Quick Lemon Cookies

These cookies are made from cake mix, so I can't eat them. They contain corn products. But you can make them start to finish in under half an hour - less if you have two cookie sheets and room in the oven for both.

They went over well at a little party I went to. Nice to have a box of cake mix around to make an emergency dessert from time to time. The recipe is pretty much the one on the cake mix box. They're supposed to be "crisps", but mine were kind of chewy with crispy edges. In summer, you can bake them early in the morning for an event later in the day. But I think one reason people liked the ones I made is that they were made the same day. Fresh counts for a lot sometimes.

Cookies
1 box Pillsbury Moist Supreme lemon cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
Sugar for dipping

Heat oven to 375º. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Stir with spoon until thoroughly moistened. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Place sugar in a shallow bowl. Lightly oil the bottom of a flat-bottomed glass and dip into the sugar. Flatten the first ball to about 1/4 inch thick. Repeat with other balls of dough. No need to re-coat with oil. Bake cookies for 5 to 7 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool one minute, remove from cookie sheet to a rack. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Big Cookies: I made the balls of dough about 1 1/2 inches and baked for more than 9 minutes. Made 24 big cookies. I thought the smaller cookies might be nice as sandwich cookies. Mark said he would eat the big ones as sandwich cookies, too. Maybe with lemon curd, lemon curd and whipped cream cheese, quick butter/lemon frosting or cream cheese frosting. Someone suggested ice cream. That would take some work. I think I would prefer any of these as a filling or topping (added just before serving) to the icing recipe on the cake mix box (but I just don't like hard icing glazes). Since I can't eat them anyway, choose the one you like, or leave them "bare" like I did.

Half-recipe You can make half a batch of the big cookies on one cookie sheet. If you cover it with foil (shiny side up), mess will be minimal. Use half a box of cake mix, 1 egg and 2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons oil. Don't go over level when measuring the oil.

To divide a cake mix in half, open the top of the inner bag and alternately measure 1/4 cup at a time into two bowls. Pack and level the mix into your 1/4 cup measure against your flat fingers (outside the bag). Switch to measuring spoons to evenly divide mix when you have less than 1/2 cup left. Return second half of mix to inner bag, roll up top and fasten with a clothes pin. Return to box for later. Probably best to use the second half of the mix within a few weeks.

Icing
This is the icing from the recipe on the box. I didn't ice mine. But the icing would add a little fresh lemon zing.
In a small bowl, combine 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 to 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice. Drizzle over cookies. Sprinkle with yellow-colored decorative sugar before the icing sets.