These adorable Easter Sugar Cookies are soft, thick, chewy cookies that start with a cake mix and get topped with dreamy, whipped frosting and festive sprinkles. Made from shortcut ingredients from the grocery store, these fast and easy Easter cookies are perfect for a last-minute sweet treat and fuss-free spring celebrations!
For more cute Easter cookies, try these fun Easter Bunny Sugar Cookie Cups and Chocolate Easter Bunny Cookies.
Want to bake up something special for Easter but don't have a lot of time? These easy Easter Sugar Cookies are the perfect solution.
Made with doctored-up cake mix and canned frosting, these simple cookies come together in minutes but still taste homemade. Whether you're making them for a holiday gathering, a last-minute treat, or a fun baking project with kids, you’ll get soft, bakery-style cookies with the easiest whipped frosting. No rolling, chilling, or fussing required!
For homemade frosting, try this easy stackable buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting.
❤️You're Going to Love These
- Thick, chewy sugar cookies with a soft melt-in-your-mouth texture
- Ridiculously easy recipe with cake mix and canned frosting + simple upgrades
- Sweet and festive treat for Easter celebrations, spring party dessert tables, or sharing with friends and co-workers
- A fun, foolproof recipe with no rolling or cutting—just mix, bake and frost
🐰Ingredients
See recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full list of ingredients and exact amounts.
- Cake mix. These photos were taken with a 15.25 oz. box of white cake mix. I've made this simple sugar cookie recipe with various sizes of cake mix ranging from 13.25 to 15.25 and haven't had to make any adjustments.
- All-purpose flour. A little bit of flour gives these cookies structure and keeps them nice and thick without spreading.
- Egg and egg yolk. The extra egg yolk makes the cookies dense and fudgy.
- Canned frosting. I used cream cheese frosting, but you can use vanilla or a flavor like strawberry or chocolate.
- Butter. Whipping butter into the frosting makes it a little thicker, creamier, and less sweet.
- Powdered sugar. Mix in powdered sugar, a little at a time, to thicken the frosting.
- Almond extract. This is totally optional but gives it a little more homemade flavor. Use any flavor you like. If you will be tinting the frosting, use a clear extract.
- Gel food coloring. I used this set of neon gel food coloring from Betty Crocker for the green, pink, and purple, and yellow from this set of Betty Crocker class gel food colors.
- Easter sprinkles. I used a few different kinds of Easter sprinkles from Target. This fun sprinkle set, this pastel sprinkle mix, and this cute spring bunnies sprinkle mix.
🍓Substitutions or Variations
- Use a different flavor of cake mix, like strawberry or lemon!
- Try strawberry or chocolate frosting. Or make homemade buttercream or cream cheese frosting.
- Make cut-out Easter sugar cookies. See recipe card notes for details.
🥣How to Make Soft Cake Mix Easter Sugar Cookies
Step 1: Whisk cake mix and flour together in a large bowl. Add the butter, eggs, and vanilla and mix until it forms into a soft dough, about one minute.
Step 2: Roll 1-tablespoon-sized balls of dough in sugar and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gently press the dough balls down into a ¾-inch puck. Bake at 325 degrees for 8 minutes until the edges are set, and the tops are crackly. If the cookies are very puffy, press them down again with a spatula. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then on a wire rack.
Step 3: Whip the frosting, butter, salt, and any flavor extracts until smooth. Mix in the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency. I use ¼ cup. If desired, tint the frosting in a variety of different colors.
Step 4: Spread the frosting onto the cooled cookies. Top with sprinkles.
👉Top Tip: For cut-out cookies, roll the dough between parchment or on a lightly floured surface, cut with cookie cutters, and bake for 6 minutes. The cookies will be soft, puffy, and spread slightly, so use cookie cutters without a lot of detail, like a simple easter egg or bunny cookie cutter.
☑️Tips
- If a test cookie or first batch spreads, chill the dough for 30-60 minutes. If that doesn't help, knead in some flour.
- The frosting is soft at room temperature and firms up when refrigerated.
- You can also pipe the frosting on with a piping bag or ziptop bag with the corner snipped off.
🎁Storage
- Store frosted Easter sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for one week.
- Store unfrosted sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
📅Make Ahead
- Store unbaked sugar cookie dough tightly covered in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Freeze frosted cookies in a single layer until firm, then wrap in plastic wrap and a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
- Freeze unfrosted cookies in a zip-top bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
❓FAQs
Yes. A homemade buttercream or cream cheese frosting would work great if you want to skip the canned frosting.
No. This soft sugar cookie dough comes together quickly with no chilling required. Just mix, scoop, and bake.
Yes! You can use different cake mix flavors, like vanilla, lemon, or funfetti, for a fun twist.
Yes. Roll the dough with a rolling pin between layers of parchment paper and cut into fun Easter shapes. Bake for about 6 minutes. Cake mix cut-out cookies are soft and chewy and spread slightly, so it's best to use cookie cutters without a lot of detail. A simple bunny or Easter egg-shaped cookie cutter would be perfect!
🎆More Easy Easter Cookies
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📖 Recipe
Easy Decorated Easter Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cake Mix Sugar Cookies
- 1 box white or yellow cake mix
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup sugar, for rolling
Doctored Up Canned Frosting
- 1 16 oz. can cream cheese or vanilla frosting
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract, optional
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1-4 tablespoons powdered sugar
- gel food coloring. optional
- Easter sprinkles, optional
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 325. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk cake mix and flour to remove lumps. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix at low speed until moistened, then on medium speed until it forms a soft dough.
- Roll one-tablespoon portions of dough into balls, then roll them in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. With a rubber spatula, gently press to flatten each ball to a ¾-inch thick puck.
- Bake for 8 minutes or until edges are set and the bottoms are light golden brown. If needed, gently flatten them again while they're still warm. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Doctored Up Store-Bought Frosting
- Place the frosting, softened butter, salt, and almond extract in a medium mixing bowl. Whip on medium to medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and mix until combined and it reaches your desired consistency.
- If desired, divide the frosting into a few small bowls and tint each one a different pastel color with a drop or two of gel food coloring.
- Spread the frosting onto cooled cookies. Decorate with Easter sprinkles and candies. Store at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for one week.
Notes
- If a test cookie or your first batch spreads, chill the dough for 30-60 minutes. If that doesn't help, knead in some flour.
- The frosting is soft at room temperature and firms up when refrigerated.
- You can also pipe the frosting on with a piping bag or ziptop bag with the corner snipped off.
- For cut-out cookies, roll the dough between parchment or on a lightly floured surface, cut with cookie cutters, and bake for 6 minutes. The cookies will be soft, puffy, and spread slightly, so use cookie cutters without a lot of detail, like a simple easter egg or bunny cookie cutter.
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