These Crinkle Grinch Cookies are Perfect for Christmas!
Celebrating Christmas isn’t complete without the Grinch!
We love baking cookies (like these ginger Christmas tree cookies!) during the holidays!
These crinkle cookies give every Grinch fan a heart that grows 3 sizes bigger. :) Metaphorically speaking of course…;0)
Plus they’re beautifully green and incredibly soft and chewy.
What else would you want in a gorgeous holiday cookie?
Since the holidays are always full of hustle and bustle, we’ve made sure these cookies are a little less stressful.
They use a cake mix for the cookie foundation but no one will know because they taste like they’re from your local bakery!
Let’s dig into what you need to make this popular cookie recipe as well as HOW to make it!
Ingredients Needed for Christmas Grinch Cookies
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- 15.25 oz box of French vanilla cake mix (you can use vanilla cake or even white cake mix if needed! See notes in recipe.)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- Green gel food coloring (this enables you to use less and still get the brilliant green color you want!)
- Red, heart-shaped sprinkles
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
How to Make Crinkle Grinch Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and prepare your baking tray.
- In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar and cornstarch. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, butter, oil, and eggs.
- Stir in the green gel food color to get the perfect Grinch green color.
- Cover cookie dough and chill for at least 30 minutes. This gives your cookies a chewier texture and makes the dough less sticky!
6. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop the cookie dough and shape it into small golf ball size balls.
7. Roll the balls into the powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture.
8. Place the cookie balls 1 inch apart on your baking pan.
9. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until cookies puff up and you see beautiful cracks on top.
10. Remove the cookies from the oven. Cool for 2-3 minutes and then gently add a heart-shaped sprinkle to the top of each cookie. Gently press down.
11. Let the cookies cool completely, serve and enjoy.
How to Make Grinch Cookies More Chewy
Since these cookies are crinkle cookies, they already have a delicate chewy size to them.
But, if you want an even chewier cookie you can follow the pro baker’s secret for chewier cookies.
And the secret is…let the dough rest and chill for longer.
You can rest the Grinch cookie dough for at least one hour, and that will evaporate some of the water and increase the sugar content, helping to keep your cookies chewy.
The longer you allow your dough to rest in the fridge, the chewier your cookies will be!
How to Freeze Grinch Cookies
These crinkle cookies from a cake mix freeze wonderfully!
After baking and cooling, flash freeze cookies on a baking sheet until they harden. Then, add cookies to a freezer bag and store.
This way, the cookies won’t stick together.
When ready to eat, thaw cookies at room temperature two hours before serving.
Tips for the Best Grinch Cookies
Tip for Baking Making Grinch Cookies #1: Refrigerate the dough.
Since this is a cake mix cookie dough, it can easily become can be a bit sticky, so it helps to refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes.
You can skip this step and still enjoy some beautiful, Grinch cookies. But, I highly recommend watching the Grinch while you let your dough chill! :)
Tip for Baking Making Grinch Cookies #2: Start small with the food coloring.
Food coloring can add a little bit of a YUCK flavor to any dessert, cookie, or cake.
To avoid too much of the food coloring flavor, use gel and add slowly.
Tip for Baking Making Grinch Cookies #3: Don’t overbake the cookies.
Depending on your oven, you may want to bake these cookies to the exact time listed or even shave off a few minutes.
If you bake too long, the outsides of your cookie will get a little too brown and you’ll easily loose that gorgeous green!
Tip for Baking Making Grinch Cookies #4: Add the adorable heart sprinkles when the cookies are still warm.
This will help the sprinkles to kind of “meld” into the cookie.
If you have issues with the sprinkles sticking, use a tiny bit of frosting to “glue” them on.
But if you time adding the sprinkles just right, you shouldn’t have any issues! Just in case, you can whip up this easy cookie frosting for a back-up plan or grab a jar of frosting at the store.
Enjoy baking up these adorable cookies during the holidays! I can’t wait to see ALL of your cookie pictures! Share them with us on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
Plus, be sure to download our 25 Days of Christmas Book that’s packed with activities and recipes for the entire family to enjoy! Thanks for supporting our family’s business and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
More Holiday Cookie Recipes
Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies
Print Easy Grinch Cookies
These cake mix grinch cookies are super simple and festive! They take crinkle cookies to another Grinch level! Plus, they're incredibly soft, chewy, and can be frozen for large batches for parties! Dig into some glorious, green, Grinch-approved cookies today!
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 18 cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz box of French vanilla cake mix
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 large eggs
- Green gel food coloring
- Red heart-shaped sprinkles
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and prepare your baking tray.
In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar and cornstarch. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the cake mix, butter, oil, and eggs.
Gently add green gel food coloring to get the perfect Grinch green color.
Cover cookie dough with plastic wrap and allow to chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop the cookie dough and shape it into small golf ball sized balls.
Roll the balls of cookie dough into the powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture.
Place the cookies 1 inch apart on a parchment lined baking pan.
Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until they puff up and you see beautiful cracks on top. Do not over-bake.
Remove the cookies from the oven, let allow to cool for 2-3 minutes Then, gently press down a heart-shaped sprinkle on each cookie while they’re still warm so it sticks to the cookie.
Cool cookies completely. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
NOTES:
You can store the Grinch Cookies in an air-tight container for 4 days at room temperature or around 3 months in the freezer. Thaw them for a couple of hours at room temperature before serving.
For chewier cookies and a less sticky dough, refridgerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes.
Using gel food coloring will help the cookies look and taste better!
Feel free to add peppermint flavoring for a more "wintery" feeling cookie! Just a few drops will do the trick!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Additional Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 78
- Sugar: 2
- Sodium: 20
- Fat: 7
- Saturated Fat: 3
- Unsaturated Fat: 3
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 4
- Fiber: 0
- Protein: 1
- Cholesterol: 34