Grinch Cookies
Made and loved by thousands every year! These Cake Mix Grinch Cookies are so easy and festive they will be sure to put you in the holiday mood. Print and Pin The ORIGINAL Cake Mix Grinch Cookies at In Katrina’s Kitchen!
Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot,
But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not.
The Grinch hated Christmas — the whole Christmas season.
Oh, please don’t ask why, no one quite knows the reason.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before:
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store–
Maybe Christmas–perhaps–means a little bit more.”
And what happened then–well, in Whoville they say
That the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.
And then the true meaning of Christmas came through,
And the Grinch found the strength of ten Grinches–plus two.
And now that his heart didn’t feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light.
With a smile in his soul, he descended Mount Crumpet,
Cheerily blowing Who! Who! on his trumpet.
Welcome, Christmas, while we stand
Heart to heart… and hand in hand.
Grinch Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 box french vanilla cake mix, dry mix only
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- green food coloring, 1 drop
- 1/2 cup Powdered sugar, or more for dusting
- Sprinkles or candies, large heart-shaped
Instructions
- PREHEAT oven to 350° F.
- In the bowl of your mixer CREAM together cake mix, food coloring, oil, and eggs.
- DROP by Tablespoon into confectioners sugar.
- CHILL dough balls for 20 minutes before transferring to a baking sheet to bake.
- PLACE on baking sheet and press 1 large heart candy/sprinkle.
- BAKE for 8-10 minutes until just set.
- COOL 3-4 minutes on pan before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. SPRINKLE with more powdered sugar if desired.
Nutrition
Recipe Notes for Cake Mix Grinch Cookies
- These are the Original Cake Mix Grinch Cookies- made and loved by thousands every December. Cake mix boxes may have changed proportions since 2012.
- This author prefers this recipe made with Betty Crocker French Vanilla Cake mix.
- The author uses AmeriColor Electric Green gel food coloring and Wilton Jumbo Heart Sprinkles.
- The best way to prevent flat cookies is to scoop the dough into Tablespoon portions and then chill for 20-30 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar and bake.
- These cookies are supposed to look a bit wonky and Grinch-like so embrace the crackles!
Merry Christmas, friends! ♥
Products used in this post:
184 Comments on “Grinch Cookies”
Cookie dough is chilling now. I’m making these Grinch cookies for cookie exchange at work. I made the Grinch kabobs too and they turned out so adorable. Thank you for the recipe!
My cookies were also flat and I had to leave them in for almost double the time as they were still far too “wet”. These still turned out great regardless of their shape and they tasted wonderful. Thank you for sharing the recipe 🙂
even at 12 minutes these cookies go flat…. great idea but would opt for another recipe for the cookie it’s self
They seemed like such a cute, easy idea… the batter is so thick and sticky that it just broke my electric mixer. And they dont turn out at all like the picture. Not worth the headache!
So, I used Duncan hines 16.5oz box French vanilla mix and altered it by using only 1/3 cup oil. I used 6 liquid drops of food coloring whereas author used gel food coloring which is much more concentrated hence only 1 drop.My large heart sprinkles were from party city. I followed the remainder of the recipe. Very soft light fluffy cookies. Delicious!
i followed the recipe exactly and when I took it out of the fridge, it had oil on the bottom… I drained that out and ended up having to add a lot of flour to soak it up and that made the taste off… I think if I try these again I would only use 1/3 cup oil
Can you freeze this dough? They look great btw! ♡
Mine were so sticky it was almost impossible to roll into a ball. I had to add a ton of powdered sugar to the mix just to be able to roll them. Not sure what I did wrong? They did end up really flat too like others commented.
Please see the updated notes. I tested 3 batches this week to figure out the mixed reviews. I found chilling the dough balls after rolling them in powdered sugar helps. Thank you for your comments!
Tiffany–after reading the comments I think you’re on to something. I was just about to start the recipe and I will try 1/3 instead of 1/2 cup of oil and let you know how they turned out! 🙂
Are you sure you didn’t mean 1/3 cup oil? I followed yoire recipe and they spread too much and too thin.
Please see the updated notes. I tested 3 batches this week to figure out the mixed reviews. I found chilling the dough balls after rolling them in powdered sugar helps. Thank you for your comments!
I followed exactly and we’re fluffy like pic
Found these on pinterest and Im making them tonight for my sons bake sale at the school winter party tomorrow. I already had the same heart sprinkles from Valentines so that worked out perfect. I found the French Vanilla cake mix at Kroger (Betty Crocker.. super moist mix) Double the recipe and followed to a T. They look amazing, just like the picture! Thanks so much for sharing, I know the kids are gonna love them!
Thanks for a great recipe! I made these for my husband to take to his class a couple days ago (a university class!). I used a plain white cake mix with pudding in the mix and then panicked as I’ve never made cake mix cookies before. Would the pudding cause a problem? I Googled it and several recipes said that 2-3 TBS of water was necessary for cake mix cookies. So I compromised and worked in 1 TBS after the dough had already chilled for 20 minutes. Put the mix back in the fridge for another half hour and the cookies baked up fine. They were a little too sweet for my personal tastes at first, but I found the flavor mellowed after a couple of days. Just so cute!
Hmm I did 3 test batches this week but didn’t use a pudding mix.
I couldn’t find hearts so I bought candy cane shaped sprinkles…I’m hoping 2 put together will make a proper heart. I’ll let everyone know how they turn out tomorrow
Super idea!
These looked so fun and what a great dessert for a holiday party. Gotta say, i followed the recipe exactly and they tasted terrible and looked nothing like this, any suggestions if i try this again?
Sorry that you didn’t enjoy them!
PLEASE! What is your secret to the fluffy cookie? Mine turned out flat and it looks like others have as well. Maybe you can share the brand of cake mix you used? Thanks!
Please see the updated notes. I tested 3 batches this week to figure out the mixed reviews. I found chilling the dough balls after rolling them in powdered sugar helps. Thank you for your comments!
Mine turned out very flat once cool. I am going to try to make them like the lemon crinkle recipe but use vanilla cake mix and add green. These I have made before and they do not turn out flat.
I made these last night, flatted also, but not completely. I chilled in metal bowl from mixer, about 15 min. Great idea and will try again 🙂
I made these today, and they turned out very cute! I just piped red hearts on with some decorators gel. Mine got really flat too though, not sure why? I also added a teaspoon of peppermint flavoring just to give them a little more jazz. Pretty tasty!
Great idea! Please see the updated notes. I tested 3 batches this week to figure out the mixed reviews. I found chilling the dough balls after rolling them in powdered sugar helps. Thank you for your comments!
My husband and 9 year old son LOVED these! Although they did come out really flat too! I am going to try this again in hopes to solve the problem. In the pictures they look so plump and fluffy! The only thing I can think of, is the dough should maybe chill a little longer? Either that, or I shouldn’t have doubled the batch… I also couldn’t find “French Vanilla” cake mix, so I just used a basic yellow/vanilla one. Any suggestions, anyone?
Please see the updated notes. I tested 3 batches this week to figure out the mixed reviews. I found chilling the dough balls after rolling them in powdered sugar helps. Thank you for your comments!
Mine were flat too – although I kind of squished the balls down before they baked – maybe that was it?
Also, I found that I had to watch them *really* close – leave them in 30 seconds too long and all the green baked right out, especially on darker cookie sheets. I made two batches, so had lots of experimental opportunities!
(Oh, and I used cinnamon hearts because I live in the middle of nowhere, and that was all that was available for hearts this time of year, aside from ordering them online and I didn’t want to pay 3x in shipping what I was paying for the actual product…) Oops, there goes my Grinch side! 🙂
Seriously, though – delicious!
“There goes my grinch side” lol that made me laugh 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Where did you find those perfect heart shapes?! I want to make these but I’m not sure what to use for the hearts.
You can find them at most craft/baking stores or online.
Patti – I might have to try that! Thanks!!
Where did you find the hearts? I can only seem to find small white/pink ones. I want the bigger red hearts! I am planning on making these for my daughter’s birthday party at school. Her bday is Dec 20th, but with other Dec bdays and the class Christmas party on the 19th (the last day before Christmas break) her party got moved back to the 17th this year. I think I need to enlist the help of friends. We live in a smaller community. I’m sure I would have better luck in the city!
You can find them at most craft/baking stores or online. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DYJ214/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002DYJ214&linkCode=as2&tag=inkatskit-20&linkId=XVZQA4P4HSTJDKQT
Trying the recipe for a church gathering
I went on Amazon and found large red hearts.
These are adorable! I decided to make them on a whim in December so obviously didn’t have any heart sprinkles on hand, nor did any of the local stores I checked. So instead I got some red chocolate melting disks and melted them in a squirt bottle. I then piped out some chocolate hearts freehand onto wax paper. I didn’t put them in the cookies before cooking but made a small indent with my finger and added the chocolate heart when the cookie was almost cool.
These are awesome. Love them!
These cookies looking amazing and I am so keen to make them!!
I was just wondering what size pack of cake mix you use (in grams)? Boxed cake mix sizes can be a little different in Australia =)
I used 16.5 oz. Thank you for writing.
OMG, my 3year old niece is going to love this, she’s a grinch fan, everytime she comes over the first thing she says is “lets watch the green christmas movie”and i’m like what movie? and she says “the sir had a very small heart and he was green like the hulk and he didn’t like christmas and then his heart grew and he now loves Christmas just like me” hahaha, thank you so much, i will be making this very soon, kisses from Venezuela 🙂
Aww so cute! Thanks for letting me know.
I made these with my daughter last week. We couldn’t find the heart sprinkles anywhere locally, so I improvised and used 3 red hots on each cookie to mock the shape of the heart. Once the cookies were baked, my daughter pointed out how the red hots grew into a bigger ‘heart’ shape, much like the Grinch’s heart grew from the beginning of the movie to the end!
Making these today with my daughter for our Thanksgiving tomorrow!! Having a big family gathering and she is going to give the cookies out after we eat. We love the Grinch so she is so excited!!!! THANKS FOR THE GREAT RECIPE!!!!!!!
Hi, if you make the french vanilla cake from scratch, do you still have to add the other ingredients or just the food coloring? Thanks
Hi!
If I don’t want to use a cakemix, is there any cookie recipe that you would think would taste the same?
This is an adorable idea! The Grinch is my favorite holiday movie, so I’m going to have to make these soon. Thanks!
Look so cute. Can’t wait to make these. Where did you get the cute Grinch serving platters?
I got those little bowls at a local craft show. Sorry I don’t have any other info on them!
I put the text on myself.
These are great! Any tips on how your cookies stayed so fluffy? When mine cooled, they are very flat! Thanks for the recipe.. Love it!
Please see the updated notes. I tested 3 batches this week to figure out the mixed reviews. I found chilling the dough balls after rolling them in powdered sugar helps. Thank you for your comments!
@Dana – Party City has some https://www.partycity.com/product/jumbo+heart+sprinkles+3.25oz.do
Or you can go on Amazon and search “jumbo heart sprinkles” and there’s several results you can comb through
I am going to make these for a baking contest at work. These are so cute, thanks for the recipe!
Good luck on the contest at work!
Where did you find the heart candy/sprinkle? These are adorable!
I got mine at JoAnne’s. You can find them at Michaels or online through Amazon as well.
You can find them at most craft/baking stores or online. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DYJ214/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002DYJ214&linkCode=as2&tag=inkatskit-20&linkId=XVZQA4P4HSTJDKQT
I can’t wait to try these for this years cookie exchange. @Lea Brown, it says that it makes 3 dozen on the right side.
How many cookies does this make? I can’t see the amount anywhere.
Thanks.
Mine usually come out at about 3 dozen.
It looks delicious..and the color is absolutely perfect!
Thank you! I hope you try them!
These are seriously so adorable 🙂 such a cute idea!
ADORABLE!
these are so cute! great idea.
Super cute cookie idea. My kids and I made these tonight and they were delish!
I love these!! Completely adorable!!
I absolutely LOVE these cookies and this post, Katrina! Such a fantastic idea!
You’re the cutest – I love this post! Awesome cookies 🙂 Merry Christmas!!
How cute are these Grinch cookies?! *^_^*
Need to rush out and buy me a couple of cake mixes so I can start baking!
I have to agree with Stephanie…..where did you find those little bowls??
Where did you find the cute red and green square bowls? Thanks.
These turned out SO cute!!
These are so cute. I love the Grinch & I try to watch it at least 3 times during the holidays. I found your recipe on Pinterest, where I am a new follower. Thanks for sharing!