake mix will work. If you use another cake mix flavor, the recipe will still work, but the flavor will be different. Both 15.25 oz and 18 oz. cake mixes will work.
- Don’t compromise the chill time. The butter needs time to harden so that when the cookies bake, they don’t flatten out too much. A shorter chill time can lead to flat cookies.
Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 oz. cream cheese 227g, room temperature (1 brick)
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter 113g, room temperature (1 stick)
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 4ml
- 15.25 oz. Dark Chocolate Fudge Moist Chocolate Cake Mix* 432g (1 box)
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup powdered sugar** 113g
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, approximately 3 minutes.8 oz. cream cheese, 8 tbsp unsalted butter
- Mix in the egg and vanilla extract.1 large egg, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Add the cake mix and the salt, and beat on medium until smooth, about 1½ minutes.15.25 oz. Dark Chocolate Fudge Moist Chocolate Cake Mix*, ¼ tsp kosher salt
- Refrigerate the dough for 1-2 hours, or until batter is firm enough to roll into balls.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the powdered sugar in a shallow bowl.1 cup powdered sugar**
- Roll the chilled dough into tablespoon-sized balls and roll the balls in the powdered sugar. Place the cookies 2" apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Once the oven has fully preheated, bake the cookies for 12 minutes (no longer). The cookies will look and feel a little wobbly and soft.
- Place tray on a cooling rack to cool for 2 minutes, and dust the cookies with more powdered sugar (I use a mesh sieve).
- Transfer individual cookies to the cooling rack to completely cool.
- Dust with more powdered sugar, if desired.
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
- Stand Mixer
- Baking Sheet
- Fine Mesh Sieve (optional)
Becky’s Tips
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this? Leave a comment!
How to Store
Leftover chocolate gooey butter cookies can be stored in an airtight container on the kitchen counter for 2-3 days or in the fridge for 5-6 days.
I’ll often freeze some of the cookies so I don’t devour the whole batch. They’ll keep for up to 3 months in an airtight container. I’ll let them thaw on the kitchen counter until they are soft enough to eat.
Serving Suggestion
These cookies are always one of my favorite treats to bake for holiday platters, cookie swaps, or whenever I want an easy homemade dessert ready to grab throughout the week. In my opinion, nothing goes better with these decadent cookies than a tall, cold glass of milk or creamy oat milk, a rich, French vanilla iced coffee, or, if I’m in the mood for a hot drink come holiday season, a cozy mug of spiked bourbon chai fits the bill perfectly.
More Gooey Butter Recipes To Try
- Gooey Butter Cake features a buttery, ooey-gooey filling layered on top of a sweet dough base with crispy edges.
- Gooey Butter Cookies are made with cream cheese, almond extract, loads of butter, and a snowy coating of powdered sugar.
- This indulgent Gooey Butter Cake Martini is made with white chocolate, hazelnut, vanilla, and butterscotch schnapps.
I have had the cookie batch in fridge for 2 hours still sticking to spoon and hands . What have I done wrong?
Hi Patti, by any chance was your box of cake mix 14.25 ounces instead of 15.25? We’ve noticed companies shrinking the sizes of cake mix boxes lately, and that could be the issue. If this is the case, we recommend adding an extra 3-4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour to make up the difference.
I hate to rate before I make the recipe. I don’t have chocolate cake mix. Can I use the yellow and add cocoa to it? The regular gooey butter version is a hit. Being raised in the Lou we would get this after mass at Heimberger’s Bakery.
Yes, that should work! Add about 1/4 cup to turn your cake mix chocolate. You may need to add a bit more liquid to the mix to get the right consistency, though!
Most box cakes are now 15.8 oz and not the 18 oz most recipes call for. Will that make a difference when making the cookies.
It’ll still work!
I just add 3 Tablespoons of flour to the 15oz box, works great every time!
Most
Yummy! These cookies were easy to make and taste awesome. It made 24 cookies. My son saw these when we were searching for cookies for his birthday. Happy we made them.
Thanks for sharing, Nikki!
I’m very familiar with gooey butter cake but these cookies are nothing like it. Not sure why they are called that. There is nothing gooey about them. They taste like and have the consistency of a piece of cake but let flavor.
I am sorry they weren’t to your taste, Kathy!
I think I may know why this happened – I made mine in batches, using the same batter. My first batch came out looking fluffy and perfect, but I’d left them in about 12 minutes instead of 10 as I got distracted and they ended up tasting like cake but a little bland. My second and third batches were in for exactly 10 minutes (I was careful), and they didn’t look as fluffy/perfect but they tasted amazing – still gooey and flavorful even hours later after they cooled. So that 10 minutes is critical, and may even need to be a little less depending on the size of the cookie.
Excuse me I mistyped – I meant 2 minutes extra – so 14 minutes was too long, not 12 :)
I bought fudge brownies by mistake can I use instead of cake mix
It may alter the recipe slightly, but that’s the fun in baking!
That looks realy yummy !! I would defenetly try making them
definitely*
Thanks Cesar!
yummy look delicious
Thank you!
Can I make half a batch and freeze the rest for future? How?