Easy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
These 5 ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies With Yellow Cake Mix will quickly become your new favorite cookies! They are so easy to make and are baked to perfection in less than 15 minutes!
If you've ever made peanut butter cookies from scratch, you know how easy it is to mess up the leavening and end up with flat, dense cookies. That's exactly why I love this recipe. Yellow cake mix already has everything built in, so there's no measuring out baking powder or baking soda, no guessing, and no room for error. Just 5 simple ingredients and you get perfectly soft, chewy peanut butter cookies in under 15 minutes. I tested this recipe until the texture was exactly right, and these are genuinely some of the best peanut butter cookies I've ever made.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love These Peanut Butter Cake Mix Cookies
- Ingredients To Make Peanut Butter Cookies With Cake Mix
- How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies With Cake Mix
- Easy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe Variations
- How to Store Cake Mix Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe FAQs
- Other Recipes To Try!
- 📖 Recipe
Why You'll Love These Peanut Butter Cake Mix Cookies
- This is an easy recipe! As long as you have a few simple ingredients in the house, you can make delicious peanut butter cookies at any time!
- No need to refrigerate the dough! Unlike most cookie dough recipes, you do not have to refrigerate the dough before you bake the cookies.
- They are full of peanut butter! For the peanut butter lovers in your life, these will hit the spot!
- They are a great make ahead treat! These cookies stay for 4-5 days in an airtight container, so make them a few days before you need them.
Ingredients To Make Peanut Butter Cookies With Cake Mix
- One box of yellow cake mix. I used betty crocker, but you can use whatever you have at home.
- Eggs. To keep the cookies together.
- Oil. I used coconut oil, but you could use vegetable oil, avocado oil, or one stick of melted butter.
- Creamy Peanut Butter. I used Skippy's natural peanut butter but use your favorite variety of peanut butter in this recipe.
- Sugar. To get that classic sugar crunch on the outside of the cookies.
Recommended Equipment
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
- Measuring Cups
- Ice cream scoop
- Parchment Paper or silicone mat
- Baking Sheet
How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies With Cake Mix
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except the sugar. Attach the paddle attachment to your stand mixer and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed until all the ingredients are well mixed together.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. This will prevent the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet.
- Add ⅓ cup of sugar to a small bowl. With the ice cream scoop, scoop out dough balls into the bowl of sugar. Roll the dough balls in the sugar and place them on the baking sheet.
- With the tines of a fork, make indentations in the cookies so you get that classic fork mark look on the cookies.
- Set the baking time to 10 minutes or until just slightly browned.
- Allow the cookies to cool on a wire cooling rack before serving.
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe Variations
- Use chunky peanut butter! For a crunchier cookie, use your favorite variety of chunky peanut butter.
- Mix in some other ingredients! Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, reese's pieces, or peanut butter chips would all take these cookies to the next level!
- Change the cake mix flavor! Use chocolate cake mix, white cake mix, or your favorite variety of dry cake mix!
How to Store Cake Mix Peanut Butter Cookies
If you want to make the dough ahead of time, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. To freeze, roll the dough into balls, place them on a baking sheet to flash freeze for about an hour, then transfer to a freezer-safe zip-top bag for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen, just add a couple of extra minutes to the bake time.
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. To keep them extra soft, toss a slice of bread in the container. It works like a charm. You can also refrigerate them for up to a week or freeze them for up to 3 months. Let frozen cookies thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes before eating.
Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe FAQs
Yes! You can bake these cookies up to 4 days in advance and keep them in an airtight container on the counter. You can also freeze these cookies once they are baked. Place them in a gallon freezer bag and freeze them for up to 3 months. When you are ready to serve them, place them on the counter to come to room temperature before serving.
This is one of my favorite recipes because the cookies are super soft and super chewy! No crispy cookies here! The boxed cake mix makes these cookies so soft.
Yes! Spread out the dough into a cookie sheet and bake it for 30-40 minutes. You can either spread melted chocolate on the top of the cake or you can use your favorite variety of icing on the cake.
I don't recommend it for this recipe. Natural peanut butter tends to be oily and separated, which throws off the texture of the dough and can leave you with cookies that spread too much or turn out greasy. Stick with a regular creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy for the best results.
You don't have to, but I highly recommend it. Rolling them in sugar gives you that classic crinkle cookie look and adds a slight crunch on the outside that pairs perfectly with the soft, chewy center.
Likely it is from overbaking. These cookies will look slightly underdone when you pull them out of the oven, and that's exactly what you want. They firm up as they cool, so if you wait until they look fully baked in the oven, they'll be dry and crumbly by the time they hit the plate. Pull them out early, let them rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes, and you'll get that perfectly soft and chewy texture every time.
Other Recipes To Try!
Did you love this Peanut Butter Cookies With Yellow Cake Mix Recipe? If you did, don't forget to tag me on social media on Instagram or Facebook and share this recipe on Pinterest! Thanks for sharing this journey with me and enjoy these delicious recipes!
📖 Recipe
Peanut Butter Cake Mix Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 box Yellow Cake Mix 15.25 ounces
- 1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 2 Eggs
- ½ cup Oil Coconut oil, vegetable oil, or Melted Butter
- ⅓ cup Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except the sugar.
- Attached the paddle attachment to your stand mixer and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed until all the ingredients are well mixed together.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. This will prevent the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet.
- Add ⅓ cup of sugar to a small bowl. With the ice cream scoop, scoop out dough balls into the bowl of sugar. Roll the dough balls in the sugar and place them on the baking sheet.
- With the tines of a fork, make indentations in the cookies so you get that classic fork mark look on the cookies.
- Set the baking time to 10 minutes and bake until the cookies are just slightly browned.
- Allow the cookies to cool on a wire cooling rack before serving.
Notes
- Coconut oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, or melted butter can be used in this recipe.
- Change it up and use your favorite variety of boxed cake mix!
- These cookies are soft with a chewy texture.
Yay!
These were so quick and easy. Blew my mind a yellow box cake mix can be so versatile Not as good as jade from scratch but the trade off was worth it.
I am so happy you enjoyed them!
Just made ice cream sandwiches with these yummy peanut butter cookies! A scoop of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup ice cream sandwiched in between two of them. Heaven! Thanks for this easy recipe!
I had all the ingredients in my house so I decided to make your cookie recipe. OMG, they turned out amazing!! Thank you for such a great Peanut Butter Cookie recipe!!
Oh, I forgot, always add a 1/2 cup or more of chopped walnuts.
Yes!! So good!
Love these cookies. I have made them many times. I have tried them with hocolate cake mix too. My favorite is with yelllow though. I add a tsp of maple extract to the mix too. Adds a really nice flavor.
Yes! They are so good! I love that idea!
I can't believe how easy these were.
Cookies always scare me, not sure why. I think I am scarred from home economics class and weeks of trying to perfect French cookies with Mrs Scott telling me I would never be a baker!
But I though, how hard can these be, I can use a box cake to make cake, surely I can make cookies. And I could!!!!
THANK YOU ☺️☺️☺️
p.s they were delicious, which I am taking all the credit for, just because I have never made cookies since school and I want some glory.
But I know the credit should go to you!
I love hearing that!! I am so happy you enjoyed these cookies!!
Peanut butter cookies made easy - loved using the yellow cake mix!
I love how easy this recipe is! Using the cake mix made the cookies so terrific, and there was loads of peanut butter flavor. Loved them!
I love cake mix cookies, it makes baking so easy!