Soft Baked Lemon Cookies + Video
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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!
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
These lemon cookies are soft baked and have plenty of lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract throughout for a delicious lemon treat!
Ingredients
- 10 Tbsp butter
- 1 cup sugar
- zest of 2 lemons (about 1 Tbsp lemon zest)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
- 1 1/2 tsp pure lemon extract
- 5 drops yellow food coloring
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup 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.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Recipe altered from Cooking Classy
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Welcome!
Hi, I’m Amber! I am a culinary graduate and dessert lover! This is where I share my favorite sweet and savory recipes alongside my knowledge and skills as a culinary graduate. I hope you find something you like!
108 Comments on “Soft Baked Lemon Cookies + Video”
I have to make these cookies several times a week from my reserve. I had to double the batch because too many people beg me for them. Yes, they are that great! This cookies recipe is in my top 2 best cookie recipe ever list. It is number 1! As a matter of fact, i am making another big batch right now. I have found that when you make the dough a few days ahead before you bake them, it is even better.
Wow! What a compliment! Thank you so much! I’m so glad you and your friends enjoying them. I’ll have to try making the dough ahead like you suggest.
I made these last night. Added some white chocolate chips to the batter. Looked perfect. Dough tasted wonderfully lemony. But the cookies didn’t bake long enough…raw in the middle, even after 15 minutes of baking. Will either up my temperature or go for 20 minutes.
Love that idea to add white chocolate chips. I’m sorry they didn’t bake all the way through. Varying ovens and elevations can make timing tricky. Thanks for sharing your experience with the recipe.
I made these today for my neighbors. I saved one for my husband and he asked if i had more. We are both lovers of anything lemon. These have a wonderful lemon tang and we will be making them often. Delicious!
I’m glad you found these cookies full of lemon flavor. Thanks for your review Penny!
I’m going to try this recipe using oranges instead of lemons. I’ve made these lemon cookies many times, they are amazing. I do the powdered sugar after they’ve cool. I lay them on paper towels and lightly spritz with water about 6 at a time and use a handheld strainer to dust the powdered sugar on top, the powdered sugar stays on the cookie and it doesn’t melt off. I’ll let you know how the orange ones turn out. 🍊🍊🍪🍪
Nice tip! Thanks for sharing Cindi! Can’t wait to hear how it goes with oranges!
Hello Amber,
The orange cookies turned out great. I’ve made them quite a few times., everyone loves them. The only thing I didn’t do was to try to mix colors to get orange..Since the dough is yellow, I just added red food coloring to the dough, 1 drop at a time, I used 5 drops. They were very pretty. My daughter wants me to try grapefruit…which I will, I just hope they “taste” good. I’ll let you know..
I have tried so many of your recipes, you’re my go to for looking up recipes. I’m going to be making the Cinnamon Rolls for Christmasgifts this year…that’s a really good idea.
I’ll let you know about the grapefruit cookies. 🍂🍁🍂
Thanks for the update Cindi! I’ll have to try the orange version. And I’m so happy you are enjoying my recipes! Makes my heart happy!
Ok ,
Thank you so much, if ok I will post it on here if they turn out good 😊
Can you please help me with the sugar cause I have to watch my salt and sugars is there another substitute i can use in this recipe thank you
Hi Sheila, I’m guessing Splenda should be okay. I don’t usually recipe test with sugar substitutes, so just use your best judgement with the experience that you have. Good luck!
These are sooo delicious and just melt in your mouth… a recipe I’ll be using over and over!! Thank you!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe Jackie! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment with your experience.
Made this for my man for Valentine’s Day after a 3 course meal and he loved it ! Melts in the mouth ! Delightful.
Wonderful! Glad you liked them!
Has anyone ever tried adding white chocolate chips to these? Im going to make these for Thanksgiving and was curious 🙂
Should be just fine! Enjoy!
I make this cookies this morning and I have to said THEY ARE AMAZING !!!!! we love them and I will be making them for a very long time.
Thank you.
That’s great! I’m so glad you enjoyed these lemon cookies so much! Thanks for your comment Lilia!
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!
Anyone tried using a gluten-free flour?
Many thanks. Lucieruneckles@gmail.com
I haven’t, sorry Lucie, but please let us know if you try it and how it turns out!
Just delcious. Amything lemon, one of my faves this. Thanks .
Simon
I have made cake mix cookies for several years and Lemon is one of my favorites. I also finish my Lemon cookies with a glaze made with Powdered Sugar, Lemon juice and zest with some Vegetable Oil.
Very cool!
My 21 year old daughter, ho is crazy for lemon cakes/cookies/deserts, emailed this recipe to me 3 days ago.
I couldn’t wait for the weekend to come so that I will have time to bake them. Today, finally came the weekend and I did! They came out so wonderful, lemony, with great texture, great aroma, and so easy to make !
Thank you for this great recipe !
That’s great news Orit! Thanks for your comment, I’m so glad you liked them!
How many cookies does this recipe yield?
Hi Mary! This recipe makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies. I typically put the yield towards the top of the recipe card, so you know where to look for it next time. 🙂 I hope you love these!