This jello cookie recipe is so fun and colorful! The kids will love making these easy jello cookies with only a few simple ingredients.
My kids and I love to bake all types of desserts together! Other favorites include Rolo pretzels, funfetti cake mix cookies and homemade cosmic brownies.
Table of Contents
Easy and Colorful Jello Cookies
These jello cookies are perfect for baking with kids because they’re easy, colorful and double as playdough! Talk about a win-win for cookies :)
Although my famous homemade playdough recipe is still our go-to, the texture of this cookie dough is super soft and squishy. Wash the kid’s hands (and counter of course) and then let the kids imaginations go wild! My kids have so much fun smashing the dough and building BIG towers with all the colors.
Then once they’re done playing, simply roll it into balls, dip them in jello sugar and bake! They taste soft like a sugar cookie, but with a more tart and sweet flavor like my raspberry cookie recipe.
These cookies are also a fun recipe to make during the holidays with the kids. We love to make red and blue versions for 4th of July or red and green jello cookies for Christmas. They are also great for Cinco de Mayo. Simple, festive and delicious!
Favorite Jello Mix Flavors
Below are some of the jello mix flavors that you can use to make these cookies. Feel free to switch it up depending on the time of year or the holiday!
- Red: Strawberry, cherry, watermelon, raspberry, tropical fusion or cranberry
- Orange: Orange, apricot, mango or peach
- Blue: Berry blue
- Green: Lime
- Others: Grape (purple) and lemon or island pineapple (yellow)
How to Make Jello Cookies
Scroll down for the printable recipe.
- Preheat oven and cream butter and sugar together. Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Then blend in egg and vanilla.
- Mix dry ingredients with wet mixture. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cream of tarter in a separate bowl. Gradually add flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
- Divide into sections. Divide the dough into four sections. Sprinkle two tablespoons of jello mix into each section and then knead until combined. Add food coloring for a more vibrant color.
- Roll into balls. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet about two inches apart. Flatten the dough with the bottom of a cup to allow the cookies to cook evenly.
- Bake and let cool. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!
TIP: For a sweeter cookie, roll your cookie dough balls into the extra jello mix powder or sugar prior to baking.
Baking Tips
Don’t these jello cookies just scream SUMMER?! I love all the bright colors! It was fun to taste all the different flavors too. The kids loved them!
- To enhance the colors, use a couple drops of food coloring in each section.
- You can use sugar-free jello mix if preferred.
- For a sweeter cookie, roll the cookie dough balls into the extra jello powder or sugar prior to baking.
- Use the bottom of a cup or bowl to flatten the cookie dough balls so that they bake evenly.
- You could use a cookie press if preferred. Or even roll the dough out and use cookie cutters.
- Freeze the dough and bake them later! Simply roll the dough into balls and place in a zip top bag in the freezer. Before baking, let them thaw out on a baking sheet.
These festive cookies are so fun to make during the holiday baking season! These Oreo Christmas cookies are another favorite.
More Easy Cookie Recipes
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Jello Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tarter
- 12 ounces jello mix (4 packages)
- food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in egg and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cream of tarter. Gradually add flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
- Divide the dough into four sections. Sprinkle two tablespoons of jello mix into each section and then knead the dough until combined. You can add a few drops of food coloring in, if you’d like the color to be more vibrant.
- Roll dough into 1-inch balls. If desired, you may roll the balls into the extra jello powder or sugar for a sweeter cookie. Then place dough onto the baking sheet about two inches apart. Flatten the dough with the bottom of a cup or bowl to allow the cookies to cook evenly.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Cookies, Desserts, Holiday Cookies, Kid-Friendly
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
I totally need those colors!! What flavors did u use??
I’m definitely making these for the next cookie day at my daughter’s daycare!
We had so much fun making these. The kids had a blast. A few thoughts: make sure to have food coloring, as without it, the cookie have a dull color. Also, be advised: these don’t taste very good. They look great and the kids will love making them, but none of us (12 year old, 5 year old and 40 year old) wanted to have seconds once we tasted them. Yuck!
It´s such a good idea!!
I´d like to bake them for my 3 year old upcoming party, can I make them in advance?
I remember when my mom made these for me when I was a kid, and know I’m making them for my kids.
Really good!! But the next time I make these I am going to roll them in sugar instead of the jello powder because it makes the outside really sour, other then that they are great cookies and fun for a party!
They were a lot of fun to make, and taste just great. Great family time.
P.S. better with the food coloring.
Hi Jamielyn, So nice to meet you at the EVO conference. I’m loving these cookies. So colorful and fun. A “must try”!
Thanks Megan, they are so fun! Yes, I loved meeting you! I finally feel rested from no sleep. lol! Hope you’re having a great weekend!
Thanks for posting this! They came out delicious! So cute too! Its just mine came out flat, like every other cookie I make. Any suggestions on how to get them fluffy like yours? Thanks!
We recently featured this recipe in our weekly food trend post. You can check it out here –
Just made them, thanks for the clever and fun idea!
These look wonderful. I just have one question, after your son played with them did they get tough???? This would be so much fun, but I wouldn’t want the cookies to be hard.
I cannot read the jello cookie recipe. It is all jumbed. Please send via email.
Wow, those look amazing! I love the colours =)
good idea…will have a party this tues…I’ll make this..Ty
Thanks for posting this up. I blogged about your post. My youngest will like making this.
It says up top that it makes about 2 dozen cookies… When we made them today I tried making six of each color to add up to 2 dozen and they were wayyyyyy too big and didn’t cook right… but my second batch I made 4 dozen and they were perfect! Huge hit with my boys!!(:
Oh, also I think I did something wrong because the dough wasnt dry enough to play with, and it was pretty sticky.. So I think we messed up a little.. They still taste good though!(:
cool idea, I’m gonna have to try to make it lactose/soy/gluten/casein free somehow so I can use up the boxes of jello we have stacking up…will post results later
these is great , soo easy for kiddies to help, even young teenagers , it will be fun , thank you for having this .