Soft and Chewy Lemon Cookies — 🍋👏🏻 Packed with big, bold lemon flavor for all you lemon lovers! They’re soft, chewy and not at all cakey!
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Best Lemon Cookies EVER!
If you like lemon, you’re going to love these cookies. They’re soft, chewy, and packed with bold lemon flavor.
These easy lemon cookies pack a powerful lemon punch, they’re soft and dense rather than cakey, they’re thick enough to sink your teeth into, and I love that they’re crinkly.
For robust lemon flavor, I used lemon three ways: extract, zest, and juice. If you wanted to intensify that, glaze them and sprinkle with zest. I didn’t find it necessary, but you may.
Although there’s plenty of intense lemon flavor, the cookies are sweet enough that you’ll keep going back for one more. And one more. Good thing it’s a small batch recipe that makes one dozen.
Ingredients in Lemon Cookies
To make this easy recipe for lemon cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Egg
- Lemon extract
- Lemon juice and zest
- Honey
- Yellow food coloring (optional)
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Salt
- Baking soda
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Lemon Cookies
My daughter is a lemon fan like no one else. She eats lemon wedges like they’re orange wedges and reaches into water glasses for the lemon and helps herself. She’s loved these and asked when I’m making them again — high approval from my little lemon connoisseur!
Here’s an overview of how the soft lemon cookies are prepared:
- Cream together the butter, sugars, egg, and lemon extract.
- Add in the lemon zest, honey, and optional food coloring, followed by the dry ingredients.
- Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop the cookie dough into balls and chill for at least 3 hours.
- Once the cookie dough has chilled, bake until the edges have set and the tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center.
- Let these lemon cookies cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
Recipe Tips
The yellow food coloring is totally optional. I used 1 teaspoon gel food coloring; add drops or gel to desired shade. One teaspoon gel makes the batter quite yellow, but it mellows slightly after adding the dry ingredients.
Be sure to add the lemon juice directly on top of the baking soda. It will bubble and foam, which means the baking soda has been activated and this is good — if your baking soda doesn’t bubble, it’s old and expired.
Don’t try to swap out the lemon juice for lemon extract or vice versa. You need both! When comparing lemon juice vs lemon extract, lemon juice has a less concentrated lemon flavor and is very acidic whereas lemon extract has a very potent lemon flavor. I like to use both for extra lemon flavor and freshness.
Recipe FAQs
To keep the cookies soft and dense, there’s a tablespoon of honey in the dough. Honey is hydroscopic (attracts water) so it helps the cookies stay softer, moister, and denser without turning cakey.
The 2 teaspoons of cornstarch help keep cookies softbatch-style soft. I’ve got 20 other cornstarch cookie recipes showcasing what a great little trick it is.
No, the cornstarch is what makes the lemon cookies so soft and chewy.
If you want to glaze the tops of these chewy lemon cookies, I’d recommend making my Glazed Cream Cheese Lemon Cookies instead. They’re super thick, so they can handle a healthy drizzle of lemon glaze.
No, you must use actual lemon extract to make these homemade lemon cookies. Do NOT use lemon oil and lemon extract interchangeably because oil is much more potent and intense.
Also, do NOT add extra lemon juice and omit the lemon extract. Lemon juice isn’t as strong in flavor and because it’s acidic it may alter the texture of the cookie dough.
Yes, you MUST chill the dough for a minimum of 3 hours. Do not bake with unchilled dough because the cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and will be more prone to spreading.
Yes, simply double all the ingredients.
Storage Instructions
Note that these soft lemon cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Can I Freeze the Raw Cookie Dough?
Yes! Roll the dough into balls and freeze. You can bake them straight from frozen, no need to thaw first!
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Soft and Chewy Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon lemon extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon honey
- yellow food coloring, optional and as desired
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- confectioners’ sugar for dusting or lemon glaze + lemon zest, optional
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, sugars, egg, lemon extract, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, light, fluffy, and well combined, about 4 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the lemon zest, honey, optional food coloring, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. I used 1 teaspoon gel food coloring; add drops or gel to desired shade. One teaspoon gel makes the batter quite yellow but it mellows slightly after adding the dry ingredients.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour, cornstarch, optional salt, and baking soda (keep the baking soda in a nice little mound rather than sprinkling it).
- Add the lemon juice directly on top of the baking soda. It will bubble and foam, which means the baking soda has been activated and this is good; if your soda doesn’t bubble it’s old and expired. Beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 12 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake or undersides could become too browned. Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
- Optionally, dust with confectioners’ sugar. Or, for increased lemon intensity, make the lemon glaze and then sprinkle with additional lemon zest.
Video
Notes
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Originally posted on August 25, 2014 and reposted on June 24, 2020 with updated text.
cornstarch 2 teaspons or 2 tablespoons,your recipe calls fot teaspoons but your coments call for tablespoons big difference
Corrected, and it’s teaspoons! Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I was craving lemon cookies and ended up stumbling across your site. I am so thankful, because those lemon cookies sound amazing! I can’t wait to bake them and start browsing through all of your other recipes because just the related recipes alone have me excited for all that I’ll find here! :)
I baked these tonight and they did not turn out soft and chewy. I let them sit in my fridge for 3 hours then baked for ten (cooled for ten on the baking sheet), but they were flat and still underbaked. Followed your directions…Did I miss something? Let me know!! Thanks!
Seriously these cookies are amazing!!! All the familly love them and habitualy they don’t like lemon. I will make this recipe often for me when i work in my truck for the week and for my two little boys. Thank you for the idea.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
How necessary is the lemon extract? I have none on hand but think these would be a hit in my house!
If you don’t use it, you won’t have as much lemony flavor.
Oh I have to disagree with you, Averie :) on flax/chia eggs versus real eggs when there’s only one needed. I never expect to replicate a recipe exactly when converting it into a vegan version. I also never use white flour. I like to make healthy everything and usually “butcher” the original recipe with all my substitutions, lol. I’m up for the challenge of making your recipe a YUMMY vegan one. I’m just glad I found somewhere to begin. I’m sure it’s a yummy regular recipe. I’ll never know though :)
I never expect to replicate a recipe exactly when converting it into a vegan version. <--- good, because some people do, and then they're disappointed or the recipe fails and they're shocked. I've lived my entire life either vegan or vegetarian and am extremely familiar with vegan baking, which is why I said what I said, knowing this dough base that I created for the cookies and how it is when working with it. Sometimes you really don't know how a dough is going to behave until you're staring at it in your mixing bowl (as opposed to reading about it). Let's just say I think it'll be trickier than many but not impossible. Enjoy your experiments!
I literally went straight to my kitchen after your second reply, lol. I love fiddling with recipes and even had success turning this one into a 100% whole grain, vegan version! My first pan is out of the oven and more are baking as I write this. I didn’t use as much lemon extract or zest because I was afraid they’d be too lemony but will definitely use more next time. I’ve never done a chilled cookie dough, how easy to simply slice and bake fresh ones as they’re eaten! Thanks for the inspiration and for saying I’d have trouble doing it, lol. I’m like a bull, just wave that red flag in front of me. . . . and I have to rise up to meet the challenge! :)
I’ve been looking for a good lemon cookie recipe for a while now. Pinned!
Thanks for pinning and hope you enjoy them. They’re a fave of mine!
With how many recipes your daughter has taste tested between 2 cookbooks and countless years of blogging, that’s such high praise that she asked you to make them again!! They must be the best of the best. :) My brother would totally get a kick out of them too. He loves anything lemon, and he only ever comments on my blog when I post a lemon recipe. With how much he loves soft and chewy cookies, the entire batch wouldn’t last more than 10 minutes in his apartment!
I’m not the biggest fan of cookies, but these sort of awesome recipes make me into a total cookie monster! I tried to prepare the lemon cookies by following your instructions and the result turned out to be pretty nice! I like health-friendly lemon pastries, because everything with this fruit is rather refreshing! I’m making these treats again, hopefully they’ll be even better than the first time, maybe with 2 tbsp of honey, so they can be a little more sweet and soft :)
Tried these today and they are good! I didn’t have any real lemons, so I didn’t use lemon zest, which I think would have made the lemon flavor more intense–but nobody seemed to be complaining around here. :) Next time I need to have my kids help me, as watching the lemon juice and baking soda bubble up would be fun for them.
Thanks for trying them and “watching the lemon juice and baking soda bubble up would be fun for them” = I agree! I thought the same thing when I was mixing up the dough at 2am after my daughter was in bed so that it could chill for about 6 hours before I baked and photographed them!
I am obsessed with everything citrus (lemon and lime more specifically). These look soo delicious.
xo Amanda
https://theluxelion.blogspot.com
Replace eggs with what to make vegan?
Haven’t tried it so not sure.
I was wondering how to make these vegan myself. You’d have to also replace the butter and probably the granulated sugar as most refined sugars are processed with bone char. . . . . I’m pondering the situation and will most likely give a vegan version a try. Once I decide what to use! :) Replacing the egg is easy; a flax “egg” or a chia “egg”. I’m obsessed with lemon desserts lately. I haven’t read all the comments to see if anyone else has tried a vegan lemon cookie.
I will be honest, there are lots of cookies that I think would be fairly easy to veganize, but…this isn’t one. It’s a runnier, looser dough because of the lemon juice and not having a real egg to truly bind the ingredients (not just add fluff/volume like a chia/flax egg would), it could be a little tricky. That said, it can be done but it may take a couple rounds to get the ratios right.
Love that triple hit of lemon, these look like the perfect lemon cookies!
Yum these look amazing! Thanks for the honey tip I never knew that. Excited to try it out in some cookie recipes going forward. Pinned!
Thanks for pinning and glad my random factoids come in handy :)
Seriously, lemon desserts are my favorite, love them way more than chocolate, I know, not normal. I think, well, I know that I’d eat all dozen of these cookies. And, I am so glad someone else dislikes cakey cookies!! gooey and undercooked, that’s what I want!!
Gooey, soft, and totally lemony – I think you’d love these :)
I am a lemon extract junkie. I’m a sucker for lemon desserts in general and lemon extract definitely intensifies things sufficiently for my liking!! :) I have a particular soft spot for lemon cookies. I no longer live in San Francisco, but the best lemon cookie I ever had was from a little cafe there. Ate one almost daily. I will *definitely* be trying these! Thank you!
If you try these, LMK how they compare to the cafe in San Fran!