Lemon Cookies are big, chewy, and thick, bursting with the best lemon flavor. These bakery-style cookies are drizzled with a simple 2-ingredient lemon glaze.
The Best Lemon Cookies Ever
These thick, soft, and chewy lemon cookies are amazing! They pack a perfect punch of lemon flavor thanks to a couple of secret ingredients.
Most lemon cookies I’ve tried just taste like sugar cookies. Not these!
Getting that perfect lemon flavor without ruining the texture can be tricky:
- Adding extra lemon juice makes the cookies thin and crisp, which I wasn’t going for here.
- So instead, this recipe uses lots of lemon zest and lemon extract, plus a lemon-juice glaze, to get that perfect punch of lemony flavor.
Ingredients In Lemon Cookies
- Unsalted Butter: Make sure it’s at room temp so it mixes well with the sugar for fluffy cookies.
- Sugar: Use white (not brown) sugar for a pure, sweet flavor.
- Lemon Zest: Adds a big flavor punch without extra liquid.
- Eggs: Hold the ingredients together and give the cookies structure.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds extra flavor. Vanilla bean paste works great too.
- Lemon Extract: Intensifies the lemon flavor without making the dough too watery like lemon juice would. Use pure lemon extract for the best flavor; it can be found near other baking extracts in the store.
- Baking Powder: Makes cookies rise and fluffy. Ensure your baking powder is fresh.
- Flour: Measure accurately for best results. If you pack in too much flour you’ll get dry, flavorless cookies. Too little and they’ll spread too much!
- Powdered Sugar: Roll the dough balls in it before baking for extra sweetness and to imitate a lemon crinkle cookie.
Quick Tip
When you’re zesting the lemon, just get the yellow part and avoid the white stuff — this is very bitter. Using a microplane zest only the very outside yellow part of the lemon for this recipe.
How To Make Lemon Cookies
- Mix Wet Ingredients: Cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and lemon extract.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Stir in baking powder, salt, and flour until just combined. Chill dough for 20 minutes.
- Chill Dough Balls: Portion dough into balls, roll in powdered sugar, and chill for another 20 minutes. Chilling makes the cookies taste better and keeps them from spreading too much.
- Bake and Cool: Place dough balls on lined sheet pan, bake until edges brown, then cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.
- Make and Glaze: Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice for glaze, drizzle over cooled cookies. Enjoy!
Tips For Success
- Use room temperature ingredients. Set butter and eggs out for an hour. Why room temp eggs? They trap air better, making the cookies lighter.
- Use a food scale if you can. It’s more accurate than measuring cups. A scale also helps make sure your dough balls are all the same size, so they bake evenly.
- Slightly under-bake cookies. This keeps them soft, chewy, and full of lemon flavor. Look for them to be set and not glossy on top.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely. Most cookies are the best right out of the oven, but these ones aren’t. These cookies are best at room temperature or even chilled!
- Keep these cookies soft after baking. After baking the cookies, let them cool completely on a wire rack. This will keep the bottoms from getting soggy from steam.
Lemon Cookies FAQs
Either the dough wasn’t chilled long enough or the flour was under-measured. Chilling firms up the butter and helps prevent excessive spreading.
Yes! Freeze dough balls for later or chill them if baking within a day or two. Make the glaze fresh before serving.
Too much flour or over-baking can cause this. Measure flour accurately and bake until just set for a softer texture.
Storage
Storing Soft Lemon Cookies
Cool baked cookies, then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Freeze cookie dough balls solid on a sheet pan then transfer to an airtight bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake cookies directly from the freezer, adding a couple extra minutes as needed. Glaze doesn’t freeze well, so make that fresh!
More Lemony Treats
- Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls with a sweet glaze
- Lemon Pie with a graham cracker crust
- Sparkling Blackberry Lemonade with fresh blackberries
- Lemon Bars with a shortbread crust
- Lemon Curd Cookies filled with fresh Lemon Curd
Lemon Cookies
Equipment
- stand mixer
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 lemons
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract see note 1
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract see note 2
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups flour see note 3
- 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar divided
Instructions
- Zest lemons with a zester to get 3 tablespoons zest. Juice using a citrus juicer to get 2 tablespoons juice. Set aside the juice for the glaze.
- Mix butter, sugar, and lemon zest in a stand mixer until creamy like peanut butter, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon extract, and beat until combined. Scrape sides, then add baking powder, salt, and flour. Mix until no dry streaks remain.
- Cover dough tightly and chill in fridge for 20 minutes.
- Line a large plate with parchment paper. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar to a small bowl.
- Divide the dough into 1/4 cup-sized balls (about 60 grams; see note 5). Roll each ball in powdered sugar and place on parchment-lined plate. Repeat to use all the dough.
- Chill dough balls for 20 minutes in fridge or 10 minutes in the freezer. Preheat oven to 325°F (162°C) and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Bake 6 cookies at a time for 10–15 minutes until puffed and slightly golden around the edges. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
- Whisk 2 tablespoons lemon juice with 1 cup powdered sugar until smooth. Transfer to a zip-top bag, snip off the corner, and drizzle over cookies. Enjoy at room temperature or chilled.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe has been updated. The previous version used LemonHead candies which are becoming more difficult to find. If you are able to find the candies and want to make the previous version; here it is!
Wow, this recipe is absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing 🤗!
I am so happy to hear this! Thanks Caroline! 🙂
Did you change your recipe?! This no longer mentions lemon candy and emulsion…. I can probably work through it but why the change?
Yes, there were a lot of issues finding the candies! There is a note above the recipe:
This recipe has been recently updated. The previous version used LemonHead candies which are increasingly difficult to find. If you are able to find the candies and want to make the previous version; here it is! https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2022-06-27-at-5.16.43-PM.png
Hi I’m from the UK and don’t think we have lemon head candy but we do have sherbet lemons would they work ?