My soft lemon cookies glazed with a tart lemon icing and finished with a dusting of zest are tender and buttery with a melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Lemon cookies are just one of many delicious ways to celebrate citrus season. Citrus fruits do us the great favor of ripening in the dead of winter, just when we thought we had nothing to look forward to ’til spring! For this I will be eternally grateful, and my collection of citrus fruit recipes grows with each passing winter.
There are lots of different kinds of citrus fruit of course, but lemon always seems to lead the way, at least in my kitchen.
- Lemon Olive Oil Cake
- Lemony Tuscan Artichoke Soup
- Whole Lemon Dressing
- Seared Scallops in Lemon Butter
- Giada’s Lemon Spaghetti ~ a no cook sauce!
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lemon cookies with powdered sugar
These zingy lemon cookies are part shortbread, part lemon meltaways. Their texture is soft and melting rather than crunchy or chewy, and this is because I use powdered sugar rather than granulated. Powdered sugar makes a creamy, tender cookie that melts on the tongue.
I rolled out my dough fairly thin, and cut them with a small cookie butter for a delicate little cookie (you could easily eat 2 or 3 at a time.) But there’s no reason you couldn’t do them bigger and thicker, the soft shortbread texture works well in a thicker cookie.
ingredients for lemon cookies
- salted butter
- powdered sugar
- powdered sugar yields a softer smoother cookie than regular white granulated sugar.
- lemon juice and zest
- the zest infuses the butter cookies with citrus essence, while the juice in the glaze really drives the flavor home.
- egg yolk
- the yolk adds a bit of richness to the dough, as also moistens it so it binds together and rolls out easily.
- all purpose flour
- cornstarch
- cornstarch is a classic shortbread and meltaway cookie ingredient: it creates tender lemon cookies with a slight crispness on the edges and a soft interior. Cornstarch counteracts gluten development in a cookie and helps create that melt in your mouth texture.
lemon cookie method
- Cream the soft butter, lemon zest, and powdered sugar well, for at least 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl a couple of times. This aerates the dough for a lighter cookie.
- Blend in the lemon juice and egg yolk.
- Blend in the flour and cornstarch until the dough comes together and there is no dry flour left. It will be soft and sticky.
- For the soft dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap, smoothing out the surface as you wrap it.
- Put the dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours or in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up.
- Roll out the dough to 1/4 in thickness on a lightly floured surface.
- Cut into rounds with a small 2 inch cookie cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheets, one inch apart.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until set. They will still be pale.
- Let your lemon cookies cool before glazing.
secret to bright lemon flavor in a cookie
I’ve talked about it before, but infusing citrus flavor into baked goods is challenging. Often I use my favorite lemon sugar method, but that’s not appropriate for this lemon cookie recipe. Classic lemon flavor is a combination of the zest and the juice. It’s important to take the time to get all the bright yellow zest off a large lemon and into your batter. The glaze is equally important to this lemon cookie as it’s the way I incorporate the juice.
lemon zest: full of volatile oils and aromatic notes that give the classic lemon flavor without any sour or tart notes.
lemon juice: provides the tart acidity we associate with lemons. It needs a sweetener to bring out the flavor.
variations on lemon cookies
Definitely try other citrus flavors ~ orange, blood orange, lime, or grapefruit!
Form the dough into a log and slice and bake these cookies instead of rolling and cutting them out.
The cookies can be dusted with powdered sugar instead of glazing them, but the lemon flavor will be less pronounced.
Add mini chocolate chips to the lemon cookie dough.
Fold in a bit of finely minced fresh rosemary for an herbal twist.
Cut the cookies thin and make sandwich cookies filled with a lemon buttercream or lemon curd or homemade jam like strawberry or blackberry.
Lemon Cookies
Equipment
- baking sheets and parchment paper
- 2 inch cookie or biscuit cutter
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter at room temperature. Be sure your butter is soft, the dough will not come together with cold butter.
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, do not sift before measuring.
- lemon zest from one lemon
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice, or more if needed
- lemon zest for garnish
Instructions
- Cream the soft butter, lemon zest, and powdered sugar well, for at least 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl a couple of times. This aerates the dough for a lighter cookie.
- Blend in the lemon juice and egg yolk.
- Turn the mixer to low and blend in the flour and cornstarch until the dough comes together and there is no dry flour left. It will be soft and sticky.
- Form the soft dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap, smoothing out the surface as you wrap it.
- Put the dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours or in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up.
- Preheat oven the 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out the dough to 1/4 in thickness on a lightly floured surface. If your dough is super cold it will soften as it sits at room temperature.
- Cut into rounds with a small 2 inch cookie cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheets, one inch apart. If your dough has warmed up you may want to chill the cookies for 15-30 minutes before baking. I do a test cookie first to evaluate. If it doesn't spread, you're good to go.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until set. They will still be pale.
- Let cool before glazing.
to make the glaze
- Stir together the sugar and lemon juice until smooth and glossy. I don't find it necessary to use sifted sugar: if you have a few lumps in your glaze let it sit for a few minutes and stir again. Any small lumps should dissolve on their own.
- Take each cooled cookie and dip headfirst straight down into the glaze, just touching all parts of the surface to the glaze. Lift the cookie straight up and let the excess glaze drip off. Turn the cookie upright and set on a rack. Dust with more lemon zest while the glaze is still wet.
- Allow the glaze to set up before eating or storing your lemon cookies.
- Cookies will remain fresh for several days at room temperature, and can be frozen for up to 3 months.
@theviewfromgreatisland, can these amazing cookies be sliced then baked? Instead of using cookie cutters? TIA
Yes, you could certainly do that!
I made these to take to a seafood boil on Labor Day Weekend. They turned out great and were a hit although mine did not look as yellow. I made red crawfish cookie transfers with royal icing to go with the party theme and placed them on top of some of the cookies. I’ll definitely make these again.
That sounds like such fun!
These cookies have a great lemony flavor. When i made mine, they came out a little dry. Any suggestions before I make them again?rrect this in the future?
Hi Shannon ~ first thing that comes to mind is try baking them for a little less time. The longer you bake the drier and crisper they will become. Also make sure you give them a nice layer of glaze, that adds moisture and so much flavor.
Really good cookie! Very lemony – perfect texture.
Made these cookies for sewing group. One member thought these cookies tasted like her mom’s lemon meringue pie. Great cookie.
I have made this several times! For Valentine’s day, a “pink lemonade” twist with heart cut-out and pink color. 💖
Tastes like springtime!
You beat me to it, I was planning a pink lemonade twist for spring!!
Can I use lemon extract in place of zest? I have a meyer lemon tree that is wonderful and I have so much lemon juice but not the skin.
Yes, definitely!
The best cookies I have ever made. Nuff said.
I followed this recipe exactly as written but for some reason the dough was completely unmanageable. I read the other reviews and noticed no one else seemed to have this problem. So the fault must be mine but I’m at a loss as to why. I added more sugar and flour (alot) just to the point of managing the dough. The cookies still tasted good but would like to know what could have gone wrong for me.
Hi Janet ~ I’d love to help you troubleshoot ~ but not sure what you mean by unmanageable. Be sure you used 1 cup, which is 2 sticks, of softened butter. That along with the powdered sugar, flour, and cornstarch should make a nice soft dough. The little bit of lemon juice and egg yolk moistens it a bit, but not to the point where you should need more flour. Feel free to email me to dig deeper.