Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
Texas Sheet Cake in cookie form! These Texas Sheet Cake Cookies start with chewy chocolate cake mix cookies that are coated in a rich fudge icing.
Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
With their rich chocolate coating and sweet, soft center, these Texas sheet cake cookies are a real treat! It’s the cookie version of the classic bake sale confection!
I’m not originally from Texas, so when I first moved here in college, I had a LOT to learn about the traditions here. And trust me, Texas is a state that is built on tradition!
One such tradition is the food: barbecue, chicken fried steak, pecan pie…think hearty food made from available ingredients that would fuel hard-working ranchers and farmers.
Oh, and it’s all delicious! No wonder these foods stuck around even as fewer Texans live the traditional ranch lifestyle.
Another one of my favorite Texas foods is Texas sheet cake – it’s made with simple ingredients and is a chocolate lover’s dream!
These Texas sheet cake cookies are a handheld version of the classic cake. They’re a fun spin on the traditional recipe, perfect for making at the holidays or for gifting, and they are packed with chocolate flavor!
I love this recipe because it’s fairly easy (chocolate cake mix cookies) but the from-scratch icing makes them taste so incredibly delicious! It tastes like melted chocolate…and it perfectly compliments the fluffy and chewy cookies!
And then of course, we topped them with a pecan in the middle! (Because that is perhaps the most important part of Texas sheet cake!)
Y’all…trust me when I tell you this is my FAVORITE cookie recipe! They are so rich and delicious and incredibly easy to make! Once you try them, I think they will become one of your favorite desserts too!
Why I Love this Recipe
- Easy to make with a boxed cake mix and a handful of simple ingredients
- No mixer needed! Just whisk and bake!
- The pecan topping makes them as pretty as they are tasty!
Related: Love chocolate? Try our Nutella Microwave Fudge too! It’s just as easy as this recipe, and only 3 ingredients!
What is Texas Sheet Cake?
Texas Sheet Cake is one of those things where everyone has their own family recipe, so there is often a bit of controversy when it comes to the “right” way to make it.
However, there are a few key features to pretty much every Texas Sheet Cake recipe:
- Large flat chocolate cake (a sheet cake, as the name implies)
- Rich chocolate icing (the richer the better!)
- Pecans (we love pecans in Texas!)
Sounds delicious right? There’s a reason that Texas sheet cake is so popular!
Related: Be sure to try our Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake Cookies too!
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Ingredients
- 1 box milk chocolate cake mix (your favorite cake mix)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
Chocolate Icing Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 2 Tablespoon cocoa powder (this is our favorite kind…SO rich and chocolate-y)
- 3 Tablespoon whole milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- Pecan halves (one for each cookie)
Kitchen Supplies Used:
- Cookie sheet
- Wire cooling rack
- Non-stick silicone baking mats
- Medium cookie scooper
- Saucepan
- Wire whisk
- Measuring cups and spoons
Instructions: How to Make Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
This recipe makes 18-24 cookies, depending on how large you make the dough balls. Our last batch yielded 19 cookies, using a generous 1 Tablespoon of batter for each.
To Make the Chocolate Cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper or non-stick silicone baking mats. (We love these mats because you can wash them and reuse them and cookies slide right off them!)
- In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs and oil until you have a smooth batter. A stand mixer is not necessary — stirring with a large wooden spoon or wire whisk will work just fine.
- Use a cookie scoop or spoon to create balls of cookie dough (about 1TB in size) and place on your prepared baking sheet, 2 inches apart from each other.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes (you’ll want them to be a touch soft in the middle), then remove from oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack.
Chocolate Frosting Instructions:
- Combine the butter, cocoa powder and whole milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk together until smooth.
- Remove pan from heat and slowly whisk in the powdered sugar until incorporated completely.
- Slide a cookie sheet under the wire rack where your cookies are resting (this will catch excess icing). Pour icing over your cookies slowly to coat them.
- While the icing is still wet, gently press a pecan half in the center of each cookie. Allow icing to set before serving or storing.
Prep Tips
- Icing – When making the frosting, keep it warm until all cookies are coated. This frosting will start to harden as soon as it cools, and once it does, it cannot be re-heated.
- Nuts – We used pecan halves for our cookie topping, but you could alternatively use chopped pecans and sprinkle them on top of the icing. And while pecans are a key ingredient in Texas sheet cake, but if you don’t like nuts (or allergies are a concern), you can omit them. This is an excellent chocolate cookie recipe all in its own!
- Cake Mix – There is no specific type of chocolate cake mix you need to use. If you have a box of chocolate cake mix in your pantry, you can use it! Most box cake directions will call for water, in addition to the eggs and oil. Follow our recipe directions instead, which omit the water (we did that on purpose for thick, fluffy cookies!)
- Variations – If you love the cookies, be sure to try our extra thick and fluffy Texas Sheet Cake and our Chocolate Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake too!
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These are the cookie recipes on our site that get the most clicks and shares!
- Keto No Bake Cookies
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Texas Sheet Cake Cookies Recipe (Printable Recipe Card)
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Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Mixing bowl
- Saucepan
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies Ingredients
- 1 box Chocolate Cake Mix
- 2 Eggs
- 1/3 cup Canola Oil
Icing Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter
- 3 Tablespoon Whole Milk
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
- Pecan Halves (1 for each cookie)
Instructions
Chocolate Cake Mix Cookie Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs and oil until combined and smooth.
- Scoop out dough balls (1TB each) and place them onto the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart from each other.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring cookies to a wire cooling rack.
Icing Directions
- Using a medium saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder and whole milk over medium heat.
- Whisk together until combined and smooth.
- Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth.
- Place a cookie sheet under the wire rack to catch excess chocolate.
- Scoop out a spoonful of icing and pour over the cookies.
- While icing is still wet, press a pecan half on top of each cookie.
- Allow the icing to harden before enjoying.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Thank you so much for this recipe! I am gearing up to make my 3rd batch of these cookies for my son’s grad party. They are fantastic and my dad who has Alzheimer’s and can’t taste a lot absolutely LOVED how chocolatey these were and indulged in these yummies. These cookies are now one of my favorite recipes.
I appreciate a quickie cake mix short cut for those times I don’t have time or don’t want to make the effort to make a yummy treat.
Again, thanks for your willingness to share this and make an elderly man and his daughter smile and have a sweet memory to cherish.
I’m so glad that these are a new favorite for your family and your dad! Alzheimer’s is awful 🙁 my Grandad had it too. I hope that you two get many more years to make your memories together!
Loved the chocolate cookies just as your recipe stated. They were delicious. Later I made them for a girls birthday. To make pink I used strawberry cake mix for cookies then left off cocoa and added red food coloring and strawberry extract for icing. Also delicious
Tasted like a cake mix. And I like the boiled frosting of a real Texas sheet cake so better. I ate one to taste, but am not tempted to eat more
I read somewhere that one cake mix worked better than the other. But I don’t remember which one.
I think most cake mixes should work well – it may just be personal preference on taste 🙂
I don’t know why people are against usIng a cake mix. They sound delicious and easy, I can’t wait to make them. Anything that saves extra steps gets my vote!!
These cookies are amazing! My daughter asks for them for every occasion she has – bachelorette party, baby shower, birthday! Lol so easy and delicious!
Hi Stacey,
What an amazing recipe! I am a chocolate lover, and anything containing chocolate becomes my instant favorite. These cookies look so appetizing that just by looking at them, I want to eat them all. My mom used to make dark chocolate chip cookies for me when I was young, and you certainly reminded me of all the happy memories I had of that time. Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe, I have bookmarked it, and I will make it with my mom the next time she visit me.
Just made these, and they are delicious!
Yay! Thanks for letting me know!
Such a simple recipe! They are cheap to make, super fast to complete and make so many cookies! Oh and so delicious!
I love them too!!
These are the best easy cookies. The original recipe without the frosting was on the Duncan Heinz cake mix box In the 60’s. The frosting makes them extra special.
Grandkids love making and eating them.