We Baked the Simple Jell-O Cookies That People Can’t Stop Talking About

Few cookies are considered as classic as a good, soft sugar cookie. Of course, cookies dressed up with chocolate chips or covered in frosting are just as delicious. But when it comes to an age-old cookie that everyone in the house will love, sugar cookies reign supreme.

But what if you could take a classic sugar cookie dough recipe and kick it up a notch with just one additional ingredient? Say hello to Jell-O cookies! These bright, colorful cookies are taking the internet by storm. With such fun colors and a hint of fruity flavor, we knew we had to put these tasty treats to the test.

How to Make Jell-O Cookies

Jell-O cookies are made using a sugar cookie dough as the base. We chose to make our cookie dough from scratch, but you can certainly make them much quicker (and with fewer ingredients) by using a store-bought mix. For multiple colors, you’ll need a variety of Jell-O flavors. Or, choose to just try it out with one of your all-time favorites.

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 cups flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
Jell-O powder, 4 different flavors

Tools You’ll Need

Directions

Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar

First, preheat your oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the egg and mix to combine.

Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing until a soft dough forms.

Step 3: Knead in the Jell-O powder

different bowls of colorful dough for jello cookies

Divide the cookie dough into four sections. Place each section of dough in a small bowl and sprinkle 4 tablespoons of Jell-o powder into each bowl. Use your hands to knead the Jell-O powder into each section of dough until fully combined.

Step 4: Time to bake!

Use a cookie scoop to scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough. Roll the ball with your hands and flatten gently before placing it on a greased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes until the edges just begin to brown. After 10 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven.

Let sit on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Jello Cookies On Cooling Rack

Here’s What I Thought

If you love Jell-O, this recipe may sound super appealing right off the bat. However, if you’re like me and not a fan of prepared Jell-O, it’s hard not to be skeptical. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised!

First off, the cookies you’ll pull out of the oven are beaming with color. Incorporating the Jell-O powder is such a fun and easy way to get color into the dough, rather than using food coloring. Another major bonus? It won’t stain your hands! This is a great opportunity to get the kids involved, especially as the cookie dough seems just like Play-Doh while you’re kneading in the color.

As for the flavor? That’s where things get interesting. These cookies not only look fun and colorful, but they’re ridiculously tasty—and borderline addictive. Who would have thought a cookie rolled in Jell-O powder would be this good? The fruity taste of each Jell-O flavor is subtle but it does come through, so keep that in mind. Lemon and lime Jell-O powder results in a more delicate flavor, while bolder fruit flavors such as strawberry and berry blue definitely come through more in the cookie. Overall, the exciting colors, the subtle fruit flavors and the slight tanginess the Jell-O powder brings to the mix make this cookie so much more intriguing than your regular old sugar cookie.

Retro Desserts that Start with Jell-O

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Molded Strawberry Salad

This refreshing salad has two layers - a pretty pink bottom that includes sour cream, and a ruby red top with strawberries and pineapple. For years, Mom has included this salad in meals she prepares for our family. -Gloria Grant, Sterling, Illinois

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7-Layer Gelatin Salad

Here's an eye-catching salad that my mother makes for Christmas dinner each year. You can choose different flavors to make other color combinations for specific holidays or other gatherings. —Jan Hemness, Stockton, Missouri

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Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

Need to bring a dish to pass this weekend? This make-ahead strawberry pretzel salad will disappear quickly at any potluck. —Aldene Belch, Flint, Michigan

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Peach Bavarian

Fruit molds are my specialty. This one, with its refreshing peach taste, makes a colorful salad or dessert. —Adeline Piscitelli, Sayreville, New Jersey

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Berry Dream Cake

I use cherry gelatin to give a boxed cake mix an eye-appealing marbled effect. It's so festive-looking. Top it with whatever fruit you like! —Margaret McNeil, Germantown, Tennessee

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Orange Cream Pops

For a lower-fat alternative to ice cream-filled pops, try slurping this citrus novelty. The tangy orange flavor will make your taste buds tingle—while the silky smooth texture offers cool comfort, no matter how high the temperatures soar. —Taste of Home Test Kitchen, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Bing Cherry-Amaretti Fool

When Bing cherries are in season, I make this fruity custard-style fool. The sweet cherries and whipped cream balance perfectly with the sour cream. —Mary Ann Lee, Clifton Park, New York

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Pina Colada Molded Salad

My gelatin ring gets a tropical twist from coconut, pineapple and macadamia nuts. It's a wonderful anytime treat. Now that I'm retired from teaching, I have more time for kitchen experiments. —Carol Gillespie, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

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Easy Fresh Strawberry Pie

For my mother's birthday, I made this strawberry pie recipe instead of a cake. Since it was mid-May in Oklahoma, the berries were absolutely perfect. It was a memorable occasion for the whole family. —Josh Carter, Birmingham, Alabama

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Rainbow Gelatin Cubes

These layered jello cubes are fun to serve and to eat! I vary the colors to match the occasion. Kids of all ages snatch them up. —Deanna Pietrowicz, Bridgeport, Connecticut

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Creamy Chocolate-Banana Pie

You can make almost any dessert more awesome with chocolate. In this cream pie, fresh banana and chocolate make a truly irresistible combo. —Diane Nemitz, Ludington, Michigan

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Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

I prepare this colorful dessert quite often in the late spring or summer when fresh rhubarb is abundant. I make this rhubarb cake with cake mix and take it to church potlucks. People actually line up for a piece. —Bonnie Krogman, Thompson Falls, Montana

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Peach Panna Cotta

This no-bake dessert is guaranteed to cool you off in the summer heat. I really enjoy the texture—rich and creamy Panna Cotta balanced by the sweet and pulpy texture of the peach puree. —Andrea Campbell, Los Angeles, California

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Berry Pistachio Pie

My grandmother used to make this pie when I was a small child. A Brooklyn woman gave her the recipe, but my grandmother could never remember the woman’s name or the name of the pie, comically dubbing it Lady from Brooklyn’s Pie. Feel free to use any flavored gelatin, or try walnuts or pecans instead of pistachios. I use a store-bought graham cracker crust, but you can also use a chocolate graham cracker crust. —Judy DeGrottole, New York, New York

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Apricot Fluff

When we were young mothers, I asked my best friend if she had a recipe for an easy ambrosia salad that I could take to a cookout later that evening. She shared this recipe with me and it's become a must-have at every barbecue I attend. It's sublime with peaches and peach gelatin, too. —Melissa Meinke, Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania

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