This past weekend, with both our significant others out of state on business travel, Dad and I planned an extra special father-daughter date. I rose with the sun on Saturday morning to get ready, pull on my favorite green blouse, and pack my purse with all the essentials before heading out to our favorite place…
The ballpark!
At the Oakland A’s Coliseum, we snaked through the security line, snagged two of the exclusive promotional items—yellow “AL West Champs” fleece blankets—and wove through the thick throngs of fans to find our season ticket seats. As we climbed down the steps, we realized that they were less than 10 rows back from the field, right behind the A’s dugout! (Although partway through the game, we joked they were almost too close for comfort… A towering foul ball landed just 2 seats away! Definitely bringing a glove next time.)
We always arrive at the ballpark 2 hours early, just to watch batting practice, so I camped out while Dad found the hot dog stand. (I held out for a gourmet lunch instead!) I scanned the field, tracking the long fly balls and powerful home runs screaming into the outfield stands, and smiled at the young kids crowding around the dugout, hoping and praying for any player’s autograph.
As the grounds crew cleaned up the cages, I slathered on sunscreen, opened my scorecard to a fresh page, and started scrawling players’ names, numbers, and positions in the boxes. After the National Anthem and Ceremonial First Pitch, we cheered, booed, and held our breaths with the rest of the crowd.
A little disappointed when the A’s starter gave up a few homers in the 5th, we continued to root for our boys. They made it interesting in the bottom of the 9th, barely missing tying the game by a long shot a few feet to the left of the foul pole, but we still left after their loss with happy smiles from our warm sunny day at the ballpark.
Just like our date, these Double Lemon Pudding Cookies are bright, sunshiny, and a real sweet treat! Summery citrus flavor infuses every bite of these cute pastel cookies. With their soft chewy texture and rich buttery taste, you’ll have a hard time believing these are actually lightened up and low in both fat and calories!
Up until early last fall, I never knew “pudding cookies” existed. Only after quitting my chemistry job and beginning blogging full-time did I finally discover these little gems! After I lusted after a few decadent recipes from Dorothy and Averie, those two ladies inspired me to try creating my own healthier version.
Adding dry instant pudding mix to the dough works true cookie magic! It (a) contributes another flavor {in this case, lemon!} and (b) creates the softest texture imaginable due to the cornstarch in the mix. Not convinced? It gets better—the cornstarch helps keep the cookies soft for an entire week! (It’s why I add cornstarch to all of these cookies too!)
Note: You’ll just use the dry instant mix; do NOT prepare it according to the package directions!
For this recipe, I tweaked one of my favorite cookie dough bases. I swapped out the brown sugar for the white to preserve the pretty pastel lemon color, and I reduced the amount of flour and sugar to compensate for the sweetness and dry ingredients in the pudding mix. I also added in lots of fresh lemon zest, which really amplifies the citrus flavor. Please oh please, do not skip it!
Treat the pudding mix like sugar, not flour; like sugar, it dissolves in liquid. Skip whisking it in with the dry ingredients and stir it into the melted butter instead. (Yup, melted butter—no mixer needed for today’s recipe!)
Believe it or not, chilling is optional for these cookies! Low fat cookie dough does not spread as much as standard recipes. (My “clean eating” cookie series is an exception due to the extra moisture added from the liquid sweeteners.) Chilling this low fat cookie dough completely prevents any spreading, so you’ll need to flatten it before baking.
For the cookies in these photographs, I did not chill the dough. If you don’t either, simply drop the freshly mixed cookie dough onto the baking sheet in rounded scoops. They’ll flatten to about half their height in the oven—still thick enough to taste their softness and chew, but not as thin as pancakes or crêpes!
If you’ve been around a while, you’ll already know my special secret to soft and chewy cookies: underbake them slightly; then leave them on the warm baking sheet for 10 minutes after pulling them out of the oven. This allows the centers to continue cooking without turning the outsides crisp and crunchy. If stored in an airtight container, they’ll stay soft for an entire week!
I saved that one for you!
Light and summery, these Double Lemon Pudding Cookies will brighten your day with their sweet citrus taste. With their cute pastel hue and incredibly tender chew, you’ll need to pour a glass of milk—or maybe two. It’s practically impossible to stop after just one!
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These cookies are unbelievably soft and chewy! They’re full of sweet lemon flavor from the pudding and zest, but they don’t taste tart or sour at all. Store the leftovers between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container for up to a week.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Add in the sugar, mixing until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the pudding mix. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. (Optional: Chill for 30 minutes for thicker cookies that do not spread during baking.)
- Drop the cookie dough into 22 rounded scoops onto the prepared baking sheets. (If the cookie dough was chilled, flatten slightly.) Bake at 350°F for 10-11 minutes. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Note: I have not tried this with regular instant lemon pudding mix; I do not know if that will work.
Thoughts are substituting sugar for Stevia so they are more diabetic friendly? Looks like it would be about 1/4 tsp of Stevia. Any additional changes to ensure the cookies keep their integrity with this change? Thanks! KK
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe! What’s the exact stevia brand and product that you’d like to use? That information will allow me to give you the best modifications possible! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! My 7 year old son is in his first year of 4-H and made this recipe for the fair. He had Reserve Champion Junior (ages 7-9) foods with his lemon pudding cookies. The only change we made was rolling them in confectioners sugar and pressing them flat prior to baking. Our 4-H livestock buyers loved them too, so we are baking more batches this weekend to deliver as “thank you”s.
I’m so glad everyone loved these cookies Anna! That means so much to me that your son would want to bake them. You two are incredibly sweet to bake more as thank you gifts to the 4-H livestock buyers!! ♡ Thank you for taking the time to let me know! I love the recipe tweaks you made too. I’ll have to try that sometime! 🙂
The lemon pudding, is it the instant or cook and serve?
It’s the instant kind! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try making these cookies Christina!
I already made the pudding in advance, can I still somehow make it work?
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Sadie! Unfortunately, the prepared pudding won’t work. It adds way too much moisture, which means the cookies don’t turn out right, and I don’t want you to waste your time or ingredients!
If you’re able to find another box of just the dry instant pudding mix and end up making these cookies, I’d love to hear what you think of them!
Hi Amy!
Sorry to comment on so many of your recipes, its just to enjoyable to scroll through all of your recipes and find so many exciting new idead to try! And i adore reading through all of your stories, theyre just as important and exciting as the recipe itself!
I live in England, and i cant seem to find any sort of pudding mix, specially one that fits the criteria you laid out, and comes in lemon flavour!! Is there any way to incorporate lemon juice into this instead and tweak the amount of other ingredients in there to work around it? If thats too difficult, is there a similar recipe i could try that would burst with the same bright flavours? Im so excited to make it, as lemon is one of my favourite flavours!
Thank you so much, in advance!
Take care and stay safe!
Update: We do have Lemon flavoured greek yoghurt if there is any way to incorporate that!!