🍋💛 Lemon Cool Whip Cookies are the EASIEST cake mix cookies made with just 4 main ingredients, no mixer, and ready in under 30 minutes! These foolproof lemon cookies use shortcut ingredients to help you create FANTASTIC tasting soft and chewy cookies with very little effort!
Easy Lemon Cool Whip Cookies Recipe
If you’re looking for the easiest lemon cookie recipe ever, this is the recipe for you! With just four main ingredients, these lemon cookies made with Cool Whip and cake mix are the perfect easy treat!
They’re soft and slightly chewy, full of lemon flavor, and are ready from start to finish in under 30 minutes! Also, this is a no-mixer cookie recipe, which is music to my ears – fewer dirty dishes later to wash.
Use this easy cookie recipe and make Christmas cookies for cookie exchanges. Or save it for the spring for a great Easter dessert, or in for the summer when you’re in the mood for a lighter and fresher tasting dessert, these lemon cake mix cookies with Cool Whip are perfect.
Ingredients You’ll Need
There are only four ingredients in these Cool Whip lemon cookies, including:
- Lemon cake mix: I use Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist Lemon Supreme Cake Mix. Note that Duncan Hines cake mix is 15.25 ounces per box (there is also another older version of Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix that’s 16.5 ounces per box), whereas Betty Crocker is only 13.25 ounces. Since this dough is already very sticky, if you use 2 ounces less of cake mix, the dough will be even stickier. Therefore, try to purchase a brand that’s closer to the 15.25 ounces called for
- Cool Whip: You can use either regular Cool Whip, Lite, or Fat Free. Although I think the results in terms of taste and texture are a bit better with regular or Lite. I have only tried the recipe with brand-name Cool Whip (rather than generic or store brands). If you live in an area where Cool Whip isn’t sold or isn’t common, this may not be the lemon cookie recipe for you. Whipped cream doesn’t work
- Egg
- Confectioners’ sugar
Optional Additions
If you would like to add a small packet of instant pudding mix, such as lemon or vanilla, or a partial packet (half of a packet from a 3-ounce box), you can. It will make the cookies softer. Make sure it’s instant pudding mix and not cook-and-serve.
If you want to boost the lemon flavor, feel free to add 1 teaspoon of lemon extract to this recipe. For other flavors of cookies, such as if you’re using chocolate cake mix, I would add a teaspoon of vanilla extract. If I were making strawberry cookies, I’d use an extract like almond extract or coconut extract. You can even add some lemon zest for a more intense lemon flavor in this lemon version.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Lemon Cool Whip Cookies
- Preheat your oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- To a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients and lightly fold everything together with a spatula by hand. Tips – Don’t use an electric mixer (stand mixer or hand mixer), or you will deflate the Cool Whip. If desired, you can chill the bowl in the fridge for an hour or so to reduce the stickiness of the dough.
- Use a small cookie scoop to form cookie dough balls and then drop them directly into a bowl of confectioners’ sugar.
- Place dough balls on baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes.
- Cool fully on a cooling rack or wire rack, and enjoy!
Flavor Variations
You can use whatever flavor of cake mix you want to change up the flavor, including:
- chocolate cake mix for chocolate cake mix cookies
- red velvet cake mix and oh how I love red velvet cake mix cookies
- strawberry cake mix for strawberry cookies
- devils food cake mix
- orange cake mix and more!
Lemon Cool Whip Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Medium Bowl
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounces boxed lemon cake mix , (see FAQs for questions)
- 8 ounces Cool Whip whipped topping, (thawed; full fat or Lite recommended)
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup confectioners' sugar, or as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
- To a large bowl, add the cake mix, Cool Whip, egg, and use a spatula to fold to combine and incorporate the ingredients. Tips – Folding will take about 3 minutes. Don't be surprised that it can take a while to make sure all the cake mix is dissolved. However, don't use an electric mixer or it will deflate the Cool Whip.
- Optionally, place the bowl in the fridge to chill for 30-60 minutes which will help reduce the stickiness of the dough. It's not mandatory but will make scooping the dough in the next step a bit easier.
- Add the confectioners' sugar to a medium bowl and using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, create cookie dough balls. Drop the cookie dough balls directly into the confectioners' sugar – don't attempt to roll them in your hands because the dough is very sticky.
- Place the sugar-coated dough balls on the baking sheets, evenly spaced, and baked for about 8 to 10 minutes, or as desired. Baking Tips – Always watch your cookies, and not the clock when determining doneness. Light colored cookies will show the visible signs (burnt look) of overbaking so take care not to overbake. Conversely, don't underbake. However, if in doubt, I err on the side of underbaking since cookies will continue to firm up as they cool on the baking sheets. I prefer to bake one sheet of cookies at a time, rotating it midway through baking to ensure even baking. If you do bake two sheets of cookies at once, especially with light colored cookies like these, you need to rotate your baking sheets, top and bottom, and front to back, so they all bake uniformly.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes and removing and placing on a rack to cool fully. Tip – To make perfectly shaped cookies, use a glass and swirl it around each cookie when it’s still hot from the oven.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I will be making these with my Grandson in two weeks. Thank for this easy recipe! He is autistic, so, right now, the easiest way is better.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Christine, and I’m glad this looks like a great recipe to make with your grandson! It is very easy indeed!