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.
Liz butler says
I just made them and I used Hershey’s kisses (lava cake). Instead of rolos. Sooo good.
Karly says
Sounds delicious!
Tonya Clark says
Can’t wait to try love trying new ideas.
Teresa A FALKENSTEIN says
Made these cookies for the holidays. Friends and family gobbled them up. Yes, they did taste like a brownie, but with that caramel in the center what’s not to love. Thanks for another great recipe.
Dawn Boyington says
What size cake mix?
Karly says
The standard box you’d get at the grocery store. They’re all about the same size, I believe.
Kris says
Just made the dough for these cookies as they sounded like the perfect addition to my holiday cookie freezer stash. I tried out a ‘test cookie’ and it was delish – a little bit of crisp, but just right. Kind of meringue-y. It should be noted that the dough for these cookies is EXTREMELY sticky and I wanted to shoot myself after rolling just one ball-and so I stopped rolling and chilled the dough in the fridge for an hour. Probably the stickiest cookie dough I’ve ever rolled. The dough was a bit more cooperative once it was cooled off, but still tricky. However, I think these will be a huge hit so I’d say they’re worth it.
Cindi Jenneskens says
I just made these and they were delicious. Just a quick tip. I took my pampered chef cookie scoop and scooped the dough and then pushed the rolo into it. Then I dropped on to cookie sheet and then flattened with my fingers. So much easier then having to roll into ball because the dough is sticky. Thanks for the recipe!
Karly says
Great tip!
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!