Paula Deen Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Paula Deen Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies start with a box of chocolate cake mix, cream cheese, and butter. Six ingredients and 10 minutes of hands-on work, plus a 2-hour chill before baking. They come out soft and crackled, rolled in powdered sugar. The kind of cookie that disappears at holiday parties and church bake sales.

The 2-hour chill is what makes or breaks these cookies. If you skip it, the dough sticks to your hands and the cookies spread into flat discs in the oven. Cold dough holds its shape, and that is how you get the crackled top with a soft, fudgy center underneath.

You can mix the dough and chill it overnight if you want to bake in the morning. Roll the balls small, about a tablespoon, because they spread. Pull them at 12 minutes even if they look underdone. They firm up as they cool.

Paula Deen Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: DessertCuisine: American, SouthernDifficulty: Easy

Servings

24

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Calories

165

kcal

Rich, fudgy chocolate cookies made from cake mix, cream cheese, and butter. The chilled dough gets rolled in confectioner’s sugar and baked at 350°F until the tops crackle open. Soft inside with a sweet, crunchy shell.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

• for dusting confectioner’s sugar
  

• 1 (18 oz) box moist chocolate cake mix
  

• 1 (8 oz) package room temperature cream cheese
  

• 1 egg
  

• 1 stick room temperature Butter

Directions

• Preheat: Preheat oven to 350 °F.
• Cream: In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
• Mix: Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix.
• Chill: Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls.
• Roll: Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner’s sugar.
• Arrange: Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
• Bake: Bake 12 minutes.
• Cool: Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioner’s sugar, if desired.

Tools for this recipe

• KitchenAid 5-speed hand mixer, Nordic Ware half sheet pan, OXO medium cookie scoop, Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract, 8 oz. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

FAQs

Can you use a different flavor of cake mix?

The original Gooey Butter Cookie uses yellow cake mix. This chocolate version swaps it in for a richer, fudgier cookie. Red velvet, lemon, and strawberry cake mixes all work the same way. Keep the rest of the recipe exactly as written.

How long do these cookies keep?

They stay soft in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days. They actually taste better the next day once the cream cheese flavor mellows out. You can freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months.

Can you freeze the dough ahead of time?

Roll the balls and freeze them on a sheet pan until solid, then move them to a freezer bag. Bake straight from frozen, adding about 2 extra minutes to the bake time.

Why did my cookies turn out flat?

The dough was too warm when it went in the oven. That 2-hour chill is not optional, and if your kitchen runs warm, go closer to 3 hours. Paula notes these cookies stay soft and gooey by design, so a little puff is normal, but flat discs mean the chill was too short.

What does the powdered sugar coating do?

It creates the crackle pattern on top. As the cookies bake, the sugar coating dries and splits open while the dough puffs underneath. Without it you get a plain chocolate cookie with no crinkle. Roll them generously so the coating is thick enough to crack.