With their cake batter filling and crunchy chocolate cookies, these cake batter chocolate sandwich cookies are a sweet treat you need in your life!
Before we get to today’s recipe, I need to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to everyone for their kind words about my post last week. I’m so grateful to everyone who commented and emailed in response. Words really can’t express how much I appreciate all of you, and how lucky I feel to have such wonderful people in my life. You all make my every day better!
But now, the main event: cake batter chocolate sandwich cookies. I know you’re here for the baked goods, not the self-indulgent babbling :).
Can I let you in on a little secret? I LOVE cake batter from a box mix.
Generally I prefer to eat a cake made from scratch—not always, but most of the time.
But when it comes to the batter? Well, box batter is just better. To my taste buds anyway. I’m not sure, but I think my preference is a holdover from my college days, when I was known to eat yellow cake batter (from a box) for dinner when I was too lazy to cook.
Yeah. Health nut I am not. If I tried to do that today I’d end up with a month-long migraine, not to mention I’d be shopping for a new wardrobe.
But nothing is stopping me from eating one (or three) of these cake batter chocolate sandwich cookies after a balanced dinner.
Or a balanced breakfast, because some things never change.
These chocolate cake batter sandwich cookies are sort of like a homemade Oreo. The cookies themselves are very crunchy and provide a perfect contrast to the creamy cake batter filling.
And the filling is just a simple buttercream with a couple of tablespoons of yellow cake mix mixed in. Guys, it tastes JUST like the cake mix.
(Duh, Kels, you’re probably thinking. Did you think it would taste like chicken? Well no, silly. But I was concerned I’d need so much cake mix to get a good cake batter flavor that my filling would cease to be fluffy. Fortunately, it didn’t take much.)
The sprinkles in the filling are optional, in the way that they aren’t integral to the cookie. But they’re necessary in the way that sprinkles are integral to a happy life. So include/exclude the sprinkles as you wish.
These heavenly little sandwich cookies are my life right now. Crunchy, creamy, sweet and chocolate-y, they’re my new favorite afternoon snack. And I know they can be yours too!
Have a lovely weekend!
These chocolate sandwich cookies are like Oreos, but better because they're homemade and taste like cake batter!
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder optional
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 2/3 cups powdered sugar less 1 tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons white or yellow cake mix
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons rainbow jimmies
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Whisk the butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until well combined. Whisk in the vanilla and melted chocolate. Add the egg and whisk until fully combined.
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Stir the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and espresso powder (if using) together in a second medium bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter-chocolate mixture with a wooden spoon; if the dough is too stiff to mix with the spoon, use your hands. Mix until the dough is cohesive. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
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Transfer the dough to a large square of parchment paper and shape into a log about 10 inches long. Wrap the parchment around the log, then roll back and forth on the counter a few times to form a smooth log of dough. Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours, turning the log every 15 minutes or so to maintain the log’s round shape.
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Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Cut the dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices and arrange them on the prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart. Bake for 18 to 23 minutes, just until cookies are firm to the touch. Cool cookies completely on the baking sheets before filling.
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Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low speed until very smooth, about 30 seconds. Beat in the powdered sugar, cake mix, vanilla, milk, and salt and mix until mixture is very smooth. Fold in the rainbow jimmies with a rubber spatula.
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Scoop 1 heaping tablespoon of filling onto half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies, then press down to flatten the filling. Serve and enjoy.
Cookies adapted from Flour
They looks so beautiful & delicious – would love them as an afternoon snack 🙂 Have a fantastic weekend, Kelsie!
Miriam xx
Thank you Miriam! You too!
These are adorable and chocolatey yumminess and I love the sprinkles in them! I love using cake mix in cookies too! They look like gourmet OREOS! 😀 Pinning for later Kelsie! Have a great day!!
Thank you so much, Kim! Happy Friday!
Cake mix in the frosting? Say what!? That is nothing short of genius! What a fun idea! And those chocolate cookies look amazing, too, Kelsie. I’m pretty sure I need to just move in next door so I can sample all of these delicious treats that you keep posting. Although I’m not sure I could handle that Phoenix heat. My blood has thickened since we’ve moved up north. (Did I mention we’re hitting the 40’s at night now? Maybe you should move this way instead…and still share your delicious treats with me. Haha!) I’m going to have daydreams about frosting with cake mix in it all day today now. 🙂 Have a great long weekend, my friend!
Awww thank you so much, David! I can’t believe you’re hitting the 40s already! If I ever miss shoveling snow I’ll be glad to move up your way :). Have a great long weekend!
These cookies look so yummy! And sprinkles aren’t optional hehehe 🙂 have a great day!! Xoxo
Haha! Sprinkles are never optional for me either :). Happy Friday Kelly!
These cookies are so cute Kelsie!! The crunchy chocolatey cookie, that yummm filling and the sprinkles!! I am sure I can eat a couple of these in one go 😉
Thank you so much my friend!
Oh yum!! I love how sweet and soft these are! And those sprinkles are the bomb-diggity! PS) Making your beer brownies tomorrow! Can’t wait!! Have a lovely weekend, my SU buddy!
Awwww thank you Annie! You’ll have to let me know what you think of the brownies! And cheer extra hard for me!
These are so pretty Kelsie. Just (almost) too pretty to eat, but I’m not that cray cray NOT to eat ’em 😉 Sprinkles optional? Nope. No way girlfriend 🙂 Gotta have those cause they are just too darn fun! Have an awesome weekend!
Haha! Thank you Dawn! You have an awesome weekend too!
These are screaming my son’s name. I usually poach on his ice-cream cookie sandwiches. Must have the sprinkles:) I will not worry about you over the long weekend, you will have plenty of treats I think:)
Haha! My freezer is stocked so I should be fine over Labor Day :). Have a great long weekend!
These look so fun and super yummy!
Thank you Amy!
I had to pop over here immediately for the recipe when I spotted these on your Instagram! They look just incredibly delicious. I love that filling and I bet these cookies would be awesome for ice cream sandwiches too!
Thank you so much, Marissa! They’d be perfect for ice cream sandwiches! Now I’m adding that to my baking list for next summer 🙂
These are so pretty Kelsie! Not to mention incredibly delicious looking – cake batter is such a perfect filling for those cookies!! Oh – and the sprinkles are definitely a necessity!
Thank you Katherine! Yeah, I clearly wasn’t thinking straight when I said they aren’t necessary :). Happy Friday!
I’ll take the entire stack Kelsie! These are so fun and they look delicious!
Thank you Mary Ann! Happy Friday!
What?! Cake batter for dinner? Now I’ve heard it all, haha!! But those collage days were the good old days, weren’t they? These sandwich cookies are adorable, and I love the cake batter filling! It’s such a clever (and delicious) idea,Kelsie!!
Thank you so much, Thao! Have a great weekend!
I definitely think we must be some sort of long lost cake batter loving relatives. I didn’t know I needed these in my life but now I am certain I can’t live without them. I love the cake batter buttercream idea!
Thank you Carlee! Cake batter buttercream is my new favorite kind 🙂
Such adorable little cookies. Using cake mix in the filling is a really great idea. It must taste absolutely divine.
Definitely on my to-bake list this weekend.?
Have a great weekend Kelsie!!!
Thank you so much, Ashika! You have a great weekend too!
These are so pretty! I love the little hint of sprinkles in there! Adds a perfect pop of color and fun. have a great weekend Kelsie!
Thank you Patrick! You too!
it’s a proven fact that sprinkles make everything better (not that these need help!)! 🙂
They really do! Thank you Grace!
I have never been a cookie person but chocolate cake is my weakness. So this cookies is getting saved to be tried soon!
If I could only eat one dessert for the rest of my life, it would be chocolate cake :). Thank you Kankana!
Haha! I’m with you on the box cake batter—I think I started when I had an Easy Bake Oven!! These sandwich cookies look amazing!
I always wanted an Easy Bake Oven! Thank you so much Liz :). Have a great long weekend!
Every food tastes better with a little conversation so keep babbling away, bae 😉 These cookies look off the hook delicious!
Haha! Thank you Jessie!
these look amazing! i love even just your cookie recipe! i’ve never used cake batter in frosting before, I didn’t even know you could?! what a cool idea!
Thank you Georgie! It sooooo works 🙂
You are brilliant my friend!!! Cake batter in frosting is the best thing EVER!!!
Wow! These look amazing, and sound amazing! Not sure I can resist… I do have a box mix in my pantry. And what is it about that batter that tastes so yummy? I agree with you that it is tasty, but I really want too understand what it is that makes it so. ?
Haha..Im with you, I could drink the cake batter made from a box mix!! These sandwich cookies just make me want to smile (and eat them). They are so pretty and I love chocolate brown with bright pops of sprinkle color. Take care.
What?! Kelsie, the Queen of Cheesecakes, Brownies, and Cookies, LOVES cake batter from a box mix? I’m shocked! I need something delicious to get over this horrible fact:) What about these tasty cookies? I’d like some with a dulce de leche filling (just cause I love dulce de leche). Nice work!
This is just a happy recipe and you are now Kels to me! I love shortening names and that one fits you perfectly!
Haha! Me too, Jules 🙂