Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
Updated Jul 18, 2025
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Today I’m showing you how to make lemon cookies from cake mix. These lemon cake mix cookies are another easy recipe to get your kids in the kitchen. Like our lemon and blueberry bread recipe, this is one of my favorite ways to use lemons.
Of course, I’ll always use any excuse to make delicious desserts as good as these delicious cookies! And I love all things lemon.
✅ Recipe Summary: Lemon Cake Mix Cookies 🍋
🕒 Ready in: About 20 minutes
🍪 Yields: ~4 dozen cookies
👨🍳 Skill Level: Beginner-friendly
📦 Equipment: Mixing bowl, electric mixer, baking sheet, parchment paper
🍋 These lemon cake mix cookies are soft, chewy, and bursting with citrusy flavor—all made from just 5 simple ingredients including a box of lemon cake mix and fresh lemon juice or extract.
🥣 Just mix the dough, roll in powdered sugar, and bake until lightly golden. No chilling required unless you want neater edges!
🧺 Perfect for bake sales, school lunches, potlucks, or any time you’re craving something bright, sunny, and sweet.
💡 Pro Tips: Chill the dough before baking for thicker cookies, use a medium cookie scoop for even sizes, and top with lemon zest for extra zing.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
I grew up on great homemade cookie recipes. Classic cookie recipes like pecan pie cookies, forgotten cookies, and of course amazing chocolate chip cookies!
These easy lemon cake mix cookies look and taste just like the Duncan Hines lemon cookies your grandmother made. There is a good reason for this: This probably is your grandma’s recipe!
These easy lemon cookies are ready to dunk in 20 minutes. It’s no wonder they are one of my favorite easy cookie recipes that I grew up with.
Ingredients and Notes
(Full recipe at the end of the post)
One thing that makes this recipe so great is the ingredient list. Or, how small it is. There are only five simple ingredients!
- 1 Box of Lemon Cake Mix – Any brand of boxed cake mix will work for this recipe. My go-to brand is Duncan Hines lemon cake mix. It’s consistently good and always easy to find.
- Eggs – Use large to medium-size eggs, and remember: Organic cage-free eggs are always best. Even better is to buy your eggs from someone who has chickens!
- Lemon Juice – Squeeze your own, if possible for that fresh lemon flavor. You only need one lemon for this recipe. Garnish these with fresh lemon zest for extra flavor and flare after they cool!
How to Make Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
(Full recipe at the end of the post)
As always, make sure you have everything you need. New to baking? Learn how to make cookies from our in-house professional chef, CIA-trained Chef Kat.
Here are a few things you’ll want handy for making this lemon cookie recipe:
- Mixing bowl
- Parchment paper-lined baking sheet
- Electric mixer
If you can plan ahead an hour or two, let the eggs come to room temperature before using them. This will help the cookies to bake more evenly.
Pro Baking Tip: How to bring eggs to room temperature quickly.
- Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl except the powdered sugar.
- Make the cookie dough balls and roll each in powdered sugar.
- Place them on a parchment paper-lined baking tray.
- Bake at 375° for about 10 minutes until the bottoms are lightly brown.
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Expert Baking Tips
Chill the bowl of dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. (Be sure to cover it in plastic wrap.) Chilled dough is easier to work with and will help keep the cookies from spreading too far while baking.
A medium cookie scoop is a great way to form even balls of cookie dough. This helps to make them all the same size. If you want smaller ones, a small cookie scoop with does the same thing!
Line your baking sheet with parchment paper to make clean-up time easy and fast.
More Favorite Lemon Desserts
Recipe Questions and Answers
Use a white, lemon-flavored box of cake mix to make these.
You can use 1 teaspoon of lemon extract.
You can make the dough ahead of time and freeze until ready to use. Roll each cookie portion in the powdered sugar after thawing.
These are one of our favorite ways to use lemons and are sure to be the easiest cookie recipes you will ever make.
Of course, I’ll always use any excuse to make delicious desserts as good as these delicious cookies! And I love all things lemon.
These lemon cake mix cookies are perfect for bake sales, birthday parties, work parties, and so much more! If you love cake mix cookie recipes, be sure and take a look at our Stuffed Peppermint Patti Cookies!
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Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 box Lemon cake mix
- 2 Eggs
- 1/3 cup Vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice, (or 1 teaspoon lemon extract)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375° and allow your eggs to come to room temperature.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, lemon juice (or extract), and cake mix, and stir it all together until well blended.
- Drop teaspoons full of dough in powdered sugar and form into cookie balls. Roll until lightly covered. Once sugared put on an ungreased cookie sheet ( You can use parchment paper on a cookie sheet).
- Bake for about 10 until bottoms are lightly browned. (My oven takes 12 mins)then move to a cooling rack.
Notes
- You can use 1 teaspoon of lemon zest if you don’t have fresh lemon juice.
- Rolling in powdered sugar is optional.
- Top with fresh lemon zest after they come out of the oven for extra flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe has been updated from the original post of September 8, 2020.
Made these and everyone loved them. I want to make them for Christmas and ship some. How long do they keep? Also should i send them via tin and should i add bread crust to keep fresh and soft.
Hi Heidi,
I’m so glad to hear they were a hit! These lemon cake mix cookies are a great choice for gifting.
They’ll keep well for about 4–5 days at room temperature when stored in an airtight container, and up to a week if the weather is cool and they’re packed carefully. For shipping, a cookie tin is ideal. Line it with parchment or wax paper, layer the cookies with paper between each layer, and pack them snugly so they don’t slide around.
Adding a small piece of bread crust is a great trick and does help keep the cookies soft. Just replace it if you’re storing them for more than a couple of days before shipping.
One more tip: let the cookies cool completely before packing, and ship them as close to baking day as you can for best freshness. Such a thoughtful Christmas treat!