December in our kitchen has a smell. It's butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar all at once, and it means one thing: Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies are happening. I first made these ooey gooey butter cookies three years ago after a friend brought a tin of them to our neighborhood cookie swap and I ate four before I even took my coat off.
They're soft, pillowy, melt-in-your-mouth cookies made with cream cheese, butter, egg, and vanilla extract, coated in powdered sugar, and loaded with holiday sprinkles. They're ready to enjoy in less than 20 minutes of actual work and they taste like the inside of a gooey butter cake in cookie form. That is exactly the kind of recipe December was made for.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies Recipe
- Ingredients for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- How to Make Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- My Top Tips for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- Little Moments in the Kitchen
- Substitutions for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- Variations on Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- Equipment for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- Storage Tips for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- Olivia's Tip for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- FAQ about Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- Conclusion
- Related
- Pairing
- 📖 Recipe
Why You'll Love This Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies Recipe
- Ready in under 30 minutes with two ways to make them. The best Christmas gooey butter cookies recipe is the one that works for your schedule. The cake mix version takes about 15 minutes of hands-on time. The from-scratch Christmas gooey butter cookies version takes maybe 25. Both land on the table fast, fresh, and completely worth making.
- Soft, festive, and made with holiday sprinkles that kids love. These Christmas butter cookies with sprinkles are genuinely fun to make and even more fun to eat. The powdered sugar coating cracks beautifully in the oven and the holiday sprinkles peek through every bite. They look bakery-made with zero decorating skill required.
- Perfect for gifting, cookie exchanges, and freezing ahead. Christmas gooey butter cookies ship and store beautifully. Make a double batch, keep half for the family, and pack the rest into holiday tins for neighbors and friends. They actually get more gooey and delicious on day two.
Ingredients for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
Both versions of these Christmas ooey gooey butter cookies use simple, accessible ingredients. Everything here is easy to find at any grocery store and most of it is already in your kitchen right now.
What You'll Need
Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies from Scratch (makes about 36 cookies):
- 2 ¼ cups (280g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 8 oz (225g) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar for rolling
- ½ cup holiday sprinkles, folded into the dough
Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies with Cake Mix (makes about 30 cookies):
- 1 box (15.25 oz) white or vanilla cake mix
- 8 oz (225g) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar for rolling
- ½ cup holiday sprinkles, folded into the dough
Why These Ingredients Matter
- Full-fat cream cheese at room temperature. The cream cheese is the entire reason Christmas gooey butter cookies have that dense, tangy, melt-in-your-mouth softness that sets them apart from every other Christmas butter cookies recipe. Reduced-fat cream cheese has too much water and not enough fat, giving you a stickier dough that spreads flat in the oven instead of baking up thick and pillowy. Pull full-fat cream cheese out of the fridge at least 45 minutes before you start, alongside your butter and egg.
- Softened butter, not melted. Melted butter turns Christmas gooey butter cookie dough into a loose, unrollable mess. The cookies spread flat, lose their signature dome, and come out of the oven more like thin butter wafers than the soft and festive Christmas gooey butter cookies you're after. Properly softened butter creams into a smooth, cohesive dough that holds its shape from rolling all the way through baking.
- A thick roll in powdered sugar, not a light dusting. The powdered sugar coating on Christmas ooey gooey butter cookies forms a thin crackled crust in the oven while keeping the inside completely soft and gooey. That contrast between the matte white exterior and the barely-set, cream cheese cookie dough center is what makes these cookies so addictive. Coat generously. Don't shake the excess off.
How to Make Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
Step-by-Step Directions
1. Preheat your oven and prep your baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. Parchment is essential here because the cream cheese base in Christmas gooey butter cookies makes them naturally sticky underneath, and parchment ensures the bottoms bake evenly without sticking or over-browning.
2. Beat the cream cheese and softened butter together. In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and softened butter together on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes until completely smooth, pale, and lump-free. This is the most important step in making Christmas gooey butter cookies. The cream cheese and butter need to be fully emulsified before anything else goes in. Any remaining lumps of cold cream cheese will create uneven pockets in the baked cookie.
3. Add the sugar. For the from-scratch Christmas gooey butter cookies: add the granulated sugar and beat on medium-high for 2 minutes until lighter in color and noticeably fluffier. For the cake mix Christmas gooey butter cookies: add the dry white or vanilla cake mix directly to the cream cheese mixture and mix on low until a soft dough forms and no streaks of dry mix remain.
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on medium until fully incorporated and the dough looks smooth and uniform throughout. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix once more to make sure the egg and vanilla are completely worked in. The dough should look glossy and slightly thick at this stage.
5. Add flour, baking powder, and salt (from-scratch version only). Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix on low just until the flour disappears and the soft melt-in-your-mouth cookie dough comes together. Stop mixing the moment you no longer see dry streaks. Overmixing develops gluten and turns these gooey butter cake cookie dough balls tough and dense instead of tender and pillowy.
6. Fold in the holiday sprinkles. Add the holiday sprinkles and fold them in by hand with a rubber spatula until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Always fold sprinkles by hand rather than with the mixer. The mixer blades chop the sprinkles and bleed their color into the dough, turning your festive Christmas butter cookies with sprinkles an unintentional shade of grey-green.
7. Chill the dough for 15 minutes. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Christmas gooey butter cookie dough is naturally soft and slightly tacky from the cream cheese, and chilling firms it up just enough to roll into clean, round balls without sticking to your hands. This short chill makes every step that follows easier and cleaner.
8. Roll the dough into balls and coat in powdered sugar. Place the powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon, portion out 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of chilled dough per cookie and roll each piece between your palms into a smooth ball. Roll each ball generously through the powdered sugar until the entire surface is coated in a thick, visible white layer. Place the coated balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
9. Bake the Christmas gooey butter cookies. Bake at 350°F for 10 to 13 minutes until the edges look just set and the tops look dry and slightly crackled but the centers still appear underdone and soft. The gooey butter cake cookie variation should always look slightly underbaked when you pull it from the oven. The centers will firm into the perfect gooey texture as the cookies cool on the hot pan. Overbaked Christmas gooey butter cookies lose everything that makes them special.
10. Cool on the baking sheet first. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 8 minutes before moving them to a wire rack. They are too fragile to lift while hot and will hold together perfectly once they've had a few minutes to set. The powdered sugar coating will look beautifully crackled, and the centers will be pillowy, gooey, and perfect.
Hint: For the most photogenic Christmas ooey gooey butter cookies, roll each dough ball twice in powdered sugar before baking. The first roll gives a base coat and the second roll adds the thick, fully white exterior that cracks dramatically in the oven. One roll is good. Two rolls is what you see on Pinterest.
My Top Tips for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
The single most important rule with Christmas gooey butter cookies is to pull them out before they look done. These cookies are supposed to be gooey. When the edges are just set and the top looks dry but the center still has a slight softness to it, that is your exact moment. They will carry-cook on the hot pan for another 3 to 4 minutes and finish into the perfect soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookie texture you're after. Wait for a fully golden top and you've lost the gooey completely.
Gold Tip: Always use a small cookie scoop to portion Christmas gooey butter cookie dough. The cream cheese base keeps this dough soft and sticky, and a scoop portions it cleanly without your warm hands melting it further. Uniformly sized cookies also bake evenly in the same amount of time, which means no overbaked edges while the centers are still raw. This single tool changes the whole process.
For more holiday cookies that belong on the same plate, my Eggnog Snickerdoodle Thumbprint Cookies pair beautifully with these Christmas gooey butter cookies on a cookie exchange platter and cover every holiday flavor people are looking for.
Little Moments in the Kitchen
The first time I made Christmas gooey butter cookies with Olivia, I handed her the bowl of powdered sugar and asked her to roll the dough balls. She did four perfectly and then looked at me and asked, very seriously, "Can I eat the dough?" I told her the egg made that a not-great idea. She thought about it for two seconds and said, "What if I just lick the powdered sugar off my hands?" I said that was a completely different situation and technically acceptable.
When the finished Christmas gooey butter cookies came out of the oven and cooled enough to eat, Olivia bit into one and went quietly wide-eyed. Then she turned to me and said, "Mom, these taste like a birthday cake exploded into a cookie." That is possibly the most accurate description of a gooey butter cake cookie I've ever heard, and it came from an eleven-year-old who ate three more in the following ten minutes. She now refers to this recipe as the "exploding birthday cookie" and requests it every December without fail.
Substitutions for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
Cream cheese: Mascarpone works as a 1:1 swap in both the from-scratch and cake mix Christmas gooey butter cookies. It's slightly richer and less tangy but produces the same gooey, soft texture. Do not use ricotta or cottage cheese as both are too wet and will make the dough unrollable.
Butter: Solid vegan butter sticks work well as a dairy-free alternative. Avoid tub-style or spreadable vegan butter as the higher water content makes Christmas gooey butter cookie dough too soft and loose to roll properly.
All-purpose flour (from-scratch version): A 1:1 gluten-free baking flour blend substitutes directly. Chill the dough for an extra 10 minutes before rolling as gluten-free dough tends to be slightly softer and stickier.
Vanilla cake mix (shortcut version): A white cake mix, a yellow cake mix, or even a funfetti cake mix all work for Christmas gooey butter cookies with cake mix. Funfetti gives you built-in sprinkles throughout the cookie and is Olivia's personal favorite version.
Holiday sprinkles: Use jimmies or nonpareils for the cleanest color payoff. Avoid coarse sanding sugar or large sprinkle shapes mixed into the dough as they can create hard spots in the soft melt-in-your-mouth cookie texture. Save large decorative sprinkles for pressing on top right after baking.
Granulated sugar (from-scratch version): Substitute up to half with light brown sugar for a slightly caramel-kissed Christmas butter cookies recipe easy enough to make any weeknight, with a slightly deeper, more complex sweetness.
Variations on Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
Christmas Gooey Butter Cake Red Velvet Cookies: Swap the vanilla cake mix for a red velvet cake mix in the shortcut version for a festive deep-red Christmas ooey gooey butter cookie that looks stunning on any holiday plate. Roll in powdered sugar and press a few white holiday sprinkles on top while the powdered sugar is still fresh. My Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies fans will love this variation because it captures that same bold red color in a completely different texture.
Lemon Christmas Butter Cookies with Sprinkles: Add the zest of 2 lemons and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to the cream cheese and butter mixture in either version before adding the sugar or cake mix. The bright citrus flavor cuts through the richness of the cream cheese cookie dough base and makes your Christmas butter cookies recipe easy to adapt for guests who prefer something lighter and less intensely sweet alongside the traditional holiday flavors.
Chocolate Christmas Ooey Gooey Butter Cookies: Use a devil's food or chocolate fudge cake mix for the shortcut version, or add ⅓ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder plus an extra tablespoon of softened butter to the from-scratch dough. The deep chocolate flavor combined with the gooey cream cheese center is genuinely addictive. Roll in powdered sugar mixed with a pinch of cocoa powder for a mocha-dusted finish and top with red and green sprinkles for full holiday effect.
Equipment for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
Electric hand mixer or stand mixer: The cream cheese and butter need to be beaten completely smooth before anything else goes in. A hand mixer does this in 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed. Trying to cream them by hand with a spoon will leave lumps that create uneven pockets throughout the baked Christmas gooey butter cookies.
Small cookie scoop (1 to 1.5-tablespoon size): Christmas gooey butter cookie dough is soft and sticky by nature. A small cookie scoop portions each ball cleanly and consistently without warming the dough the way prolonged hand contact does. Every cookie ends up the same size and bakes in the same amount of time with no guesswork.
Shallow bowl or pie dish for powdered sugar rolling: A wide, shallow dish gives you room to roll each dough ball through the powdered sugar coating with full control and even coverage. A deep bowl makes it awkward to coat the whole ball evenly and results in more powdered sugar on the counter than on your Christmas gooey butter cookies.
Parchment-lined baking sheets: Non-negotiable. The cream cheese base makes the bottom of Christmas ooey gooey butter cookies naturally prone to sticking, and parchment ensures clean release every time without affecting the bake. Light-colored aluminum pans with parchment give the most even bottom bake.
Storage Tips for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- Room temperature: Store Christmas gooey butter cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Layer between sheets of parchment paper to prevent sticking. They get slightly more gooey and more intensely flavored on day two, which is honestly when they're at their very best.
- Fridge: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The cream cheese base stays fresh and safe longer when chilled. Bring to room temperature for at least 20 minutes before serving. Cold Christmas gooey butter cookies are denser and less pillowy straight from the fridge.
- Freezer (baked): These Christmas gooey butter cookies freeze beautifully. Place in a single layer on a parchment-lined tray, freeze until solid, then transfer to a zip-lock freezer bag for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature and re-roll in fresh powdered sugar before serving. They look and taste freshly baked every time.
- Freezer (unbaked dough balls): Roll the portioned dough balls in powdered sugar and freeze on a baking sheet until solid. Transfer to a freezer bag and bake straight from frozen at 350°F, adding 2 to 3 extra minutes to the bake time. Perfect for having Christmas gooey butter cookies ready to bake on demand all December.
- Do not freeze with sprinkles pre-folded into dough balls: If freezing raw dough, fold the holiday sprinkles in after thawing to keep the colors bright and prevent them from bleeding into the dough during the freeze-thaw cycle.
Olivia's Tip for Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
Olivia says: "Roll them in the powdered sugar really thick before baking. More than looks right. And then when they come out of the oven, eat one while it's still a little warm because that's when the middle is the most gooey." She is eleven and has this recipe completely figured out. I have no notes.
FAQ about Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
What is the most popular cookie during Christmas?
Sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies have traditionally been the most popular Christmas cookies in the United States, but Christmas gooey butter cookies have been climbing fast over the past few years, especially on Pinterest and TikTok. Their soft, pillowy, cream cheese-rich texture and the crackled powdered sugar coating make them one of the most shared and searched holiday cookie recipes every December. If you search "Christmas ooey gooey butter cookies" or "gooey butter cake cookie recipe," you'll find them trending every single holiday season.
What are the common butter cookie mistakes?
The most common mistakes with Christmas butter cookies recipes are using cold butter and cream cheese that haven't softened properly, which creates lumpy dough and uneven texture; overbaking, which turns the soft melt-in-your-mouth cookie into something dry and crumbly; and not chilling the dough before rolling, which makes the cream cheese cookie dough too soft and sticky to handle cleanly. For Christmas gooey butter cookies specifically, skipping the second powdered sugar roll and moving the cookies off the pan while still hot are two additional mistakes that affect the final result significantly.
What is the difference between butter cookies and shortbread cookies?
Both use butter as their primary fat, but butter cookies like Christmas gooey butter cookies contain eggs and often cream cheese or baking powder, which gives them a softer, more tender, slightly chewy crumb. Shortbread cookies use a much higher ratio of butter to flour with little or no sugar and no eggs, producing a very dry, sandy, snap-when-you-bite-them texture. Christmas gooey butter cookies are firmly in the soft butter cookie category, rich with cream cheese cookie dough richness, not shortbread.
What is the least popular Christmas cookie?
Fruitcake cookies and certain heavily spiced molasses cookies consistently rank as the least popular holiday cookies in most surveys because their flavors are more polarizing. Christmas gooey butter cookies sit at the complete opposite end of that spectrum. Vanilla, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and holiday sprinkles are flavors that appeal to almost everyone, which is a huge part of why these best Christmas gooey butter cookies disappear faster than anything else on a dessert table.
Conclusion
Some recipes earn their place on the holiday baking list by tasting good. Christmas gooey butter cookies earn their place by tasting good, looking beautiful, taking almost no time to make, and making everyone who eats them ask for the recipe before they've finished the first one. The soft vanilla gooey butter cookie base, the crackled powdered sugar crust, the cream cheese richness in every bite, and the festive sprinkles throughout make these the most requested cookie in our December rotation every single year without exception.
Make a batch this weekend using whichever version fits your schedule, the cake mix shortcut or the from-scratch Christmas gooey butter cookies recipe. Both are worth every minute. For more soft, festive holiday cookies that belong on the same plate, my Snowball Cookies and Peanut Butter Blossoms are both classics your family will love. And if you want to explore even more soft Christmas cookie ideas beyond these, this collection of Soft Christmas Cookies on Allrecipes is worth bookmarking for your full holiday baking lineup. Happy baking, friend. These Christmas gooey butter cookies were built for December.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies:
📖 Recipe
Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies with Sprinkles
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Olivia always volunteers to place the parchment sheets because she says it's like putting a cozy blanket down for the cookies before they bake.
- In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together for about 2-3 minutes until smooth and fluffy. I always tell Olivia this step is where the magic texture begins, the smoother this mixture is, the softer our cookies will be.
- Add the granulated sugar and beat again until the mixture becomes light and creamy. Olivia calls this the 'snow cloud stage' because the batter looks pale and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until everything is smooth and glossy. Olivia always insists on smelling the vanilla before it goes in, she says that's how she knows it's going to taste amazing.
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed just until the dough comes together. I remind Olivia not to overmix because tender cookies come from gentle mixing.
- Gently fold in the colorful holiday sprinkles using a spatula. This is Olivia's favorite part because it turns plain dough into something that already looks like Christmas.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for 15 minutes. This helps the dough firm up so it's easier to roll. Olivia usually sets the kitchen timer and counts down like we're waiting for cookies on Christmas morning.
- Scoop dough into small balls and roll each one generously in powdered sugar until fully coated. Olivia always says the thicker the powdered sugar, the prettier the crackles will look after baking.
- Place the cookies on the baking sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes. The edges should look set but the centers should still look soft. I always tell Olivia this is the secret, gooey cookies should never look fully done in the oven.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before moving them to a rack. Olivia always grabs the first warm cookie and declares herself the official taste tester.
Nutrition
Notes
• Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
• Freeze baked cookies for up to 2 months and thaw before serving.
• Cake mix shortcut: Replace the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar with one box of vanilla cake mix for an even faster version.
• These cookies are perfect for holiday cookie exchanges, Christmas gift tins, and family baking nights with kids.
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