You can make lemon cookies from cake mix with curd on the top like thumbprints and they are so easy. Baked in the oven with just 3 ingredients, these are delicious like our lemon bundt cake with a no egg option (using Cool Whip instead).
These are so fun to make in the kitchen with your kids. Fill with all sorts of things in the middle to make this cake mix recipe go from yummy to out of this world delicious. Once you bake 1 batch you will want to fill with all sorts of things year round.
If you love a great cake mix hack, we do too!! What I mean is you can make a delicious treat that tastes homemade but is much easier to throw together.
We use cake mix for all sorts of things way beyond just what would be expected. Essentially here we are making our cake mix crinkle cookies but with a spot on top for more goodness. You could leave some as is and the others with choices to bite into. The season depends on what I include really, and what I have on hand at the time.
Cookies made with cake mix only needs 3 ingredients to make the basic dough. From there you can coat the balls with powdered sugar if you want a crackly look like we did here.
Ingredient Notes
You are going to want to find a box of cake mix that is lemon flavor. I mean you could use any variety you wanted but if you are here you were attracted to the citrus flavor in the title so we are going to go that direction this time.
2 eggs should be added at room temperature ideally.
Vegetable oil is the best since it doesn’t have a lot of flavor but there are alternatives such as applesauce or pumpkin puree. Note that the substitutes will make them more dense.
No Egg Option
If you didn’t want to use eggs you would instead combine 1 box lemon cake mix + softened 8 oz. extra creamy Cool Whip + 1 cup powdered sugar to make the dough.
Lemon Cookies From Cake Mix with Cool Whip
You can make Cool Whip cookies this way too if you want to only use 1 egg and get a lighter texture to the dough. Both use dry mix as the base and as with these you can use any flavor you like. Add lemon extract for bolder flavors either way.
Tips
You can fill these with just about anything really but it is one of our favorite is making them into a lemon curd so that the top has a dollop of that adding to the citrus flavor. Or use pie filling for a lemon glaze taste.
These are a lot like our super easy lemon crinkle cookies except those used homemade ingredients. If we are in a time crunch we often times don’t have time for from scratch so this comes in quite handy indeed.
Lemon Cookies From Cake Mix Recipe
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet
- 2 bowls
Ingredients
- 1 box cake mix, lemon flavor
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat together the cake mix, eggs and vegetable oil until smooth and completely combined, about 2 minutes.
- Cover the top of the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes so it is a bit stiffer and easier to roll, and won't spread as much.
- If you want prettier, pour some confectioner's sugar in a small bowl. Use a 1 1/2 Tablespoon cookie scoop to portion out the cookie batter and roll the cookie dough balls in the confectioner's sugar until completely coated.
- Place the coated cookie dough balls at least 3" apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes until lightly golden and spread out. Keep on sheet, set on a cooling rack before removing.
Video
Notes
Thumbprint Lemon Cookies
Use a teaspoon measuring spoon to press into the center of each cookie once removed from the oven to create an indent in the top and then allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before spooning a filling into the center.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Filling Ideas
You could melt 1 c white chocolate chips if you want to fill middle with chocolate filling Use a bit of coconut oil so when heated it will be nice and smooth, read about the best way to melt chocolate chips in microwave here. You could do this same thing with semi-sweet, milk, or even butterscotch chips though considering the citrusy flavor of the cookie white is typically best if you want chocolate.
For a citrus pop, make something like our lemon curd cookies with a curd filling, even lime is great You could use just a glaze like we did with our lemon pound cake with cake mix
