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Do you like soft, chewy cookies? With a cake-like texture, these Lemon Cake Mix Cookies melt in your mouth with every bite. Bursting with fresh lemon flavor, you wonโt be able to eat just one!
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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – my goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!
Table of contents
Easy Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
Whether you want to whip up a sweet, chewy cooky to bring in the sunshine, or you need a burst of lemon to get out of the winter-time blues, these lemon cookies taste like spring-time. We really love these cookies, and hereโs why:
- Simple– Made with a cake mix and a few extra ingredients, these cookies are so simple to throw together.
- Perfect for beginners– Whether youโre a beginner baker, or want to have the kids help in the kitchen, these cookies are perfect for beginners.
- Bursting with lemon flavors– The base of these cookies is a lemon cake mix, but added lemon juice and zest makes these cookies bursting with sweet spring flavors everyone will love.
- Great for gatherings– Whip these cookies up for baby showers, bridal showers, or take them to a family gathering.
How To Make Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
Made with 6-simple ingredients, these cookies canโt get any easier to make. For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- Lemon cake mix-I like to use Betty Crocker Super Moist Lemon Cake Mix, but you can use any brand that you prefer.
- All-purpose flour- Since we want to make cookies and not a cake, you will need to add more flour to your mix. Donโt use your measuring cup to scoop the flour, or youโll end up with too much. Instead, scoop the flour with a spoon into the measuring cup, and then level it off with a butter knife.
- Butter– Unsalted butter works best for this recipe, but salted will work as well. Let the butter sit on the counter for about 30-minutes to soften.
- Eggs– When baking, eggs should be room temperature before using. Simply set them on the counter with the butter.
- Lemon– Use a potato peeler or cheese grater to zest the lemon skin. Then, squeeze the lemon juice from the fruit into a bowl.
- Confectionersโ sugar-This is just powdered sugar. Coating the dough in powdered sugar makes these cookies even sweeter.
After your butter has softened and the eggs are room temperature, itโs time to start baking! Follow the steps below for moist, chewy lemon cookies.
- First, whisk the lemon cake mix and the flour together in a large bowl.
- Next, beat the softened butter, eggs, lemon juice, and lemon zest into the flour mixture with an electric mixer for about 2-minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put your confectionersโ sugar in a bowl.
- Using a 2โ tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookies one at a time, and drop them into the powdered sugar. Roll the cookies to fully coat them. Then, shake off the excess sugar and place the cookie ball on the prepared baking sheet.
- Continue scooping and dipping the cookies into the sugar until youโve filled the baking sheet.
- Next, place the tray of cookies into the freezer for 10-minutes. While you wait, preheat the oven to 350?. Then, line a second baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Pull the cookie dough out of the freezer and place about 12 cookies, two inches apart from each other on the second baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies from a frozen state for 12-13 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned.
- Repeat the baking process, baking only one tray of cookies at a time, until all of the lemon cookies are baked.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10-minutes. Enjoy!
Tips and Tricks for Perfect Lemon Cookies
- All the raw cookies should be shaped like balls. You don’t flatten the raw cookies.
- Donโt skip the step of freezing the cookies before baking. The cookies will spread too much if not frozen slightly before baking.
- Before baking, you can place the cookies close together, so youโll only have one baking sheet to put into the freezer for the next step.
- Itโs important that you only bake one tray of cookies at a time. Baking time will vary if more than one tray is in the oven at the same time. The bottom tray will brown faster and this could result in burned cookies.
FAQs
For delicious, moist, chewy cookies, you will bake them at 350?. Do not attempt to bake them at a higher temperature or the cookies will be burnt on the outside and not done on the inside.ย
It will take you about 10-minutes to make the cookie batter, 10-minutes to chill the dough, and 12 minutes to bake the cookies. So, it will take about 32-minutes to make a batch of lemon cake mix cookies.ย
For this recipe, you will need a few kitchen supplies such as measuring cups, mixing bowls, an electric mixer, a spatula, baking sheets, parchment paper, and a cookie scoop. I recommend using a 2-tablespoon sized cookie scoop to make the perfect sized cookies.ย
Using exact ingredients, you will make two trays of lemon cake mix cookies. Each tray holds 12 cookies, so you should have about 24-cookies when finished.ย
No. I recommend using fresh lemon to give you the perfect flavors. Lemon extract would alter the taste of the cookies.ย
Absolutely! Just make sure that you roll them in the powdered sugar before freezing the dough for later. The powdered sugar wonโt stick to the dough after it has been frozen. To keep the raw dough balls from sticking together in the freezer, first put the raw dough balls flat on a baking sheet (not touching each other) for at least 30 minutes. Once the dough balls are frozen, you can combine them in a sealable container and store the unbaked cookies in the freezer for up to 3 months.ย
No. Butter is needed for both the flavor and texture of the cookies. Using vegetable oil in the cookies would make them spread more and they wouldnโt be thick cookies as pictured.ย
You can store your lemon cake mix cookies in a sealable container for up to two weeks at room temperature. If you have a cookie jar, simply put them in the cookie jar on the counter.ย
Other Easy Cookie Recipes Youโll Love
These lemon cake mix cookies are some of the easiest cookies to make. If you like quick and simple cookie recipes, youโll also love my Easy Chewy Sugar Cookies, Chewy Chocolate chip Cookies, or my Easy Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies.
Click here to view all our cookie recipes!
Lemon Cake Mix Cookies Recipe
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Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 box lemon cake mix, 473g
- ยผ cup 35 grams all-purpose flour
- ยฝ cup 115 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest, about 1 full lemon
- โ cup confectionersโ sugar
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together lemon cake mix and flour.
- Beat in the softened butter, eggs, lemon juice and lemon zest until fully mixed (about 2 minutes).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a 2-tablespoon sized cookie scoop, scoop out cookies one at a time. Drop cookies (one at a time) into the confectionersโ sugar, roll around to fully coat then shake off excess confectionersโ sugar and place cookie balls on parchment paper lined baking sheet. All the raw cookies should be shaped like balls โ do not flatten the raw cookies. You can place the cookies close together for now so youโll only have one baking sheet to put into the freezer for the next step.
- Place tray of cookies in freezer for 10 minutes. Donโt skip the step of freezing the cookies before baking. The cookies will spread too much if not frozen slightly before baking. While you wait, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place about 12 cookies (depending on the size of your baking sheet โ raw cookies should be at least two inches apart from each other) on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Only bake one tray of cookies at a time.*
- Bake cookies from a frozen state for 12-13 minutes. Cookies are done once bottoms are lightly browned.
- Repeat steps for remaining frozen cookies.
- Let baked cookies cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before moving.
- Store cookies in a sealable container for up to two weeks at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
