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These rolo cookies are just 4 ingredients and perfect for holiday baking! The surprise caramel inside each soft and chewy chocolate cookie is absolute perfection!
Let me take you back in time about 20-ish years ago.*
I was sitting in the kitchen unwrapping a bunch of caramel candies or Hershey kisses or Rolo candies or Reese’s or any number of other individually wrapped pieces of deliciousness. I was planning on putting the candy in some sort of baked good and there I was.
Unwrapping.
And unwrapping.
More and more and more all day long and into the evening I sat there unwrapping those candies.
Finally I yelled out to my husband and said, “Husband! I’ve just had a brilliant idea!”
My husband came running to hear this idea.
“We’ll have children! Many, many children! And they’ll think it is SO FUN to help me out in the kitchen and so I’ll give them the horrible job of unwrapping the candies!”
My husband’s jaw dropped for he was in awe of his brilliant wife. Then we went and made babies. With our clothes on, obviously. (Hi Mom and Dad!)
The moral of that story is this: If you do not have children you should really fix that. They make excellent unwrappers of candy and they even think the job is fun.
Of course, now they make a lot of candies that are just unwrapped in a bag. What do I even need these kids for now? 😉
*This story is totally false. 20-ish years ago I made only one dessert and that was slice and bake sugar cookies purchased from the grocery store and served raw.
How to Make Rolo Cookies:
Mix: The first step is to mix together the dough that will be filled with the Rolo candies. These cake mix cookies make a perfectly sweet, gooey combination of chocolate and caramel!
- While your oven is pre-heating to 350 degrees, mix together the first three ingredients to make the dough.
Add the Rolos: These wouldn’t be Rolo cookies without the candy! When the dough is ready and your children have finished all the unwrapping work, hopefully without eating all of the candy (the costs of child labor), start adding the Rolos to the dough.
- Roll a small piece of dough into a ball (about golf-ball sized), and smash it flat in your hand. Place a Rolo in the center and close the dough around it.
- The dough will be sticky. To prevent it from sticking to your hands, spray your hands with non-stick spray. Repeat as needed.
Bake & Serve: After rolling all of the dough and candies together, bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet for about 9 minutes.
- Don’t forget to add some powdered sugar for a topping!
- These are best served warm, with a gooey caramel and chocolate center but are also great at room temperature! The Rolo caramel stays soft regardless!
Substitutions:
Maybe you don’t have Rolo candies on hand? Or maybe your children ate them all (or you did, and you blamed them. Admit it). Do not panic. You can use many different candies besides Rolos in this recipe. Some options to consider:
- Snickers (Either the minis or chopped up bars)
- Hershey’s Kisses
- Mini Reese’s
- If it has chocolate or caramel and you can fit it inside a cookie, it’s probably going to taste good.
Rolo Cake Mix Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 box Devil's Food cake mix
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup oil
- 18 Rolo candies unwrapped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.
- Mix together the first three ingredients until well combined.
- Chill dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Spray your hands with non-stick cooking spray and then use a medium cookie scoop to scoop out dough. Roll the dough into a ball. Smash it flat in your hand and place a Rolo in the center. Close the dough around the Rolo. Repeat until all of the dough is used.
- Bake for about 9 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This post was originally published in 2011. It was updated October 2020 with new photos and more detail for getting perfect Rolo cookies every time.
anonymous says
Don’t care for them, way too sweet for me & they taste more like a brownie than a cookie & of course you can definitely taste the cake mix in there. I won’t make them again. Sometimes the easy way doesn’t always taste that great.
Heather says
I actually really liked the cake taste of this cookie. It was deliciously amazing! I prefer them a bit smaller, so that there’s not as much plain cookie. The middle part is the best!! I kept my hands oiled with a bit of veg oil, and the dough didn’t stick to my hands at all. I will definitely make these again!!
Rebekah says
One of my favorite cookies to make and always a crowd pleaser! I sometimes make them minus the Rolo, and just spread an Andes mint on top of each one right when they get out of the oven. Also, you can now buy packages of UNWRAPPED Rolos at Walmart – yay!
Karly says
Ooh, great idea with the Andes mint! I’ll have to try that!
Jill says
These cookies look like texture of chocolate krinkles .. I’m going to make them for my new special guy who LOVES chocolate and carmel..You can find the small bags of rolos unwrapped that will definitely save time!
Brianna says
I have made these several times, and they’re always a hit! They’re so easy to make too, but I always have a hard time rolling them because they stick to my hands so much. Is there any way to stop that?
Karly says
@Brianna,
These can definitely get messy! Keeping your dough and your hands cold (run your hands under cold water every few minute) will help, though!
Michelle says
Definitely an issue. I simply kept my hands slightly oiled. Worked perfectly.
L says
These were way yummy! I tend to make pretty huge cookies though, and these were no exception, but I’ll make them smaller next time because the best part was defiantly where the dough and candy melted together, so the plain cookie portions were a little bland in comparison. But so easy and delicious, you can’t not love them!
Karly says
@L,
So glad you enjoyed them!
Donna B says
I make these but use milk duds instead of the rolos. Also a tip I read once was when rolling cookie dough such as this in your hands and having trouble with it sticking, spray your hands often with veg. oil pan spray. It helps a lot!
Anna @ happycookinghealthyliving.com says
oh Wow!!! I will definitely try and make these cookies. they look absolutely delicious!
Judy Beaver says
Just made these using marble cake mix !!! Great !!!
Ruth says
I’ve tried this recipe, too. Ran out of Rolo’s and have used mini Reeses PB cups and also Andes mints. So easy and good!!
Chris says
These didn’t work out so well for me. When I went to roll them into balls they just smeared all over my hands…
Karly says
@Chris, Hmm, I’ve since made another version of these and had a similar problem. Chilling the dough and keeping your hands cold (rinse them under cold water periodically) helped tremendously. 🙂
melissa says
i laughed so hard at your story behind these cookies! haven’t made them yet, but def. will. thanks for sharing!
Remi says
These are soooooo AMAZING!!!! I can’t stop eating them!!! The only thing is that the dough made 24 instead of 13. So I don’t know if I did something wrong. but stil these cake cookies are the best things!!!
Kathy says
All I can say is YUMMMMM. And it was worth unwrapping every little Rolo myself!
Jill says
Oh my…I have two kids that would be perfect at that “unwrapping job.” Gonna have to try these soon! Thanks for sharing!
Karly says
Amy,
No, I didn’t press them down. Not sure why yours wouldn’t have flattened out.
Hopefully they were still tasty!
Karly