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Soft chewy lemon sugar cookies are always a hit! A light lemon cookie that will be a crowd favorite.
Lemon Sugar Cookies
I may be a chocoholic but these cookies got me from the first bite. Actually, I lie. It was from the first bite of cookie dough because after one taste, I was hooked! Since my Mom loves all things lemon, I decided I had to break free from my chocolate love affair and make something that she would love – a sweet, soft lemon sugar cookie.
She was smitten with the first taste! This cookie is bursting with fresh lemon flavor without being too tart and if you could imagine a marriage between a soft sugar cookie and a tangy lemon, you will get this delectable lemon sugar cookie.
This is a soft, chewy lemon cookie with a light lemon flavor. It is a simple, crowd-pleasing recipe that everyone loves! Add more lemon zest for extra lemon flavor.
Key Steps for making the BEST Lemon sugar cookies:
- Cream butter and sugar for four minutes or until light and fluffy. This breaks down the sugar so you don’t end up with grainy cookies. It also whips in the air, which not only helps to give the cookie body but keeps it from going completely flat once it hits the hot oven.
- Use fresh lemon juice. The fake stuff you find in the grocery store just tastes fake. Fresh lemon transforms so many dishes and since it’s the star ingredient in this cookie, fresh is best.
- Use a zester to get the vibrant yellow skin from the lemon and leave the bitter white part behind. Â We want the good stuff! Click HERE to buy a zester for about $10 bucks.
- These cookies are best soft so don’t overbake. An outstanding cookie can become mediocre just from overbaking. I always use non-stick silicone baking sheets. These silicone baking sheets are some of my favorites because they work well and are reasonably priced.
- Top with sparkling sugar just as you are removing the cookies from the oven.
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Lemon Sugar Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter cold, cut into cubes
- 2 cups Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest may put more lemon zest for extra flavor
- 3 cups Flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- *may put in a drop of yellow food coloring for color
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest and stir to combine.
- Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix just until combined.
- Drop dough onto light colored baking sheet.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar or white sparkling sugar.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank as always for all of your incredible support. xo Happy Baking!
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These look delicious. Have you ever used them with cut out cookies. Will they retain the shape?
Thanks so much. Great Blog!
These cookies are sooooo incredibly delicious! My baby loves them and so do I!
I was looking for a simple lemon cookie recipe to make with my two year old daughter as we learn the alphabet. This one was an instant winner because the pictures are beautiful and look so appealing, and I had all the ingredients on hand! I followed the recipe completely and after reading the comments I decided to stick the dough in the fridge for about twenty minutes. For some reason it was still pretty sticky even after so I wonder if it had to do with my butter being too warm. Either way, it did not take away from how awesomely delicious these cookies were or how well they cooked up. Theyre soft and chewy with a little crisp and the perfect touch of lemon. Everyone in this house ate them so I can’t attest to how well they freeze but I would imagine they’d be just fine if stored properly. Thanks so much for sharing this!
I have frozen these and they are perfect
Thank you for the recipes! I tried a different cookie recipe, and it was a big hit!
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but would it work if I used cookie cutters to create fun shapes? Or would it change the texture and chew too much from the original cookie (since I assume I’d have to roll out the dough and chill it first)?
Yes, I think so. You would have to roll it and chill it first, but I bet it would work since these cookies needed to be flattened or they ended up retaining pretty much the shape they had when dropped on the cookie sheet. Just don’t play with the dough too much and when you are mixing the dry and the wet ingredients together, fold them together rather than mix it too much.
I’ve made these several times, they are sooo good.
I like to roll and freeze the dough, and toss them in the oven when I want a quick treat. They work well for that.
Overall a great cookie 🙂
I doubled the amount of lemon juice and zest and it still wasn’t that lemony. Can’t imagine the original recipe.
I halved the recipe but added 1 whole lemon + 2 lemons zest. It was closer to the lemony flavor that I enjoy but slightly altered the cookie texture. I too am wondering how to enchance the flavor while keeping the texture… maybe lemon extract?
I need 6 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange. Will this recipe make that many?
I made 64 cookies from 1 Tbs (rounded) dough. Don’t just drop them onto the cookie sheet, they won’t spread. I ended up making balls, then flattened them out and dipped them in sugar
Hi there. I am making these for a dairy-free friend. Do you think vegan butter will suffice? Thank you!
Hi Morgan! What a nice friend you are! I think it should work just fine. I haven’t tested this recipe will vegan butter but I would suggest making sure it is chilled and it should work out well. Good luck!
YES!!! I used soy free vegan earth balance butter (I can’t have soy, but there are other earth balance brand choices) AND flax eggs instead of regular eggs and also gluten free flour instead of regular and these ARE THE BOMB!!! Will make large dough batch to freeze and cook fresh handfuls ‘as needed’ – LOL
I refrigerated my dough because it was feeling a but soft, maybe for about 10-20 mins. I ended up having to cook for 5-6 mins extra to get the dough to cook all the way.
Made these yesterday and they were awesome! I did, however, modify a bit by adding 1/2-3/4 tablespoon of lemon extract after step 3 (I made the mistake of measuring over the bowl and the 1/2tbspn overflowed, so I can only estimate how much actually made it in lol). I also had some extra batter, so I grabbed a mini cupcake tin, filled the cups about halfway with batter, then smooshed a raspberry on to the top for a ‘thumbprint’-esque cookie. These needed an extra minute or two in the oven and the centers surrounding the raspberry stayed gooey 🙂
Next time I think I’ll add some toasted coconut flakes to the tops or a raspberry glaze… Thanks for the recipe!
My daughter made these but we didn’t have any lemon so we just made it a regular sugar cookie, normally I don’t care for sugar cookies unless they have a ton of sweet icing on them,,,, BUT they were sooooo good i can only imagine how good they are with lemon!! I told her how good the texture and chewiness in the middle is and crispy outside the edges, I sounded like good ole Mary Berry. This is going in my recipe book,, and probably won’t be the last from skimming through your others! Thanks!!