Good Cookies

Four ingredients. No mixer. No creaming butter and sugar. These lemon cookies come together so fast you’ll wonder why you ever fussed with complicated cookie recipes.

Biscuit baking mix and instant lemon pudding mix handle all the dry ingredient work, bringing flour, leavening, sugar, and flavor in two scoops. Add an egg and oil, stir it all together, and let the dough rest so it firms up enough to shape.

Roll into balls and press flat with the bottom of a glass. They bake up soft and cakey with a bright lemon flavor from the pudding mix that’s subtle enough for people who don’t even like lemon desserts.

Letting the dough rest before shaping is the only step that takes any patience. It gives the Bisquick time to hydrate and the oil time to distribute evenly. Skip it and the dough will be too sticky to handle.

Kitchen Tips

• Dip the bottom of the glass in sugar before pressing each cookie. It prevents sticking and adds a sparkly, sweet crust.
• Don’t overbake. These should look slightly underdone when you pull them. They firm up as they cool.
• Store in an airtight container. The pudding mix keeps them soft for days.

Variations

• Use chocolate, vanilla, or butterscotch pudding mix instead of lemon for a completely different cookie.
• Press a thumbprint into each ball and fill with lemon curd after baking.
• Add a handful of white chocolate chips to the dough for extra sweetness.