Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, vanilla and oil.2 large eggs, 1/2 cup neutral oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest the lemon directly into the wet ingredients.Zest of 1 lemon
- Add the cake mix in small amounts until no dry pockets remain. Don't over-mix. The dough will be very soft and glossy, more like thick frosting than cookie dough — that's correct. Don't add more mix to firm it up.1 box white or yellow cake mix
- Put the icing sugar in a small 4-inch bowl or a deli container.1/3 cup icing sugar
- Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough directly into the icing sugar without touching it. Pick up the container and swirl it in a circle until the dough is coated on all sides. Do one at a time — two scoops will merge.
- Place the coated dough balls on the prepared sheet, at least 2 inches apart. They bake out much wider than they go in.
- Bake for 12 minutes, until the tops are cracked and set with golden edges. The centres will still feel soft.
- Cool on the sheet for 3–4 minutes before transferring to a rack.
Notes
- Use a small, deep container for the icing sugar, not a wide bowl. The sugar needs to be deep enough that one swirl tumbles the dough against the sides.
- Don't add lemon juice. The extra liquid causes spreading — use more zest, or 1/4 tsp lemon extract.
- Check the grams on your box. A 13.25 oz / 375g box will give you slack dough and thin cookies; hold back a tablespoon or two of oil.
- All the lemon flavour here comes from fresh zest, so use a whole lemon and grate it straight into the wet ingredients.
- To freeze the dough: scoop onto a tray, freeze solid, then bag. Coat from frozen and bake from frozen, adding 2 minutes.
