Soft Baked Lemon Cookies + Video
These lemon cookies are soft baked and have plenty of lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract throughout for a delicious lemon treat!
Y’all know I’m addicted to all things citrus. I’ve forgone my lime addiction for now, and switched over to lemons and let me tell you, these lemon cookies are simple and even “plain” looking, but that says nothing about how they burst with lemon flavor!
I’ve covered all the lemon flavors that I could: zest, juice, AND extract! It creates one bright, lemony cookie!
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And don’t even get me started on how soft these cookies are! Thick, chewy, soft, lemony goodness! I’m ready to make them in lime too! MMM!!!
Soft Baked Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
- 10 Tbsp (141 g) butter
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- zest of 2 lemons, (about 1 Tbsp lemon zest)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, (about ½ lemon)
- 1 ½ tsp pure lemon extract
- 5 drops yellow food coloring
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour, (stir, spoon & level)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup (30 g) powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Add the egg, egg yolk, lemon juice, lemon extract, and yellow food coloring. Mix thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until incorporated, scraping the bowl as necessary.
- Scoop 1½ Tbsp sized cookie dough balls and roll them in a bowl with ¼ cup powdered sugar. Place cookies on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 9 to 10 minutes. Store cookies in an airtight container or plastic bag up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
Did you make this?
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Great, thanks.
I made these yesterday, and they were very yummy. I put one batch on a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat, and one on parchment paper. The cookies on the parchment paper spread more (in a good way). I didn’t have lemon extract so I added a bit more lemon juice and zest. They weren’t quite as tart as I wanted, so I finished them with a glaze of lemon juice & a mix of ultrafine sugar and powdered sugar. It did the trick! It was a little thin, so it soaked nicely into the cookies without making them soggy/damp. Overall a success!! I brought them to a July 4 dinner last night and received several compliments and a request for the recipe.
Thanks for sharing your experience Trixie! Glad you were able to alter the recipe with what you had on hand!
Hi Amber. These sound so good. I’m going to make them tonight with lemons from my lemon tree!
One question though… the cookies in your video are more “smooshed” looking than the cookies in the pictures on the blog. Did the video cookies get pressed down before or after baking?
You actually shouldn’t have to press the cookies at all. I don’t but if you run into problems, dip the bottom of a cup in powdered sugar and press them halfway before baking. I hired out that particular video, so that’s why they look slightly different than the pictures. Good luck and enjoy!
Can you use lemon juice
For sure! I almost always have a bottle of lemon juice in my fridge at all times. I do love the addition of fresh lemon zest, but it will still work fine without it. Maybe do 2 tsp of lemon extract if you don’t use zest for that added punch of flavor.
Can you double the recipe, if yes, how?
For sure. Just double (x2) all the ingredients. So, 20 Tbsp butter is 2 1/2 sticks or 1 1/4 cups. Everything else should be fairly simple to double.
Ok thank you. I’ve learned the hard way that doubling a recipe can mess it up.
These stayed in a ball and didn’t flatten
That’s strange. I’m sorry they didn’t spread for you. In the future, you can always use the bottom of a glass dipped in powdered sugar to flatten them before baking if you run into that problem again.
My daughter loves anything lemon. I made these last year at Christmas and about 5 times during the year. She loved them!!!!! I did add additional zest just for my daughter. I did use the recipe for the base for a fruit tart….rolled the dough, placed in a tart pan, baked, added lemon curd and fruit and baked a few more minutes. What a great dessert!!!!
That sounds amazing! What a fun way to use this recipe!
Is it ok to use self rising flour instead of all purpose and baking soda?
I’ve never used self rising flour, so I’m not sure if it would work out okay or not. Sorry!
Just finished trying this recipe, turned out really good. I changed the quantities because I only wanted about half of what your recipe was making. So half butter, half sugar, half flour, half baking powder, but the same amount of eggs, zest and juice of one lemon instead of the extract and no food coloring.
I used the egg white I had left to make meringue that I put on top of the baked cookies and broiled for 3 min. It make to cookies look even classier!
Meringue on top! That’s a fun idea! Thanks for sharing!
do you need the paddles or will just the beaters do
Just be sure your butter is soft so it doesn’t break your beaters.
Oh.my.yum!!!!! Words.fail.me…
Add a little lemon-powdered sugar-half and half frosting and you have a recipe for being sick all night because I ate WAY more than I would EVER admit!
Too bad my husband and kids came in…I could have eaten the whole batch!!!!
Great recipe! Awesome job!!
Well, I’m sorry you ate too many, but if you enjoyed them that much, I’m glad too. 🙂 Thanks for your feedback Lesa!