lemon cookies
These easy lemon cookies are chewy, soft and bursting with lemon flavor. There is lemon juice and zest in the dough for a bright lemon twist on chewy sugar cookies!
If you’re a fan of soft and chewy sugar cookies, you will love this lemon-kissed version. With just a hint of lemon zest and lemon juice, these cookies are transformed into delicious treats that are soft, chewy, sweet and tangy all at once. They come together in 10 minutes with just 1 hour of chill time.
Sugar cookie fans should also try this cut out sugar cookie recipe! They are soft and chewy but the lemon flavor comes from the royal icing rather than the dough! Make it a full-on party and bake a batch of funfetti cookies and thumbprint cookies too!
Table of contents
Why You Will Love these Easy Lemon Cookies
- Bright lemon flavor! The combination of fresh lemon zest and lemon juice flavor the cookies, tame the sweetness and give the cookies a light yellow color!
- Chewy like your favorite sugar cookie. These cookies have the characteristics of the best chewy sugar cookie you’ve ever had but flavored with lemon!
- Easy to make the same day or in advance. Mix these cookies in 10 minutes, chill for an hour and then bake, or prepare the dough up to 2 months in advance and freeze!
Professional Tips for Making Lemon Cookies
- Add the zest to the sugar before mixing. Zest the lemon into the granulated sugar called for in the recipe up to a day in advance. The sugar pulls the oils out of the zest and will flavor the sugar used to make the cookies. This intensifies the lemon without having to add extra juice! You can do the same in my lemon cake donuts.
- Omit the baking soda if freezing the dough. If you are making these cookies in advance and you know you’ll be freezing the dough for more than 2 weeks, omit the baking soda and double the baking powder in the recipe. This will preserve the flavor and texture after storage. Baking soda will react (even frozen!) with the lemon juice and you will end up with flat textured and bland cookies.
- Do not overbake. Just like with chocolate thumbprint cookies these lemon cookies are done when the edges begin to brown, the tops crack slightly and the centers look matte rather than shiny and doughy.
- Zest before you juice the lemon. It is much easier to zest the lemon before juicing but if you forget, you can zest after you juice. I know because I’ve done it more than once!
Ingredients Needed
- All-purpose flour: I use all-purpose flour because that is what most people have on hand, but you can also use cake flour in these cookies to make them extra soft.
- Baking soda & powder: The recipe calls for both baking soda and baking powder to get that immediate, intense rise from the soda and then a secondary rise in the oven with the baking powder.
- Salt
- Unsalted butter: I use unsalted butter in baking because, as a pastry chef, I like to control everything, but you can omit the salt in the recipe and use salted butter.
- Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar is ideal for flavor, spread and the signature chew! You will also need a little extra for rolling the dough balls before baking.
- Fresh lemon zest: This is the zest from 1 small lemon. Don’t stress about this too much. Just zest the lemon you are going to juice and call it a day.
- Fresh lemon juice: I beg of you, use an actual lemon for this and not the store-bought juice! It makes a huge difference in flavor.
- Large Egg
- Vanilla extract
- See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations & Substitutions
- Can I use lemon extract? Yes, you can but nothing matches the flavor of fresh squeezed lemon juice. If you do want to use extract, use Nielson Massey’s Lemon Extract. In my professional opinion, it is the only one worth using.
- Make them lemon poppyseed: Like my lemon poppy seed cake, lemon poppyseed biscuits or lemon poppyseed muffins, sometimes you just need that classic Summer flavor combination. Go ahead and add 1-2 tablespoons of poppyseeds to the dry ingredients before adding to the dough!
- Can I add food coloring? It’s your kitchen and you can do anything you want, but I don’t find yellow food coloring necessary.
- Try another citrus instead! You can use orange or lime zest and juice instead of lemon in this recipe for an orange sugar cookies. These cookies are also lovely with grapefruit or bergamot!
- Add a lemon glaze. I find these cookies to be bursting with lemon flavor as written but you can add a lemon glaze if desired. Simply thin some powdered sugar with fresh lemon juice to your desired thickness. Pour, spread or dip the cookies in the glaze. If glazing, I recommend not rolling the cookie dough in extra sugar before baking.
How to Make this Lemon Cookie Recipe
Use these instructions to make chewy lemon sugar cookies! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set flour mixture aside.
Zest the lemon directly into the sugar for the recipe. Use your fingers to massage it in. You can do this up to a day in advance.
Step 2: In a large bowl cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat in the lemon juice, egg and vanilla until just combined, then stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until a dough forms. Maybe sneak a lil’ bite. I won’t tell.
Step 3: Scoop the dough using a cookie scoop or a large sp oonand shape into balls about 1 ½ Tablespoons each. Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Wrap tightly and chill it in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Chilling is very important and can’t be skipped, or your cookies will bake flat and crispy and that’s not our objective here.
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. You don’t want to use the one that was in the refrigerator because the cookies will bake slower and might be too dark on the outside before being baked inside.
You can also bake on a silicone mat rather than parchment paper. The resulting cookies will be extra chewy!
Step 5: Roll each ball in extra sugar for sweetness and crunch. Bake in preheated oven until the cookies are just baked in the centers and lightly golden on the edges. Do not over bake! You’re better off with a slightly underbaked cookie here than an over baked one, so keep an eye on them.
Step 6: Cool and enjoy. Cool the cookies on a wire rack, then enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can cover the dough and chill it for up to 24 hours in advance of baking if that fits better with your schedule. Otherwise, you can bake the cookies and freeze them for up to 3 months.
I do not recommend making cut-out sugar cookies with this dough. These cookies are soft and chewy, and not intended to be rolled out and cut into shapes. Please stick with the drop-and-bake plan for this one for best results! Try these cut-out sugar cookies instead. You can add lemon zest to the dough!
Store baked cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. I don’t recommend storing in the refrigerator or they will dry out faster.
Store cookie dough rolled into ball (but not the granulated sugar!) in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 2 months!
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below! I love hearing from you and your comments make my day!
Print
Lemon Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Delightfully chewy and soft lemon cookies are the perfect summer treat! A classic sugar cookie with a kiss of citrus, you will love baking and eating this simple and delicious dessert.
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest (from about 1 small lemon)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1 small lemon)
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer), cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in lemon zest, lemon juice, egg and vanilla extract until just combined.
- Slowly stir in flour mixture just until a dough forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.*
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line one large baking sheet with parchment paper. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar to a small bowl.
- Scoop and roll chilled dough into balls about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter (about 1 1/2 tablespoons each). Roll each dough ball in sugar, then transfer to prepared baking sheet, spaced about 2 inches apart. (You may have to bake in batches; refrigerate any remaining dough while you bake the first batch.)
- Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until cookies are just set in the centers and lightly golden on the edges (do not overbake). Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Yield – 24 Cookies
Flavor Tips – For the most impressive lemon flavor, zest the lemon into the sugar before measuring the other ingredients. The longer it sits, the more intense the flavor!
Storage – Store baked cookies at room temperature for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. I don’t recommend storing in the refrigerator or they will dry out faster. Store cookie dough rolled into ball (but not the granulated sugar!) in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 2 months!
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this easy lemon cookie recipe. Check out our other delicious dessert recipes or try these snickerdoodles next!
Omg these look delicious! I will probably make these for my daughter’s birthday party, except might add edible glitter from https://www.thesugarart.com/ – check them out actually, they have vegan products! ?
Oh how I LOVE lemon!!!
Nice recipe! thanks for sharing……
love lemon flavored everything, at least so far, and cookies are definitely included among them and I also love using zest too so nice to see zest in these cookies, thank you!
Totally going to make this. Have you tried rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar BEFORE creaming butter and sugar together? I’ve read that rubbing citrus zest into sugar increases the amount of oils released into the sugar–intensifying the citrus flavor. Sounds like it’s necessary to make two batches–one as you’ve written and one with zest rubbed into sugar! And then have to eat them ALL to test…
Elizabeth, I have not tried that for this recipe but I HIGHLY recommend it. Thanks for the idea! 🙂
I love the taste of lemon. It seems yummy with cookies. Gonna try it soon. Thank You.
Can you please give the ingredient measurements by weight, it makes it far easier to follow for those of us in other countries. For example, we don’t have “sticks” of butter in Australia, so I have no idea how much that is.
Thanks!
Gail, There is a toggle option on the recipe card for metric conversions that can help you! That is also why I specify that 1 “stick” of butter equals 1/2 cup for easier conversion. I do not test recipes primarily with weight measurements so I do not provide them because I am not confident enough to suggest those measurements for the same results, however, if you sign up for my email list I do offer a free baking conversions chart that you can use for this purpose. Thanks for your feedback!