Cake Mix Lemon Cookies
Our new favorite soft, sweet lemon cookies! Our Cake Mix Lemon Cookies are so easy to make, packed full of real lemon, and are an absolutely delicious way to use our Copycat Boxed Cake Mix!
I love these cookies. These were so fun to develop, and my family (and the construction crew currently working at our house) loved all of the recipe testing! They’re soft, sweet, and bursting with lemon flavor and they’re a piece of cake (wink) to whip up! My new Cake Mix Lemon Cookies are now my new go-to cookies!
Ingredients Needed
- Cake Mix – We love our homemade mix, and having a batch on hand makes these lemon cookies so incredibly easy to make! You can, of course, also use store-bought cake mix with just a few minor adjustments; see the recipe notes for them.
- Lemon – Lemon juice and lemon zest for the ultimate real, fresh lemon flavor!
- Confectioner’s Sugar – To coat the cookies to give them added sweetness and the beautiful crinkle cookie look!
- Butter – We’ve made this recipe with both salted and unsalted, see recipe notes for using either.
- Eggs – Just a couple, although only one if using store-bought cake mix.
- Almond Extract – We love lemon and almond together, and the almond extract beautifully complements the lemon! Vanilla extract also works, but almond is our preferred.
- Pinch of Salt – Just a touch!
Homemade Cake Mix vs. Store-Bought Cake Mix
Both work beautifully! In all of the batches I made with both our homemade cake mix and store-bought, my family all agreed that they were better with the homemade mix, but still very delicious with the boxed. Just be sure to see the recipe notes for the slight adjustments needed for store-bought cake mix.
Incredibly Easy to Make!
I just love a cookie recipe that just requires a mix of all of the ingredients. No creaming of butter and sugar, just add it all to a bowl and mix until you have a nice sticky lemon scented dough.
Let the dough cool, shape, and roll in the confectioner’s sugar, and then bake. They’re that simple!
Beautiful, soft, cake-like, lemon-packed Cake Mix Lemon Cookies!
Recipe Tips
You’ll want to let the dough chill for at minimum 30 minutes, but ideally overnight. This will prevent the cookies from spreading and will help them to maintain a nice, thicker cookie shape. Whatever amount of time you can allow the dough to chill is great, and if it’s only 30 minutes, they’ll spread quite a bit more than pictured and will be flatter, but they’ll still be incredibly delicious!
Another way to prevent too much spreading is how you shape the dough balls. Instead of round circles, shape them into a more cylindrical shape so that they’re a little bit taller than wide.
For the best coating of confectioner’s sugar, give them a second roll for an even better coating of sugar!
This is one of my favorite parts of our Cake Mix Lemon Cookies; they’re great to make ahead. First off, they’re an absolutely delicious reason to always have a batch of our Copycat Boxed Yellow Cake Mix on hand. But then you can also make the dough and chill it in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. This dough freezes beautifully, too!
You Also Might Like
- Lemon Ricotta Cookies
- Lemon Rosemary Scones
- Peach Lemonade Popsicles
- Lemon Basil Ice
- Lemon Sesame Mustard Greens
- Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
- Lemon Pepper Chicken
- Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning
I just can’t decide what I love most about my Cake Mix Lemon Cookies. The thick soft texture, the beautiful lemon flavor, or how easy they are to make. There’s just too much about them to love! Give them a try for yourself to decide!
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
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Cake Mix Lemon Cookies
Equipment
- silicone baking mats or parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 batch Copycat Boxed Yellow Cake Mix or store bought 13.25 oz yellow cake mix box
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted
- 2 eggs whisked. See recipe notes if using store bought cake mix
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Create Dough: Add all of the ingredients to a large bowl and mix well.
- Chill Dough: Cover the bowl and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hr and up to 2 days. For the best results, chill overnight, or at least 6 hrs. *If using store-bought cake mix, 1 hr is plenty.
- Preheat Oven: Once ready to bake, preheat oven to 350℉ and line baking trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Add confectioner's sugar to a shallow, wide bowl.
- Shape Cookies: Remove dough from the fridge. Shape about 2 tablespoons of dough in your hand into a ball, but then continue to shape it into more of a cylindrical shape so that they're a bit taller than wide.
- Coat with Sugar: Roll the dough in the confectioner's sugar and then place on a lined baking tray, 2 inches apart, and with the cylindrical shape up so they're just a little bit taller than wider.
- Bake: Add tray to the middle rack and bake for 12-13 minutes.
- Cool: Remove from oven and let cool on the baking tray for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Enjoy!
These look so soft and lemony. Love how easy cake mix cookies are, perfect when you want something quick but still homemade 🍋✨