Tastes Like Summer: Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

Pinterest is awesome, isn't it?  So many ideas to get the wheels spinning.  I have literally thousands of pins of amazing things I want to make/eat/buy, most of which I'll never get around to.

Then you come across The Pin.

The one you know must be made- and soon.

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies were one of those pins, and I'm so glad I came across them.

I'd heard of cake mix cookies before, and to be honest..well, I can be a bit of a recipe snob.  I take very few shortcuts- cake mixes in general have no place in my pantry.  But these cookies were so PRETTY and delicious sounding!

Half Strawberry, half lemon, drizzled with icing...

Essentially you just make a dough out of the cake mixes rather than batter by using less liquid than the mix calls for.  Roll the lemon and strawberry doughs together, coat in powdered sugar, and bake.

Easy peasy, right?

lol I can't believe I just said that.  I'm not an "easy peasy" kinda gal.  But this is definitely an "easy peasy" kind of recipe!

The original recipe from Tablespoon.com said the icing was optional, but how could you leave it off?  I mean really...everything is better with icing, and it's so pretty.

I went one step further than the recipe for icing and added some of the lemon flavoring I picked up at Penzey's store on my trip to Texas over the holidays.  :-) I included my icing recipe below.

Whether you're making these for a reminder of warm weather to come on a dreary day or save this recipe for a Summer BBQ, this is one worth making!

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

For Cookies:

1 (15.25 ounce) Betty Crocker Super Moist lemon cake mix

1 (15.25 ounce) Betty Crocker Super Moist strawberry cake mix

4 eggs (divided)

2/3 cup vegetable oil (divided)

2 teaspoons lemon juice (divided)

1 Cup powdered sugar

For Icing:

1 C powdered sugar

2 Tbsp milk

2 tsp corn syrup

1 tsp lemon flavoring

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Begin by making the two cake mixes. Pour the lemon cake mix into a large bowl and the strawberry cake mix in another bowl. To each cake mix, add 2 eggs, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice; mix until well blended. Cover and refrigerate each bowl for 20 minutes to firm slightly.

3. Remove batters from fridge, and take 2 rounded teaspoons of lemon batter and roll into a ball. Repeat with the strawberry batter. Gently roll the lemon and strawberry dough together to make one large ball.

4. Transfer the dough ball into a bowl with 1 cup of powdered sugar, and roll to lightly coat in sugar. Place on a parchment-covered baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake each batch for 10 minutes, until they turn slightly golden and are cooked through. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before serving.

5. To make the glaze, whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons of milk. lemon flavoring, and corn syrup until combined. Add more milk to thin the glaze if needed. Drizzle with a fork or piping bag onto the cookies once they have reached room temperature.