Soft & Chewy Lemon Cool Whip Cookies (Easy 4-Ingredient Recipe) With Baking Tips

Soft & Chewy Lemon Cool Whip Cookies (Easy 4 Ingredient Recipe)

Lemon Cool Whip Cookies are the kind of dessert that rescues a busy night. You need four ingredients, one bowl, and about 20 minutes from first stir to last bite, and only 10 of those minutes happen in the oven.

The cookies bake up soft, chewy, and bright with lemon, and they look like you worked much harder than you did.

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No fancy equipment is required. A baking sheet, a mixing bowl, a cookie scoop, and parchment paper cover the whole job.

That makes these cookies an easy answer for a spring or summer dessert, a Tuesday night treat, a spring gathering, a baby shower, or an Easter table.

If you want a lemon cookie recipe that stays simple from the first stir to the final bite, this is a very good place to start.

Why You’ll Love These Lemon Cool Whip Cookies

Gather a few basics before you begin, because the whole recipe moves fast once the oven is on:

• A baking sheet
• A glass mixing bowl set
• A cookie scoop
• Parchment paper sheets

Parchment paper sheets are worth having on hand. Tearing straight pieces off a roll is harder than it looks, and sheets lay flat on the pan the first time. If your pantry is out of cake mix, you can buy lemon cake mix online and keep a box ready for the next craving.

Here is what makes this recipe a keeper.

Only 4 Ingredients. The beauty of four ingredients is how simple the recipe stays. There are no complicated steps, no creaming butter, no chilling dough, and no long shopping list. Cake mix, whipped topping, an egg, and powdered sugar do all the work.

Soft, Chewy and Bright. These cookies are bursting with the bright flavor of lemon, and the texture is soft and pillowy. A chewy center with a light crackle on top is exactly what you want from a lemon cookie.

Perfect for all occasions. Serve them on a Tuesday night when dinner needs a happy ending, or bring them to a spring gathering, a baby shower, or an Easter table. They fit anywhere a lemon dessert belongs.

Beautiful Crackled Top. Rolling the dough in powdered sugar creates a pretty, crackly finish that makes the cookies look bakery worthy. It is genuinely fun to watch that pattern appear in the oven.

The powdered sugar does more than sweeten. It is the reason these cookies come out of the oven with that crackled, bakery style top.

How To Make Lemon Cool Whip Cookies

Here is everything you need. Four ingredients, nothing more.

• 1 box lemon cake mix
• 1 tub Cool Whip, 8 ounces, thawed (regular, extra creamy, or store brand all work)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup powdered sugar

A quick look at the numbers before you start:

This version is adapted from the original Lemon Cool Whip Cookies recipe at Cooking Chew, and the four ingredient list stays exactly as written there.

Step By Step

The method is short and forgiving. Follow these steps and you will have warm cookies on the counter before the coffee finishes brewing.

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat the oven to 350F and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper, then set them aside. Parchment paper sheets make this step quick because they lay flat right away.
2. Mix the dough. In a large bowl, combine the lemon cake mix, the thawed Cool Whip, and the egg. Stir well until a sticky dough forms. This takes a few minutes of stirring, so keep going until the dry mix disappears and the dough comes together in one soft mass.
3. Set up the sugar. Spread the powdered sugar out onto a plate. A plate gives you room to roll, and it keeps the sugar in one place instead of scattered across the counter.
4. Scoop the dough. Use a cookie scoop or a melon baller to make balls of dough about 1 inch across. Drop them onto the plate of powdered sugar a few at a time so they do not crowd each other.
5. Roll and space. Roll each ball in the powdered sugar until it is fully coated, then place it on the prepared cookie sheet. Leave at least 1 ½ inches of space between dough balls, and repeat until all the dough is rolled. If the dough feels very sticky, spray your scoop or your kitchen gloves with baking spray. Gloves help here because the sticky feeling is not pleasant on bare hands.
6. Bake until set. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies are set. They are ready when the edges look set and the tops have a light crackle, while the centers still look soft and slightly puffy. That soft center is how you get the chewy texture. If the cookies start to brown around the edges, they may be overbaking, so pull them out while they still look soft. They firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.
7. Cool. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. A single tier rack with short feet sitting on a crumb tray keeps cleanup easy.

Here is what you get in each cookie, based on the recipe nutrition:

Tips and Tricks

Use any brand of whipped topping. Regular Cool Whip, extra creamy, and store brands all work in this recipe. The soft texture comes from the whipped topping itself, so the label on the tub matters less than you might think. Store brand whipped topping is a smart pick when it is on sale, because the cookies come out the same.

Lightly oil your hands or your scoop. This dough is sticky, and a light coat of oil makes rolling much easier. Spray your hands, your scoop, or a pair of kitchen gloves with baking spray. Gloves are the tidiest option because you can peel them off when the last ball of dough hits the sugar.

Do not overbake. Pull the cookies out when they still look soft and slightly underdone. They keep setting as they cool on the baking sheet, and that is where the chewy middle comes from.

Overbaking dries them out and turns the soft centers into something closer to a crisp. If your oven runs hot, take the cookies out a little early and let the pan do the rest of the work.

Space them out. Leave at least 1 ½ inches between dough balls on the sheet. These cookies spread as they bake, and crowding the pan gives you one big cookie instead of a tray of neat rounds. Two sheets, or two batches, beat scraping merged cookies apart.

Add extra lemon flavor. Stir 1 teaspoon of lemon zest into the dough before you roll it in powdered sugar. The zest gives the cookies an extra burst of lemon and it pairs nicely with the crackled sugar coating. Grate the zest finely so it disappears into the dough.

Perfect for freezing. These cookies freeze beautifully. Lay them out on a plate or a cookie sheet so they freeze separately instead of sticking together, then transfer them to a freezer safe bag or container. They keep for up to 3 months.

When you are ready to eat, thaw them at room temperature for about 15 minutes. That is long enough to bring back the soft texture, and short enough that you can plan dessert at the last minute.

If there is one rule to remember, it is this: pull the cookies while the centers still look soft. The baking sheet finishes the job for you.

More About Lemon Dessert

If lemon is your favorite flavor, there is plenty more to try. Other lemon desserts in this collection include Lemon Sherbet Pie, Lemon Crazy Cake (made without eggs or dairy), Lemon Sorbet without an Ice Cream Maker, and a roundup of 19 more lemon dessert recipes.

Two easy next steps: bake a batch of Easy Lemon Crinkle Cookies when you want another crackled lemon cookie, or browse the Cool Whip Cookies Recipe for the same four ingredient shortcut in other flavors.

Either way, keep a box of lemon cake mix in the pantry. When a craving hits on a weeknight, you are 20 minutes away from a warm tray of soft, chewy lemon cookies, and the kitchen still smells like lemon when you sit down to eat.

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Soft & Chewy Lemon Cool Whip Cookies (Easy 4 Ingredient Recipe) Lemon Cool Whip Cookies are the kind of dessert that rescues a busy night. You need four ingredients, one bowl, and about 20 minutes from first stir to last bite, and only 10 of those minutes happen in the oven.

• Total Time: 20 min
• Yield: 24 cookies 1x

Ingredients

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Ingredients
1 box lemon cake mix
1 8-ounce tub Cool Whip, thawed
1 egg
1 cup powdered sugar

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Instructions

Instructions
1-Preheat oven to 350°F: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2-In a large bowl, combine lemon cake: In a large bowl, combine lemon cake mix, Cool Whip, and egg. Stir well until a sticky dough forms – this will take a few minutes of stirring.
3-Spread the powdered sugar onto a plate: Spread the powdered sugar onto a plate. Scoop 1-inch balls of dough using a cookie scoop or melon baller, and drop them onto the powdered sugar a few at a time. Roll to coat.
4-Place sugar-coated dough balls onto the prepared: Place sugar-coated dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them at least 1 ½ inches apart.
5-Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies: Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are set.
6-Cool on the cookie sheets for 5: Cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Last Step:

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• Prep Time: 10 min
• Cook Time: 10 min
• Method: bake

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cookie
• Calories: 101
• Sugar: 14g
• Sodium: 160mg
• Fat: 1g
• Saturated Fat: 0.4g
• Carbohydrates: 23g
• Fiber: 0.3g
• Protein: 1g
• Cholesterol: 7mg