We made these simple Chocolate Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies – which are perfect for a snow day with the kiddos or your holiday cookie exchange- as part of a compensated partnership with Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions and this easy recipe are mine alone. #BakeMagicMoments #CollectiveBias

We just returned from a visit with my hubby’s family in the Florida Panhandle. Picture rustic and rural homes, miles of field and forest, plenty of peace and quiet … and the sweetest little squishy nephew I ever did see! The only thing that was missing was my niece, Addison. She was spending Thanksgiving with her dad’s family and I was totally deflated. Who was going to bake cookies with Aunt Keri? And not just any cookies … these super chocolately, striped peppermint candy filled cake mix cookies?!

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies

Well, luckily, we met the neighbors across the street who just happened to have a sweet little girl who was more than willing to bake cookies with me! Isn’t that what this season is all about? Enjoying family, meeting new friends and making memories!

So speaking of cookies … these cake mix cookies are one of my favorite recipes! I always have a cake mix in my cupboard. Well, several if I’m being honest. #foodbloggerproblems Who knows when there might be a cupcake emergency? Or when all of a sudden, a certain 13 year old remembers that he needs to bring cookies to school the next morning. 😉 These cookies are so soft and bake up beautifully, so no one will ever know that these cookies are made with just 3 basic ingredients:

That’s it. A cake mix, one stick (1/2 cup) of softened butter and an egg. Now, you can add a dash of vanilla extract if you want. Or a tablespoon or so of milk (or peppermint coffee creamer if that’s what you’ve got in the fridge) to the dough. If you don’t have softened butter, substitute vegetable oil. And don’t worry when the dough looks a little thick and sticky. It is! But when you line your baking sheets with these Reynolds Cookie Baking Sheets, they will slide right off like butta!

I am a huge Reynolds parchment paper fan – we use it for making barks, baking tarts and of course, cookies! The pre-cut sheets lay flat on our baking pans and help with even baking. They are oven safe up to 420* and we use them all.the.time.

Now, the best part of this easy recipe is that little hands (that are hard to keep still for the camera while excitedly rolling cookie dough!) make quick work of sticky chocolate dough …

And sweet little fingers love to unwrap the candy …

That will get pressed into warm cookies as we slide another batch of cookies into the oven!

(We had the rest of the cookies rolled on the Reynolds cookie baking sheets so we could just slide another sheet of dough onto our pan and pop the next batch in … such a time saver!)

And those little toes dance excitedly while waiting for them to cool enough to taste! And taste we did. She was so excited to pack up a plate of cookies for her to take home to her family, too. Sharing memories and cookies is a pretty sweet deal!

This recipe is so flexible that you can use different flavors of cake mix + candy to make different varieties of these cookies!