Velvety soft and chewy lemon sandwich cookies with tangy cream cheese frosting! They start with a cake mix and can be ready in 30 minutes!

Lemon Sandwich Cookies

I'm super late posting this recipe so thank you to those who waited patiently. As many of you know, I recently moved to Japan and will be getting married shortly. I'm so excited to see how my palate and knowledge will evolve and expand!

For now, here is one of the last recipes I created back home. You'll be surprised by how easy they are!

These lemon sandwich cookies are a blatant remix of my own Red Velvet Cookies. I meant to try that recipe with other flavors of cake mix at the time, but I'm just now getting around to it almost 2 years later. And boy, have I been missing out!

As I was in the midst of baking cookies in celebration of my birthday, I knew I needed a non-chocolate cookie to round out the assortment. I was getting tired of baking (yes, I get tired of baking and have to rejuvenate myself by eating baked goods 😉 😀 ), but these cookies turned out from start to finish in about 30 minutes. No dough chilling required!

These cookies are soft and chewy with the perfect balance of sweet and tart. You can leave out the lemon zest if you don't have any, but the zest really takes these cookies from "box mix" to "homemade." Alternatively, you can add a teaspoon of zest to the frosting if you'd really like to punch up the lemon flavor.

I was hesitant to try out a new recipe on unsuspecting guinea pigs, but there's really no better test. Needless to say, these lemon cookies were a huge hit and got rave reviews all around!

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Lemon Sandwich Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 2 dozen

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

These bright, lemony cookies are soft and chewy, sweet and tangy, all in one bite!

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Ingredients

• 1 box lemon cake mix
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
• 2 large eggs
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 cups powdered (confectioners/icing) sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

In a large mixing bowl, beat cake mix, lemon zest, eggs and oil until well combined. Dough may be stiff. Roll into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on prepared pans. Flatten balls slightly. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until set around edges. Cookies will be very puffy, but flatten as they cool. Remove to wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar, then whip until light and fluffy. Pipe or spread onto the bottom side of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies to form sandwiches.

Notes

These cookies can be refrigerated for longer shelf life, or if in warm climate, but I like to serve at room temperature.

Did you make this recipe?

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