Gluten Free Lemon Cookie Recipe - Mmmm, My Favorite!

 Gluten-free Lemon (and I mean lemon) Cookies
although they weren't quite that yellow, but almost

I'm not sure what it was that made me crave lemon last Saturday. Maybe it was the post-Christmas wintertime and all that talk about a flu epidemic. Maybe it was my own sudden instinctive attempt to prevent scurvy. Maybe it was the need for a burst of fresh zing-iness after eating a little too much veggie burrito bowl at Chipotle Friday night. Next time, I'm ordering a kid's portion, if there is such a thing. Whatever it was, I hunted high and low for a good gluten-free lemon cookie recipe. 

I didn't want a hint of lemon; I wanted a crispy but tender cookie that would scream lemon. 

I had a couple boxes of Betty Crocker GF yellow cake mix, and looked online to see if Jell-O instant lemon pudding was gluten free. According to my source, Kraft product labels will state that they contain gluten if gluten is present. It didn't. So I could proceed.

 My favorite kitchen appliance

(after the KitchenAid dishwasher, that is)

You've heard by now, I'm sure, about the clever little trick of turning a cake mix into cookies? Well, they say to take a cake mix, add an egg or two, 1/2 c. oil, mix, and Voile! Cookie dough.

Not so fast, hombre.

I tried that and the dough looked more like lemon sand. I realize that working with non-glutenous flours makes a huge difference and requires modifications.  I fiddled around for a while with the recipe, adding a bit of this and a bit of that until I had what resembled actual cookie dough:

Yes, it looks like regular cookie dough, but perhaps a bit softer.

I was ready to drop spoonfuls of the dough onto oiled cookie sheets (non-stick cooking spray). Here's what they looked like at that stage:

So now that I've tweaked this recipe, I can tell you that they turned out great - but it did require a test of at least two cookies to make that determination - and then another one after they'd been frozen to see if freezing affected them adversely in any way. It didn't. It made them even better.

And there's no question that these are LEMON cookies. Just exactly what I had wanted! They are crispy at the edges and tender in the center.

My Favorite Gluten-Free Lemon Cookie Recipe:

Makes 3 1/2 dozen 3+ inch cookies. (I know, those are pretty big.) You could get 7 dozen dainty little tea cookies if you like, but remember that craving I told you about??? I wasn't going to mess about with a dainty taste of lemon.  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the following ingredients into the mixing bowl and beat on low, then medium until well mixed and it has formed a dough that sticks together and pulls away from the side of the stainless steel bowl.

2 Boxes of Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix
3 eggs (I think they're labeled 'large' on the box, but they're what we used to call medium or small.)
1    3 oz. box Jell-O Instant Lemon Pudding
3/4 c. olive oil
3 T. REAL Wisconsin butter  (I didn't say these were low calorie or cheap. But they are delicious!)
3 T. freshly-squeezed lemon juice.

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased or oiled (non-stick) cookie sheets.

I baked these on my heavy jelly-roll pans that had been sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray. I got a dozen on each pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 11-14 minutes. Check them after 10 minutes because ovens vary. They should be just slightly golden at the edges and not look shiny on the top.

Remove pan from the oven and set the pan on a rack. Don't remove cookies until they are cool.

Gluten-Free Lemony Goodness

P.S. I wonder if it could be considered 'made from scratch' if you're dumping TWO mixes into the bowl, rather than just one.

Okay. I was just asking.

***

'Pears & Berries'

Homemade Vegan Soap 
Large, 4.5 oz. bars

...and more! Check out all our handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch

and at

Our Etsy Store 


***

 

This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday   Cure for the Common Monday and Mealtime Monday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Mosaic Monday  and Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and On the Menu Monday and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Love Bakes Good Cakes and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and I'm Lovin' it Thursday and  Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and  Saturday Nite Special