These lemon sugar cookies melt in your mouth and have bold lemon flavor! This recipe takes a handful of pantry ingredients and transforms them into light, fluffy, lemony goodness. Every bite makes you think of sunshine! They’re perfect anything from family gatherings to cookie trays and bake sales!
I love how the tangy flavors in fruit cookies surprise people when they bite into what looks like plain-Jane cookies. You’re going to love these sugar cookies! They’re moist, chewy, and lusciously lemony!
If life gives you lemons, let’s make lemon ricotta cookies, and lemon white chocolate chip cookies!
Grab your mixer, and let’s make some lemon cookies!
What I Love About Lemon Sugar Cookies Recipe
This cookie recipe is so versatile! It’s perfect for Christmas, summer BBQs, and anything in between! I also love their:
- The moist, chewy texture
- Intense lemon flavor
- Straight forward prep with simple ingredients
- Makes over 2 dozens
Lemon Sugar Cookies Ingredients
- butter: For sugar cookies, you cannot substitute margarine. You need good old fashioned butter for the best taste and texture!
- icing: I love these cookies without icing, but if you want to make lemon sugar cookies with icing, you can make a simple lemon glaze to top them.
- Whisk together 2 1/4 cups powder sugar, 1/2 cup lemon juice, and some lemon zest. Add more juice to make it thinner. You could also consider using a cream cheese icing with these!
- flour
- baking powder
- salt
- sugar
- eggs
- vanilla
- lemon zest
Recipe Notes
This cookie is very simple to make, but here are a few reminders!
- Chill time: To get thick, moist, chewy lemon sugar cookies , be sure to let the dough chill for at least 2 hours. Overnight is even better!
- Don’t overwork the dough: As you add the dry ingredients, stop mixing just as soon as there are no more streaks of flour. Scrape the sides and mix for one or two more rotations. That’s it! When you are rolling out the dough balls, keep the dough as cool as possible by taking it out in batches.
- Shaping: I didn’t intend for this to be a cutout cookie recipe, but if you want to try cut out lemon sugar cookies, I do think this dough will work. It might be a little soft, but as long as you don’t over handle it, keep it cool, and liberally flour your rolling pin and work surface, it should work!
How To Make Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Make the cookies: Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a mixing bowl add butter and sugar.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, vanilla, and lemon zest.
- Mix until well combined.
- Gradually add flour.
- Mix until just well incorporated.
- Refrigerate the dough and roll and use cookie cutters to cut.
- Bake and cool on a baking rack.
- Make the glaze: whisk together the confectioner’s sugar, lemon zest, and milk. Mix.
- Pour the glaze into a small ziplock. Cut off a small piece of one corner.
- Drizzle the glaze.
***See the full instructions below.
How to Store and Make Ahead
- Storing Tips: Be sure to allow the lemon zest sugar cookies to cool completely before storing them in a well-sealed container. Keep them in a cool pantry for the longest shelf life.
- How Long Can You Keep This? According to food handling guidelines, baked cookies will keep in the pantry for about 5 days. Frozen dough is good for about 2-3 months, and frozen baked cookies should last close to 6 months.
- Can You Freeze This? These lemon cookies freezes well. You can freeze the dough by rolling and flattening the dough as usual on the cookie sheet. Just stick the whole sheet in the freezer for about 2 hours. Put the frozen dough balls in a freezer bag.
- You can bake them from frozen by adding a couple of extra minutes to their bake time.
- The best way to freeze baked cookies is to individually wrap the completely cooled cookies in cling wrap and put them into a freezer container. A rigid container would be best for these cookies since they are a little bit fragile!
- Make Ahead Tips: The dough for this cookie will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days!
- Food Safety: If you’d like more info on food safety check out this link.
More Sugar Cookies Recipes…
Tis the season for Sugar Cookies Recipes! Be sure to try these!
- Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
- Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Sugar Cookie Bars
- No Chill Sugar Cookies
Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lemon Sugar Cookies
Lemon Sugar Cookies take the classic cookie to a new level with a big lemon kick! This soft, moist cookie uses simple ingredients and is so easy to make!
Servings: 36 Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar divided
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest
Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1-3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour (2 1/2 cups), baking powder (1 teaspoon), and salt (1/2 teaspoon). Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, cream together butter (3/4 cup) and sugar (1 cup) until light and fluffy. Add egg (2), vanilla (1 teaspoon), and lemon zest (1 1/2 tablespoons) and mix until combined.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour, just until incorporated (do not overmix). Flatten dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/2 inch thick and Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes. Place on baking sheet 1 inch apart.
- Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for about 7 minutes. Remove and finish cooling on a baking rack.
- When cookies are completely cooled, whisk together the confectioners' sugar (1 cup), lemon zest (1 tablespoon), and 1 tablespoon of milk, at a time, until the glaze reaches the drizzling consistency.
- Pour the glaze into a small ziplock. Cut off a small piece of one corner.
- Place cookies on a wire rack set over a sheet of foil and drizzle with glaze. Sprinkle with jimmies or colored sugar as desired. Allow cookies to sit on the rack until the glaze is fully set, about 3 hours.
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Notes
- Chill time: To get thick, moist, chewy cookies, be sure to let the dough chill for at least 2 hours. Overnight is even better!
- Don’t overwork the dough: As you add the dry ingredients, stop mixing just as soon as there are no more streaks of flour. Scrape the sides and mix for one or two more rotations. That’s it! When you are rolling out the dough balls, keep the dough as cool as possible by taking it out in batches.
- Shaping: I didn’t intend for this to be a cutout cookie recipe, but if you want to try lemon sugar cookies cut out, I do think this dough will work. It might be a little soft, but as long as you don’t over handle it, keep it cool, and liberally flour your rolling pin and work surface, it should work!
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 144kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 76mg | Potassium: 26mg | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 197IU | Calcium: 9mg
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