Grinch Cookie Recipe - Easy Green Crinkle Cookies (2024)

Celebrate the Grinch’s small heart growing 3 sizes with this easy Grinch cookie recipe. These green crinkle cookies look just like a Grinch!

These fun and simple green Grinch Christmas cookies are inspired by one of our favorite holiday movies, How The Grinch Stole Christmasby Dr. Seuss! This easy recipe calls for 7 simple ingredients, including a box of cake mix, and a few basic baking tools. The results are delicious green cookies that look just like the Grinch! There’s even a red heart to symbolize the Grinch’s heart.

I love creating fun snacks on a theme. And since The Grinch is on repeat in our house during the holidays I had to make Grinch cookies. These green sugar cookies are incredibly easy to make and my kids love them. Perfect for watching The Grinch, or any of our favorite Christmas movies.

**This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from these links that supports this blog. Thank you!**

What are Grinch Cookies?

Grinch cookies are green crinkle cookies with heart-shaped candy. They are meant to look like the furry green Grinch with his heart growing as he learns the true magic of Christmas. These fun cookies are made with a boxed vanilla cake mix. This makes the recipe simple, but delicious! It’s the perfect holiday cookie recipe!

If you want to make another fun Grinch-themed treat, try this green Grinch Dip!

What You Need to Make This Easy Grinch Cookie Recipe

• Box of Vanilla Cake Mix – No need to measure out flour or dry ingredients with these cookies! All you need is a boxed cake mix! But don’t follow the recipe on the box, follow the directions on the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
• Eggs – Eggs hold the cookie dough together. They also help the cookies to rise and spread while baking.
• Vegetable Oil – A little bit of oil helps the cookies stay moist.
• Green Food Coloring – Make these cookies a bright green color with a bit of green food coloring gel.
• Granulated Sugar – Roll the cookie dough in granulated sugar before baking helps them form a delicious crunch on the outside of the cookie.
• Powdered Sugar – For crinkle cookies like these the powdered sugar highlights the crinkle! Some areas of green will show through while others have a slight powdered sugar layer.
• Heart Sprinkles – A small red heart sprinkle or candy heart on each cookie adds a pop of color and represents the Grinch’s heart in the story.

What Type of Food Coloring is Best?

For this recipe, I used green gel food coloring. When baking, gel food coloring is best. It gives the cookies, or cake, the necessary pigmentation without adding additional moisture. Too much moisture in a dough changes the consistency and may impact the way the dough rises or bakes.

Supplies You Need for This Easy Cookie Recipe

• Large bowl
• Rubber spatula
• Silicone baking sheets
• Baking sheet
• 1″ cookie scoop
• Electric hand mixer or stand mixer (optional)

How to Make These Adorable Grinch Cookies

These are some of my family’s favorite cookies during the holiday season! The color is fun, they taste amazing, and it’s so fun to eat them while watching The Grinch! And I love them because cake mix cookies are easy to make!

Step One – Empty a box of vanilla cake mix into a large mixing bowl.

Step Two – Add 2 eggs and 1/3 cup of vegetable oil to the bowl. This is less oil and fewer eggs than the recipe on the box. And it skips the water completely. Those differences give the cake mix a more dough-like texture.

Step Three – Add 1/4 teaspoon of green food coloring to the bowl. This amount of food coloring makes the cookies bright green. If you use too much, the cookies will turn a darker shade of green.

Step Four – Then mix the cake mix, eggs, oil, and food coloring until a dough forms. Use a rubber spatula to mix the dough by hand, or use a mixer.

Step Five – Cover the mixing bowl and dough with saran wrap. Chill it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Chilling the dough allows the fat to solidify. This keeps the cookies from spreading too much as they bake.

Step Six – After the dough is chilled, pour granulated sugar onto a plate. Pour powdered sugar onto a second plate.

Step Seven – Use a 1″ cookie scoop to scoop out the dough. Use your hands to roll the dough into a ball. Then roll the ball of dough in the granulated sugar. Then in the powdered sugar. Place each ball of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Step Eight – Bake cookies in a 350-degree oven for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and add a single heart sprinkle to the upper right side of each cookie.

Allow these homemade Grinch cookies to cool on a wire rack for 15 – 20 minutes before serving.

Where Do I Find Heart Sprinkles for My Grinch Cookie Recipe?

If it’s not Valentine’s Day, it may be difficult to find heart-shaped sprinkles at the grocery store or Target. However, most craft stores have a supply of unique sprinkles and other cake/cookie decorating accessories all year round. I purchased my heart sprinkles at my local Michael’s in October! You could also use a red M&M if you can’t find hearts!

This Grinch cookie recipe is the perfect easy treat to make for an after-school treat in December. Or for a fun Grinch movie night! Maybe even leave them Santa!

More Cookie Recipes to Try

• Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
• Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Carrot Cake Cookies

Tags

cookies Grinch

2 Comments

1. 

   Ashley

   October 17, 2022 at 9:28 am ·Reply

   These grinch cookies look adorable and so easy to make! These would be really fun for kiddos too!

   Make Life Marvelous

2. 

   Trudy

   December 23, 2023 at 2:42 pm ·Reply

   
   I don’t know what happened but my dough is very sticky, can’t make a ball , so put them back in the fridge. See what happens 😞