Deliciously chewy Lemon Cookies made using fresh juice and zest from real lemons. Drizzled with a two ingredient lemon glaze, these Lemon Cookies are the perfect afternoon treat.
Love lemon? 🍋
You’ll adore these lovely Lemon Cookies. With crispy edges and a buttery centre, these Easy Lemon Cookies are sure to become a firm family favourite.
Soft and chewy and bursting with lemon flavour, they’re a true delight.
When I set out to make Lemon Cookies from scratch I had no idea what I was in for. I wanted a cookie that was buttery and sweet, but not too thick and cakey.
The first couple of tries were far too spongy and lacked lemon flavour, but attempt number three was something special.
Simple. Sweet. Perfection.
This recipe begins as most cookies do, with butter and sugar. Then there’s egg, flour and baking soda. Then comes a flavour hit, thanks to freshly squeezed lemon juice and freshly grated lemon zest. Hello lemony goodness!
Once the cookies are baked and cooled, it’s time for a simple two ingredient lemon glaze. This drippy icing brings out the lemon flavour of the cookies and adds a little sweet tang.
Thanks to these Easy Lemon Cookies and the Lemon Ricotta Cake I recently shared, I’m literally obsessed with all things lemon at the moment.
Who would have thought fresh lemon could take a regular sugar cookie and transform it into something special?
All I know is you need these lovely cookies in your life 🍋
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
Let's Bake
Easy Lemon Cookies
Buttery lemon cookies with a fresh lemon glaze.
Ingredients
Lemon cookies
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 200 grams (1 cup) caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 245 grams (1 and 3/4 cup) plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- Zest of 1 lemon, freshly grated
Lemon glaze
- 125 grams (1 cup) icing or powdered sugar
- 3–4 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Line two baking trays with baking or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and creamy. Add vanilla and egg and beat again until combined.
- Sift in flour and baking soda. Add lemon juice and zest. Beat briefly until soft cookie dough forms.
- Roll cookie dough into 16 balls, approximately 1.5 tablespoons of dough each, and bake for approximately 12 minutes or until golden on the edges. Carefully transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the lemon glaze, sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add lemon juice, one tablespoon at a time, and mix together with a fork. Keep adding a tablespoon of lemon juice until you reach your desired consistency. You want the glaze to be smooth, but thin enough to drizzle.
- Drizzle glaze over cookies. Leave for 10-15 minutes to set.
Nutrition Information
Isabelle says
My cookies were so light and fluffy. My dough was a bit runny and not like other doughs do you have any suggestions what to do or what you think I did wrong? the cookies were delicious 😋😋
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Isabelle! The dough will be a bit softer than a regular cookie dough because of the lemon juice. If you found them hard to roll, you could try adding a touch more flour next time or try chilling the dough for 30 minutes. Hope that helps!
Nishanth says
This cookie is great for baking beginners to try out, this defenitely got me into baking. Plus, these cookies taste great!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you liked them Nishanth!
Billi Milovanovic says
These cookies were so darn good! I used self raising flour instead or the flour and baking soda and substituted some of the flour with shredded coconut – that took the cookie to a whole new level! 🙌
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Billi!
Shelly says
This cookies are delicious and super soft!!
Will make more for sure. Thank you!!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Shelly!
Tania says
Lemony melt in the mouth delishisness. I will make again and would try with other citrus fruits just for variation.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you liked them Tania!
Pimon says
I reduced the amount of sugar to 180 and the cookies turned out perfect! They are soft and chewy, tangy and lemony. My husband loves them so much!
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that!
Gargi says
Hey! I loveddd the recipe!! Can you tell me how long these cookies will last? A week maybe?
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you love them! I’d say up to 5 days or so – but they never last that long in my house!
Shirley Larsen says
Excellent! I did add to much lemon juice and the dough was sticky but you can never have to much Lemon flavor in my book. Love the Chewy lemony flavor.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Shirley!
Bryony Thornton says
Even though the cookies turned out great, the dough was so sticky to try get into balls. Anyone else have this problem? Or did I put too much lemon juice in?
★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Broyony, yes it sounds like you might have added a little too much lemon juice. An extra tablespoon or two of flour should help. Or you can simply spoon the dough out using a cookie scoop.
Jo says
I used 2 table spoons to scoop out my mix, which was quite soft
Tania says
Try chilling the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge. That’s what I did and worked a treat.
Camille says
Yes, these are the ultimate cookies especially for lemon lovers!
A neighbour has a lemon tree and she gave me lemons so I’ll bake her some lemon cookies as a thank-you! Extra batch for family.
Thanks again.
Camille.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you like them Camille!
Emily says
Whenever I feel like cooking I always use this recipe, I like to cook for my family and they adore these cookies!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love hearing that Emily!
Jennifer Jones says
These cookies are wonderful, I now have my 4th baking in the oven. Love them. Thank you, love your website!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Aw thank you so much Jennifer!
Megija says
It was to sweet for me.
★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Thanks for the feedback!
Vicki Allen says
So delicious about to make a second batch . This time I’m going to add some macadamia’s for some crunch but also yummy as they are 💕
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Vicki! Ooh adding macadamias sounds wonderful!
Genevieve says
Love these. Just made them and they were absolutely delicious (I mixed it up and added lime to it). I’m sure what size your bikkies are but I doubled the recipe (thinking 16 bikkies won’t go far with 6 kids). Mine are the standard size of about 3/4 of your palm and I got 71 bikkies!!!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Genevieve, so glad you enjoyed these cookies! I think they’d be just lovely with lime! I usually use about 1.5 tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie so I think mine must be bigger than yours. But big or small, they’re always delish! 😉