How To: The Secret to Making Deliciously Soft Cookies Is Cake Mix

This is the easiest cookie batch you'll ever bake, I promise. And no, take-and-bake cookie dough doesn't count. With this recipe, it'll take you less than 20 minutes to go from your sad, cookie-less life to cookies in your absolute favorite flavor... of cake.

You see, this "recipe" isn't really a recipe at all, because it only involves three simple ingredients:

• your favorite boxed cake mix flavor (15.25 oz. box)
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil

Best of all: the steps themselves are just as simple as the list of things you need to make these cookies! For today's example, I'll be using the funfetti cake flavor—because I'm a kid who loves sprinkles no matter how old I become. But feel free to follow these directions using any flavor you prefer—chocolate devil's food cake, vanilla, red velvet, and even carrot cake.

Step 1: Preheat Oven

Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a cookie sheet with either parchment paper or a Silpat/nonstick mat.

Step 2: Add Ingredients Together

In a large bowl, add the cake mix, eggs, and oil. I made a well in the center of the dry mix for easier mixing, but the order or the "technique" doesn't really matter. This recipe is practically fail-proof!

Mix the ingredients together; I recommend using a fork, as a whisk will get stuck in the thickness of the dough.

Make sure that all of the dry mix is fully incorporated into the wet ingredients.

Step 3: Place on Cookie Sheet

Use either a cookie scoop or a spoon to gather ~2 Tbsp. of cookie dough, then roll the dough between your palms to form a ball. Don't worry—the dough won't stick to your hands, thanks to the oil the recipe contains.

Then, place the cookie dough balls ~2 inches apart from each other on your cookie sheet. These proportions will create cookies that are 2-3 inches in diameter, giving you a yield of 20-24 cookies total.

Step 4: Bake at 350°F for 8-10 Minutes

Place the cookie sheet on a rack in the middle of your oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Depending on your oven, this may require less or more time; I found that 8 minutes in my oven created cookies that were crisp and chewy on the outside and soft in the center—very much like a muffin top!

Just be sure to pull the cookies out of the oven before the sides turn a darker brown; cookies continue to cook on the sheet for a minute or two and you may burn them if you wait too long.

Step 5: Cool Down & Enjoy

Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for a few minutes; after about 3 minutes, I couldn't wait anymore and ate the cookies off the sheet directly. Warm, crispy, and absolutely delicious!

If you have more self-control than I do, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack (or a paper bag) and allow them to cool until just slightly warm to the touch before eating.

Best. Cookie. Recipe. Ever.

The most amazing part of this hack is how fast and how easy it is—I literally spent less than 20 minutes total on the process from start to finish. And the results speak for themselves... I mean, if you love funfetti as much as I do, then you're going to go absolutely bonkers for the cookie version.

As for other flavors, just about any cake box mix will work—and some can be enhanced with the addition of mix-ins. Devil's food cake cookies would be amazing with white chocolate chips; carrot cake cookies would be sublime with chopped pecans and a cream cheese frosting dip. The possibilities are endless... and the recipe is so simple and so cheap that you have nothing stopping you from giving even the craziest ideas a try.

Even More Baking Hacks:

• How to Make a Perfect Cake Without a Recipe
• 5 Baking Substitutions Every Home Cook Should Know
• Next-Level Baking: 4 Essentials Every Home Cook Should Master
• 8 Tricks That Make Boxed Cake Mix Taste Like Homemade
• Burn Your Cake? Keep Calm & Make Delicious Desserts
• How a Cake Mix Disaster Became a Delicious Pancake Surprise