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.
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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, just like we do for my Lemon Ricotta Cookies and my easy Lemon Slice. This drippy icing brings out the lemon flavour of the cookies and adds a little sweet tang.
Thanks to these cookies, my Lemon Ricotta Cake and my Lemon Raspberry Cake, 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 or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 245 grams (1 and 3/4 cup) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- Zest of 1 lemon, freshly grated
Lemon glaze
- 125 grams (1 cup) icing sugar or powdered sugar, sifted
- 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, baking soda and salt. 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.
Notes
Lemon zest: For an even more lemon-y cookie, add the zest of 2 lemons instead of just one.
Cookies spreading: If you have had trouble with your cookies spreading in the past, bake one tester cookie first. If it spreads too much, consider chilling the dough for 1 hour before baking.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size: 1 cookie Calories: 193 Sugar: 20.4 g Sodium: 81.6 mg Fat: 6.3 g Carbohydrates: 32.5 g Protein: 2.1 g Cholesterol: 27.1 mg
Hi, I’m Jess, the creator of Sweetest Menu and the author of Something Sweet. A self-taught baker and published recipe writer who can’t stop making easy and delicious baking recipes.
Kirka says
It’s only very mildly lemony, and not sour at all, I did admittedly not add zest, but I don’t think it would’ve fixed it much
Like most cookie recipes it’s also way too sweet for my taste
Butt it’s still really good, just not what I thought it’d be
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Kirka, sorry to hear that you didn’t love these. If you didn’t add the lemon zest, it would definitely make them much less lemon-y.
Carlyn Brown says
Easy & great tasting. I always cream my butter and eggs. I used a small scoop and chilled the balls for 15 minutes before baking. Of, course, I to extend the baking time two -three minutes.
Jessica Holmes says
Sounds amazing Carlyn! Thank you for your feedback!
Dianne says
Oh dear i followed the recipe to the letter and mix was too wet to roll so spooned onto the trays.
Mistake I ended up with two very large very flat biscuits.
My granddaughter and Poppa loved the taste and between them licked the bowl clean.
I will try it again another day as the flavour was great. Maybe I will try a bit more flour and a bit less butter. ?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Dianne, I’m so sorry to hear your cookies spread too much when baked. It may mean your butter was too soft or you over-mixed your butter and sugar causing it to be too warm. I would consider either adding a touch more flour as you mentioned or just chilling the dough balls before baking. I recommend doing one tester cookie to check the spreading before baking the whole batch. I hope that helps!
Jan says
My husband loves these cookies and have made these several times. I like to add lots of jest and I also add jest into the glaze. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I do find they take over 15 plus minutes to bake at 160c fan bake in my brand new oven. All ovens are different though 😀
Jessica Holmes says
Oh thanks for sharing this Jan! I love the idea of adding some zest to the glaze. And thank you for your feedback re: baking time. I always think of baking times as a guide but as you are right, ovens are so wildly different!
Lulu says
These were delicious! I used dairy free butter and only 3/4 cup sugar and made them smaller and rounder (as they didn’t spread so much in the oven). Had to hide them away so we’d have some for later!
Jessica Holmes says
That’s wonderful to hear Lulu! So glad everyone enjoyed them!