Soft Lemon Cookies

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These super soft lemon cookies are an easy lemon sugar cookie with a soft and chewy texture, burning with fresh, tart lemon flavor!

soft lemon sugar cookies stacked on wood board.

This soft lemon cookie recipe is such a delicious variation on the classic sugar cookie. These are a simple lemon drop cookie that uses lemon juice and zest for a fresh and tart flavor. Plus, these homemade lemon sugar cookies are really easy to make.

They’re the perfect cookies for spring and summer potlucks and BBQs, and of course for holidays and Christmas cookie swaps.

Why you’ll love them:

They’re soft, moist, and chewy!
They are bursting with fresh lemon flavor!
A fun and tasty light crinkle top!
Only 15 minute prep time!

Ingredients

Lemons: This recipe calls for both lemon zest and juice. You can also add a teaspoon of lemon extract to up the lemon flavor.
All-Purpose Flour: make sure to gently spoon the flour into the measuring cup and leveled off the excess with a knife (called the spoon and level method).
Butter: this recipe calls for unsalted butter, see notes for using salted butter.

How to Make

process of making lemon cookie dough for soft cookies.

If you haven’t done so already, zest and juice the lemons. Try to only get the yellow part of the skin as the white part can be bitter. Then, just the lemon. Set aside.

In a large bowl cream the softened butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes. You can also use a standing mixer with a beater attachment.

You want the butter to be soft and pale yellow. Then, add in the egg, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. It might start to look separated or curdled, that’s totally fine!

Add in the dry ingredients of all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix until just combined, again scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to ensure everything is mixed. Do not overmix the cookie dough or the cookies won’t be soft and moist.

Note: Be sure to use the spoon and level method for the flour rather than dipping the measure cup directly into the flour.

Step 2: Chill Dough

Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour. During this time, pre-heat the oven to 350℉.

Step 3: Bake Cookies

When ready to bake, spoon or drop 1-2 tablespoon balls of cookie dough 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. If desired, sprinkle extra granulated sugar on top of the balls of cookie dough.

Tip: A small ice cream scoop is helpful for getting even sized cookies!

Bake one cookie sheet a time for 9-11 minutes until the edges start to brown. Try not to overbake to keep the cookies nice and soft. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes.

Once they’ve started to firm up move the cookies to cooling rack. Let cool and enjoy!

Fun Variations

Lemon poppy seed cookies: mix in 1 teaspoon poppy seeds with the lemon zest.
White chocolate chip lemon cookies: mix in 1 cup of white chocolate chips into the finished cookie dough before baking.

Tips aNd Tricks

When zesting, try to only get the yellow part of the lemon as the white part can be bitter.
Measure your flour correctly by weighing or using the spoon and swipe method of spooning the flour into the measure cups and swiping the excess off the top with a knife. If you dip the measuring cup directly into the flour, it packs down and you will add too much flour to your recipe.
For a more yellow cookie, add a few drops of yellow food coloring. I recommend using gel food coloring for a more concentrated color that won’t alter the consistency of the dough.
Adding extra sugar to these cookies is optional, but adds a nice texture and slight crinkle to the top of the cookies.
A small ice cream scoop makes scooping the cookie dough onto the pan really easy and creates even sized cookies.
This recipe makes about 18 cookies can easily be halved for small batches or doubled for a large batch of cookies.

baked soft lemon cookies on baking sheet.

FAQ

Can I use lemon juice instead of zest?

I don’t recommend adding additional lemon juice into the recipe as it can throw off the texture. The lemon zest is what packs the concentrated punch of lemon flavor without adding extra liquid. If you don’t have fresh lemon and/or don’t want to zest you can always use 2 tsp lemon extract instead.

Why does my dough look curdled or separated?

Because of the lemon juice, the cookie dough might start to look separated or curdled before the dry ingredients are added. This is totally normal and nothing to worry about. Just mix in the flour, and it will come together to a firm cookie dough.

Why do I need to chill the dough?

It helps to chill the dough so the cookie stay thick, soft, and chewy. If you don’t want to chill the dough the cookie will still be really soft, but they’ll be a flatter cookie with no crinkle top.

How do I get my cookies in a prefect circle?

Do you like your cookies to look picture perfect? Check out the cookie cutter hack of cookie cutter hack of turning cookies to perfect circles. Plus, it helps with the crinkle effect of the cookies!

When to serve

Similar to other lemon desserts such as lemon cheesecake bars, limoncello panna cotta, lemon posset, or classic lemon buttercream frosting, these lemon cookies are wonderful in the springtime.

But, they’re so easy to make they are the perfect cookie for after school snacks, school bake sales, summer bbqs or picnics.

And of course, similar to other cookie recipes like these French macarons, or pecan chocolate chip cookies, they’re great around the holidays for cookie swaps. And, served in cute storage containers they make great gifts!

Storing and Freezing Lemon Cookies

If you can keep from eating them, these will last up to a week in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookies for up to a month.

To freeze dough or baked cookies – place baked cookies or the ball of dough (leaving room around each cookie so they don’t stick together) on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze until hard, about an hour. Then, add to a freezer ziplock bag to store until ready to bake or eat.

For frozen dough, defrost in the fridge before baking as normal. For baked cookies, let defrost at room temperature before serving.