Name: Lemon Cool Whip Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 7 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 20
Ingredients: 1 box lemon cake mix; 2 cups frozen whipped topping ((thawed)); 1 large egg; 1/2 cup powdered sugar

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4 ingredients make up these delightfully easy Lemon Cool Whip Cookies. Make these cookies to fit any occasion by switching the flavor of cake mix!

Cake mix recipes are so fun. One of my favorites? Strawberries and Cream Cookies. One of your favorites? Buckeye Brownie Cookies. (Which is actually made with a brownie mix, but it’s the same idea.) Take a box mix and make it into something special by thinking outside the box (literally) and adding your own ingredients.

Cake Mix Cookie Recipe

About a month ago, we were visiting my 90+ year old Grandma and she handed us her recipe box. I love looking through recipes. And seeing a stack of recipe cards either typed out (with a typewriter!) or written in my Grandma’s handwriting makes them pretty special.

One of the first recipes I came across were a cookie called Lemon Whippersnappers. They used Cool Whip and a cake mix which caught eye. I’m not sure where this recipe originated, but I have my grandma’s copy and that is pretty special.

Is Cool Whip and whipped cream the same thing?

Although both cool whip and whipped cream try to achieve the same thing in recipes, they are not the same product and can’t always be used interchangeably. If you are going for lower fat, use Cool Whip. If you are looking for more natural product, use whipping cream.

Both are light and fluffy and perfect for dolloping on top of shortcakes and ice cream, but Cool Whip is what we are using in this recipe. I have not tried these cookies with homemade whipped cream.

What is in Cool Whip cookies?

This recipe has just 4 ingredients:

A box of lemon cake mix
1 egg
2 cups of thawed Cool Whip
1/2 cup powdered sugar

And the powdered sugar is just for rolling the cookie dough in, so really, these are just a 3-ingredient cookie.

How to Make Cool Whip Cookies

This recipe is a one-bowl recipe. Simply mix up the cake mix, egg and cool whip. The dough should be easy to mix up but the cookies will be very sticky.

Drop the cookie dough by teaspoons into powdered sugar and roll the dough to coat the cookies. If you have trouble with the dough sticking to your hands, spray your hands with cooking spray first. This trick should help!

As the cookies bake, they spread slightly which give them the “crinkle cookies” look because of the cracked powdered sugar.

**Pro Tip: The hardest thing about making these cookies was that they wanted to stick to the pan just a little. We used a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat and didn’t have any problems with not getting them off the pan, but if you don’t have one of those handy kitchen tools, use parchment paper or spray the pan with cooking spray.**

Cool Whip Cookie Variations

And is your mind spinning with the flavor possibilities here? Carrot cake for the Easter…red velvet for Christmas time…chocolate for any other time of the year. Choose your favorite flavor of cake and bake away.

Enjoy these easy-to-make cookies this summer!

Do Cool Whip cookies have to be refrigerated?

We store our cookies at room temperature in an airtight container.

Can you freeze Cool Whip Cookies?

Yes! These cookies freeze well. If you are freezing them in layers, place parchment paper between the layers so the cookies don’t stick when you defrost them.

Allow the cookies to defrost completely before you unwrap them. This keeps the moisture in the cookies.

Other Easy Cookie Recipes

stack of lemon and strawberry cool whip cookies

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