Buttery melt-in-your-mouth Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies with a clean fresh lemon flavor (and a fun little crunch!)
My lemon poppy seed cookies are buttery little rounds of shortbread bursting with fresh lemon flavor. With my easy lemon sugar technique you’re guaranteed the brightest lemon cookie possible.
love lemon poppyseed?
- Lemon Poppy Seed Salad Dressing
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread
- Easy One Bowl Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes
lemon poppy seed cookie ingredients
- fresh lemon
- we’re just using the zest (the yellow outer peel)
- sugar
- salted butter
- all purpose flour
- poppy seeds
- fresh is best. If your seeds have been in your cupboard for more than a year, replace them.
lemon poppy seed cookies start with a lemon infused sugar
It’s the secret to the unusually bright lemon flavor of these cookies and if you love my other lemon desserts chances are you know about this! I put the peeled zest of a lemon in my food processor along with the sugar for the recipe and blend them together. I end up with a soft fragrant pale yellow sugar that will infuse my cookies with a fresh lemon flavor from the inside out. Those volatile oils in the lemon peel are forcefully extracted and bonded with the sugar in the processor, trapping that aromatic lemon flavor with none of the sharpness of the juice.
watch the video to see how it’s done
why my lemon sugar method works
I often get asked why I don’t just zest my lemons the regular way. The difference is that when you peel the zest from a lemon (or orange, or lime) with a vegetable peeler you get way more than you would get with a zesting tool or a box grater. Then when you harness the power of a food processor to fuse the peel with sugar, you get the maximum flavor payoff in your lemon poppy seed cookies.
Important note! When peeling the zest for your lemon sugar you want to peel just the yellow portion. The white pith, which is underneath the yellow peel, is bitter. I wiggle my peeler back and forth as I peel to get a nice layer of zest with little white.
lemon poppy seed cookies faqs
It will work with lime and orange. I think grapefruit peel might be too bitter. If using an orange, you’ll probably want to use just half of the zest for this recipe because the fruit is so much larger.
You can, but expect the cookies to have a very delicate texture. Use a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend (make sure it contains xanthan gum, or add 1/2 teaspoon if it doesn’t.) I like King Arthur Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Mix and Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
Yes, use a vegan butter with the same firm consistency as dairy butter, like Miyoko’s Creamery European Style Cultured Vegan Butter, Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks, or others.
Yes, they have a nice nutty flavor which you can taste when they’re used in bulk, like in my Blueberry Poppy Seed Squares. In cookies like lemon poppy seed cookies they’re mainly there for the crunch.
Yes, you’ll have a lovely plain lemon shortbread cookie.
Make a glaze from powdered sugar and lemon juice. Then dip the cookies and let dry on a rack like I do with these lemon cookies. You can also drizzle the lemon glaze over the cooled cookies.
Yes, instead of a disk just roll the dough into a log and chill until firm enough to slice.
Shortbread freezes exceptionally well due to its high butter/low moisture content. You can freeze the cookies baked or unbaked. See my Complete Guide to Freezing Cookies + Cookie Dough.
shortbread recipes
If you love the unique buttery mouthfeel of shortbread like I do, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve developed lots of shortbread recipes from classic shortbread and simple cookies to crumble bars and tarts.
Shortbread cookies are a great place to start your shortbread journey because they’re so easy. Favorites include my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and my Fresh Strawberry Shortbread Cookies. All my shortbread cookie doughs can be formed into a slice and bake log, or rolled and cut with cookie cutters.
My classic Scottish Shortbread is super simple, with all the focus on the star ingredient: creamy butter! This recipe demonstrates the beautiful results you can get using a shortbread mold.
Lemon Poppy Seed Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- food processor
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- zest of 1 lemon, peeled with a vegetable peeler*
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup salted butter** at room temperature, if you use unsalted butter, add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the dough.
- 2 cups all purpose flour***
- 2 Tbsp poppy seeds
Instructions
- Put the lemon zest and the sugar into your food processor and process until the zest has been completely incorporated into the sugar and you've got a fragrant pale yellow sugar with the moist consistency of brown sugar. Scrape down the sides and bottom edges of the bowl.
- Note: because I'm already using the processor for the sugar, I just complete the cookie dough right in the same machine. You can also do it in a bowl by hand, if you prefer. Add the softened butter to the bowl and process until well combined with the lemon sugar. You may need to pulse/process the machine, and scrape down the sides and corners of the bowl to get it evenly combined.
- Add the flour and poppy seeds to the bowl and pulse/process briefly until a crumbly dough comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, scraping down the sides and bottom edges of the bowl carefully. Bring together into a soft dough with your hands (flour them if necessary) and pat into a flat disk. Note: your dough should not be dry and crumbly at this point, it should be soft and pliable, with no dry flour left.
- Wrap with plastic wrap and smooth out the surface and sides of the dough. Refrigerate for an hour or so to firm up.
- Unwrap the dough and roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Use a 2" cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Place the cookies on a tray and pop back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Arrange cookies 2 inches apart on your baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes. They will still be pale when done. Let cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet and then remove to a rack to cool completely. I like to bake one tray at a time for even baking.
Perfect