Chocolate Gingerbread Crinkles {Cake Mix Cookies}

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Chocolate gingerbread crinkle cookies are made with just a few simple pantry ingredients, and one of them is a boxed chocolate cake mix! These cake mix cookies just may become on of your favorite easy cookie recipes!

Wait. What?!

Yes. I used a boxed cake mix. Please don’t judge.

I’m guessing that some of you have your jaws to the floor right now, shaking your head at the thought of a formally trained chef using a convenience product that’s loaded with unnecessary and unwanted chemicals. That’s perfectly okay. It’s a fact that I bake from scratch 99 percent of the time these days. But that wasn’t always the case.

When I first started culinary school, I used convenience boxed mixes a lot. My 4th of July patriotic cupcakes are from a boxed mix and the strawberry banana cupcakes recipe uses one, too. The convenience is too good to pass up, especially for a busy college student.

Cake mix cookies often lack flavor, but doctoring up a cake mix with extra flavor is easy. The reason this recipe is made with a mix is because it’s not actually my recipe.

This chocolate gingerbread crinkle cookies recipe comes from Amy, at Amy’s Cooking Adventures.

She and I are swapping holiday cookie recipes as part of the 3rd Annual Christmas Cookie Recipe Swap, hosted by my sweet friend Julie, from White Lights on Wednesday.

Julie had some help from great co-hosts, too!

When Amy sent me her favorite Christmas cookie recipe, for Colorful Crinkle Cookies, I got excited, because I love crinkle cookies! You may remember that I made a low carb version of crinkles a couple of weeks ago.
After the excitement, I read the recipe and suddenly got a bit nervous, because as pretty as they are (and they’re stunning… take a look!), Amy’s recipe calls for a boxed cake mix, Cool Whip, and artificial food coloring. I’ve stopped using all of those items at one point or another over the past 2 years.

I didn’t want to stray from her recipe too much though, so I used a boxed cake mix and Cool Whip for this recipe. Unfortunately, food coloring makes me so sick that I simply can’t eat it anymore, so I adapted the recipe to be flavored after one of my favorite Christmas cookies, gingerbread.

Overall, I think I did a pretty decent job of adapting the recipe to my needs. These cookies are moist, chewy, and packed with the flavors of chocolate gingerbread. Then they’re rolled in powdered sugar and baked, just as any good crinkle cookie should be.

It doesn’t get easier than a cake mix cookie. Enjoy these chocolate gingerbread crinkles!

Chocolate Gingerbread Crinkles

Chewy gingerbread cookies flavored with chocolate are rolled in powdered sugar to make a yummi, holiday inspired cake mix cookie that's made using just a few simple pantry ingredients.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes

Servings: 36 cookies

Calories: 85

Ingredients

• 1 box Devil's Food chocolate cake mix
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces whipped topping, such as Cool Whip, or use 4 oz heavy cream to whip your own
• 3 Tablespoons molasses
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper sprayed with non-stick spray.
• Place the cake, egg, whipped topping, molasses, and all spices into a large bowl. With a large spoon, stir together the ingredients until mixed completely. The batter will be very thick and sticky.
• Place the powdered sugar into a small bowl. Using a small, 1-tablespoon cookie scoop, drop balls of batter into the powdered sugar, one by one. Carefully roll each ball through the powdered sugar, so it is covered completely. Place the coated dough onto the prepared cookie sheets at least 2 inches apart.
• Bake the cookies in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before moving to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Chocolate Gingerbread Crinkles

Amount Per Serving (1 cookie)

Calories 85 Calories from Fat 18

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 2g 3%

Saturated Fat 1g 5%

Cholesterol 5mg 2%

Sodium 138mg 6%

Potassium 72mg 2%

Total Carbohydrates 14g 5%

Sugars 10g

Protein 1g 2%

Vitamin A 0.2%

Calcium 2.8%

Iron 3.7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.