Easy Cool Whip Cookies Recipe

Lemon cookies are the perfect dessert or snack and they contain the right amount of zing and sweetness. Speaking of sweetness, there is also nothing like Cool Whip. The creamy dessert topping is used on a variety of dishes to add a fluffy texture and sugary flavor — and we won't tell if you enjoy a spoonful of the stuff on its own, too. If you enjoy lemon cookies and Cool Whip, then you absolutely must give these easy Cool Whip cookies a try. With only five ingredients and ready to eat in less than an hour, they are sure to become one of your go-to dessert recipe favorites.

Recipe developer Courtney Moeslein of The Southern Spoonful says that she loves the lightness of the cookies, and the lemon extract "makes these the perfect refreshing summer cookie." She added that they are perfect to take to a party because they are so easy to make and have a great visual appeal. Get-together or not, you may never reach for store-bought cookies again once you take a bite of these.

To make these Cool Whip cookies, you will need a 15.25-ounce box of lemon cake mix. Turns out that cake mix can be pretty handy to keep on hand for other uses, too. For these cookies, you will also need an 8-ounce container of Cool Whip, 1 cup of powdered sugar, an egg, and one teaspoon of lemon extract. 

To get things rolling, you'll first want to preheat the oven to 350 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. The next step is to place the powdered sugar in a medium-sized bowl and set it aside for later use.

Next, empty the box of cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Whisk the egg in a small bowl before adding it to the cake mix. Then, using a hand or stand-up mixer, combine the cake mix and egg until they are just blended together. Then, add the lemon extract and continue mixing until the batter is well blended. While you may be feeling pretty enthusiastic here, be careful not to overmix the batter, so as to avoid developing too much gluten and producing an overly tough cookie.

After the batter is mixed well, you're ready to add the Cool Whip, which gives the cookies their light and fluffy texture. 

Moeslein says that using a spatula here is the key to getting the consistency right. That's because you don't want to overmix the ingredients which will make the final cookie overly tough or chewy. Mix until the ingredients are combined, then stop.

Once the batter is mixed, you are ready to scoop out the cookies. Use a tablespoon to lift a spoonful of the batter out of the bowl. Then, place it in the bowl of powdered sugar and roll the ball around until it is covered with the sugar. 

You won't want to touch the ball once it is covered, lest you ruin the visual effect of the finished cookie. So, be sure to pick up the coated ball of dough with the spoon and place it on the cookie sheet. Repeat until all of the dough is used, setting them down about two inches apart from each other. This recipe should yield 18 to 20 cookies, assuming you make each cookie with about a tablespoon of dough.

The next step is to bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies will spread in the heat of the oven, leaving striking yellow cookie dough between bits of the powdered sugar. That's sure to catch plenty of hungry glances next time you bring these beauties to a get-together with a dessert table.

The last step is the best step, which is, of course, to enjoy these simple and easy-to-make cookies. Moeslein says they taste great warm or at room temperature. Whoever eats these cookies will surely be happy with them either way.