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!
Easy Lemon Cookie Recipe
If you like lemon, you’re going to love these cookies. They’re soft, chewy, and packed with bold lemon flavor.
I have over 100 different cookie recipes on my site but none for lemon cookies until now. Partially because most lemon cookie recipes look lackluster in the lemon flavoring department, look too cakey for my liking, or look too flat and wimpy.
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.
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.
I used two teaspoons of cornstarch, which helps keep cookies softbatch-style soft. I’ve got 20 other cornstarch cookie recipes showcasing what a great little trick it is.
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.
What’s in Lemon Cookies?
To make these soft 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
Can I Substitute the Cornstarch?
No, the cornstarch is what makes the cookies so soft and chewy.
How to Make Lemon Cookies
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 measure, 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.
Can I Glaze the Cookies?
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.
Can I Substitute the Lemon Extract?
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.
Can I Freeze the Cookie Dough?
Yes! Roll the dough into balls and freeze. You can bake them straight from frozen, no need to thaw first!
Do I Have to Chill 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.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes, simply double all the ingredients.
Tips for the BEST Lemon Cookies
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.
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.
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Soft and Chewy Lemon Cookies
These soft and chewy lemon cookies are packed with big, bold lemon flavor for all you lemon lovers! They're soft, chewy and not at all cakey!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 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.
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 Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 267Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 126mgCarbohydrates: 46gFiber: 1gSugar: 28gProtein: 3g
More Lemon Desserts:
Lemon Lemonies — Like brownies, but made with lemon and white chocolate! Dense, chewy, not cakey and packed with big, bold lemon flavor!
The BEST Lemon Bars — Classic lemon bars that pack a punch of big time lemon flavor, without being too tart or too sweet!
Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting – Soft, fluffy, moist, very lemony cupcakes from scratch! Easy one-bowl, no-mixer recipe for cupcakes that taste like they’re from a bakery.
Softbatch Glazed Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies — Big, bold lemon flavor packed into super soft cookies thanks to the cream cheese!! Tangy-sweet perfection! Lemon lovers are going to adore these easy cookies!!
Strawberry Lemonade Bars — Imagine crossing lemon bars with a strawberry pie. These easy bars taste like strawberry lemonade! Sooo good!
The Best Lemon Loaf (Better-Than-Starbucks Copycat) — It took years, but I finally recreated it!! Easy, no mixer, no cake mix, dangerously good, and SPOT ON!! You’re going to love this lemon pound cake recipe!
Lemon Olive Oil Cake — My new FAVORITE lemon dessert of all time!! Lemon zest, juice, extract, and Limoncello add so much AMAZING lemon flavor to this EASY, ridiculously moist no-mixer cake that’s unique and INCREDIBLE!!
Originally posted on August 25, 2014 and reposted on June 24, 2020 with updated text.
These cookies turned out really well and were really easy to make. However, I don’t know what size cookies you are making to only get 12 out of the whole recipe. I probably made them smaller than called for, but I still got 3 dozen ‘normal’ sized cookies out of the recipe! To only make 12, it seems like they’d have to be gigantic.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad they turned out well and were easy! My cookies really aren’t gigantic IMO, like the size of deck of cards if that was a circle, like palm size. But glad you were able to get 3 dozen out of the recipe.
Any reason why refrigerating the dough couldn’t be done in the mixing bowl before putting them on the cookie sheet? I need to make six dozen so cooling the dough in the bowl would be a lot easier than trying to fit six baking sheets in the fridge.
Unfortunately, you may end up with rock hard dough in a bowl that you’re trying to chisel out, then it crumbles, makes a mess, not ideal at all. You can also really pay close attention to just how firm it’s getting to avoid this.
You can try one batch this way, see how it works for you, and then do it my way if your way is not working well.
I chilled mine in a plastic bowl without any issues.
SOOOOO GOOD!!! what brand of lemon extract do you use? I use McCormick but the lemon favor isn’t very intense and it has a slight hint of mint after-taste which can be improved. I really like these cookies; they are so light and fluffy!!!! Thank you so much :)
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad you liked these! I tend to use my grocery store’s brand of extract because it’s half the price of the name brands and the flavor is great for me. Give that a whirl next time!
These cookies are delicious. I made them as per instructions, except that I left out the lemon extract because I did not have any. I substituted one extra tbsp of lemon juice. The flavor is great even without the extract, and the texture is delightful. I bought extract today, as I will make them again. My husband said “I think I like them even better than the choco-fudge cookies (his most favorite). Thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad they turned out great for you with extra lemon juice!
I was looking for a good lemon cookie recipe that I could turn into strawberry lemonade cookies. Boy did this hit the mark! Soft, chewy, slightly tart which evened out nicely with strawberry icing. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough lemon extract, so I put in what I had and they were still to die for. My husband, who hates any kind of lemon pastry\dessert gave them an 8 out of 10. That’s really saying something! Everyone loved them, thanks for sharing the recipe
How great to hear that everyone loved these including one particular lemon hater in your group :)
I have tired many “good” lemon cookies recipes and have not liked any of them until now! This was is a keeper because it is amazing!!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that these are your favorites and are amazing and a keeper for you!!!
Can I use 1 cup of butter in this recipe?
The recipe calls for 1/2 cup. If you use 1 cup, you need to double everything else in the recipe.
A Tablespoon of Lemon Extract seems like a lot. It’s about half a bottle. Is it supposed to be a teaspoon of lemon extract?
It is a lot but you won’t get enough flavor from a teaspoon. So a tablespoon is what I use. Of course you can try with less but for me, it doesn’t cut it.
More than a pinch of salt necessary
What is the difference in taste if salted butter is used? Would it just be saltier? Or do you think the cookies won’t taste as good?
Yes salted butter will make them saltier, don’t add the additional salt called for. If you don’t mind salty tasting food, desserts specifically, salted butter is fine then.
These are so good!!!!!!
Thanks so much!!!
Taking a cue from triple-threat gingerbread (powdered, root, & candied), I added a couple of tablespoons of candied lemon peel cubes, the kind that comes in fruitcake mix. The little bursts of flavor made this excellent recipe even more delicious.
That sounds absolutely wonderful! I need to try that!
Love this cookies. Didn’t have extract though I thought I did. So I omitted it. Didn’t add anything else. Turned out amazing, just not as lemony. Rolling in the icing sugar was good!!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved them!
Hello all! I followed the recipe exactly. I chilled the dough balls overnight. The cookies came out flatter, thinner, and definitely spread. Any suggestions? Thanks and Merry Christmas
It’s always hard to say from a far what possibly happens in someone else’s kitchen. My suggestions would be to use a cell Pat or silicone baking mat. Secondly switch your flour to King Arthur brand all purpose flour. It’s a bit more expensive but it has a slightly higher gluten percentage which prevents spreading. Finally, check to make sure your leavener is not expired
Baking soda cannot expire. It is absolutely chemically stable.
When you add the lemon juice directly to the soda they neutralize each other. The acid of the lemon juice reacts with the soda making carbon dioxide gas in the process (the bubbles). What this means is that you’ve made the lemon juice less sour (so this might be desirable) but you’ve also completely destroyed the leavening power of the soda. Since you’re making cookies, you don’t really need much leavening anyway. You can test this by making the same recipe without any soda. The cookies will be more sour, and they might taste a bit less intense because there’s less sodium, but otherwise be reasonable cookies.
Every website and research I’ve ever done does indicate that baking soda CAN expire, and at the very least, lose its potency. If you Google “does baking soda expire” you will get about a billion affirmative responses to that end. Perhaps all of those are wrong? I appreciate you sharing your info though.
Love all of these lemony recipes, can’t wait to try them! Do you think it would be possible to decorate these with sugar cookie icing or would they be too textured or absorbent?
They do have some texture and my guess is they are absorbent but you could always give it a try with a test batch and see how it goes.
Delicious! I made them with the boy I babysit because we love to bake together and try new things. They came out really good! We both loved them. Baked exactly as recipe stated! Only put in fridge for 45 minutes. I love lemon so this was a win for me.
Glad you both loved them!
This recipe is amazing! My family even agrees with me!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that you and your family love these!
Wow! I made a batch that I didn’t get to try last week for a care package, so I made a second batch for my lemon-loving mother today and they are amazing! I can’t believe I’ve never used honey or cornstarch in cookies before. I’m re-thinking every cookie recipe I have now. I’m going to make your Nutella cookies next. I’m excited to bake again, so thank you!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved these! I know, honey isn’t a common one in cookies but for those that I have used it in, always so good. Cornstarch always adds just that extra bit of softness that I adore too! Enjoy the Nutella cookies!
These are delicious! They. And out perfect. Thank you!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they are delicious and perfect!
I don’t know what happened, but my cookies are huge. Anyway, my question is, how firm should the dough be and will it still be sticky when you are creating the mounds? At any rate, they are delicious!
Not too sticky, not too firm. If it’s dry and really firm, it’s overfloured. If it’s sticky and on the limper side, it could use more flour.
Huge…well likely you made pretty big mounds of dough then but hey why not!
I personally didn’t think it was as ‘lemony’ as implied…what should be added to make it more zesty with that lemon tartness? Lemon extract, real lemon juice or lemon zest??
Either zest or extract (try another brand, they vary a lot) – not juice, it will throw off all the ratios!
These were the best cookies I’ve ever tasted!! I would love to make a batch for my diabetic friend. Has anyone switched out the flour for a lower carb substitute?
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they’re the best cookie you’ve ever tasted! I have never altered the ingredients or deviated from how I wrote the recipe so I really can’t give any suggestions.
I knew these cookies would be outstanding, so I doubled the batch right away. I whipped them. Yesterday afternoon and baked them up this evening for dessert. They did not disappoint!They have an intense lemon flavour that I adore! I will toss dough balls in the freezer for later!Thanks Averie for the delicious recipe (as usual!)
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad to hear you knew these would be outstanding and made a double batch right off the bat!
I made this for my Daughter’s Birthday. She absolutely loved it and my friend’s child also, and I made it twice in that day ^^. Thanks for sharing this recipe
I am glad your daughter loved these (my bday is coming up too!) and that they were SUCH a hit, that you made them again in the same day!
Hi! I was thinking of making these into an ice cream sandwich, can you eat it straight from the freezer with out it being a hockey puck ? Will it sit well with the ice cream?
I have never eaten one of these cookies frozen so can’t say what the texture will be like. I don’t think they will be rock hard but it’s hard to say for sure.
So delicious about to make a second batch . This time I’m going to add some macadamia’s for some crunch but also yummy as they are 💕
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad you’re about to make a second batch!
Why the Honey?
To help with the texture and add a bit of sweetness different from regular sugar.
Anybody add lime zest to give it a lemon lime flavor?
I would do lemon zest rather than lime but if you’re up for experimentation both could/would likely work.
These seem like they will be big cookies. Can I cook all 12 on one sheet or shouldnI separate? They are chilling right now. Thanks.
Separate sheets! Step 7 I address this.
These are absolutely amazing! I bake them for the nurses at my husband’s shift at the hospital and they absolutely loved them.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that they’re amazing and how kind of you to bake for the nurses :)
These are delicious. I tried a couple without any sugar coating or glaze & they tasted a little plain. Then, finished the batch with the simple powdered sugar & lemon juice glaze, which made the lemon flavor stand out and the cookies just perfect! Wonderful cookies- even my non-lemon loving husband thought they were sooo good.
I really like chewy cookies – the texture of soft cookies is incredible and makes me want to make more and more of them. Really like that you’ve added some lemony flavor here – definitely a hit!
I have to make cookies for this weekend for a family gathering and came across this recipe. Looks great and I’m excited to try it!
I made this using one of our enormous lemons from our tree. I didn’t vary from the recipe and these turned out perfectly! Light and delicious with the lemon flavor really coming through! A definite keeper.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that you could use your homegrown lemons! I have a lemon tree as well but it currently gives off about 4 lemons annually lol.
Ok Avery….here it is…..I have tried your Lemon loaf (a.k.a Starbucks knockoff) and I have to tell you it was amazing. I have looked at some of the other recipes and they look really yum too. My daughter is planning on making these lemon cookies for her childrens’ lemonaide stand on the weekend so I will let you know how they turn out, but I am assuming that they will be super yumo.
I am glad to hear it was amazing and I hope these cookies turn out just as well for you! LMK how things go!
Hi! Di you have any substitution for cornstarch? Thanks!
No I don’t.
What if I put the cookies in the oven without chilling them, are they still okay to be eaten?
Yes of course you can eat them. I just fear they will spread.
I made the cookies and they looked fine but after cooling but when I bit into it it was raw and very undercooked. I cooked it for a total of 20 afterwards and they were fine. I think 12 cookies is too little for this much dough! 15 would work better because the cookies were too big for only being cooked for 10 minuets. Other than that they tasted amazing.
Hi, Averie! I’m planning to make a double batch of these this weekend so I can send half to my Dad and freeze the other half. What are the instructions for baking the cookies after they are frozen? Do they need to thaw first? Or can they be baked straight from the freezer (adding a minute or two to the baking time)? Thanks!
Or can they be baked straight from the freezer (adding a minute or two to the baking time) <--- YES THIS! Enjoy!
Delicious! And because I feel the need to gild every darned lily, I added a single dark chocolate chip to the center of each cookie before glazing. Tastes great and looks adorable! Once again, Averie, your recipes are awesome
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these turned out delicious for you!
SO chewy. I added a smidge extra of… well, all the lemony components lol. They turned out great! I’ve never used corn starch or honey in cookies before, but I will definitely be integrating them into other baking. So underrated
Thanks for the five star review and glad you loved these and now know the wonders of cornstarch in baking!
This recipe was great. I missed the part about chilling the dough but they still came out great. We will definitely make them again…and again.
Thanks for the five star review and glad you will make them again and again, and that not chilling the dough didn’t effect them negatively!
Made these this afternoon because we have an abundance of lemons on our trees. Delivered them to friends and neighbors in our current lockdown situation. I actually put a single blueberry in the middle of each one and drizzled them with glaze. They were a huge hit! I will be making them again, maybe tomorrow, for more neighbors. Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad they were a huge hit! I have a lemon tree in my yard but it’s tiny. Maybe in 20 years it will be where yours is at :) I am sure your neighbors absolutely adored your kindness!
Could you please tell me the recipe with the exact grams that we need from each product? It would help me if you told me especially how many grams of butter you mean by 1/2 cup 😂 thanks in advance!
I would use a conversion with an online calculator tool. I don’t write my recipes in grams.
1/2 c butter is 113 grams. I Googled that, very easy.
Hi, am super interested to try this out but can I substitute the butter for oil? And if so, how much? Thanks!
I have never made these cookies with oil so not sure how that would work out. I suggest making with butter for best results.
These are tasty, but not as strong with lemon flavor as I had hoped. Not bad, but not my favorite recipe for lemon cookies.
This is my second time for making these. The first time they turned out perfect! This time I added 1/2 tsp yellow food coloring but it turned the dough orange. The dough itself was extremely wet this time. Not sure why since I followed the recipe. The dough was in the frig overnight and after baking they were flat and orange. I’ll try one more time without the food coloring but don’t think that would have made the difference with the wet dough.
I don’t think the food coloring would have made the difference either. However, you never know.
Extremely wet dough is usually a result of lack of flour. If the dough was tacky, sticky, moist, it needed more flour. From day to day, flour amounts can vary given the humidity in the air. Generally not hugely in a batch of cookies like this, maybe 1/4 cup, but use your judgment and if it seems to need more flour, add it.
That is the thing about baking…sometimes things turn out perfectly but other times you swear you did the same thing, but the results are not the same. Hopefully it was the food coloring and now you can just avoid it.
a GF of mine just made these and raved about them. Could you double the recipe or does that throw off the ratios? thanks; i look forward to making these!
If you double everything in the recipe, yes you can make a double batch.
I have never made this recipe with GF flour so cannot speak to results on that.
When Norsearcher states “a GF of mine”, doesn’t this mean girlfriend and not a type of flour?
I don’t know what/where you are referring to.
If you are asking about gluten free options, I have never tried and have only made the recipe with all-purpose flour.
These. cookies were awesome, they were sooo delicious. I made this recipe today and i didnt read the part that said it should be in the fridge for 3 hours and i didnt have time to wait so i made them straight away and i didnt have any problems, they were perfect. I decided to leave them for exactly 10 minutes, no more, and that was a very good choice because they are the perfect chewiness, they are soft but crispy on the sides- amazing!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they were awesome, even without chilling them!
Yes, for sure ! I am fully aware of what could flatten the cookies. I am under strict orders to not change a thing ! But thank you for your input. I don’t think you could add the drizzle if they were flat. I am sure they would be just as delicious flat and I just may try that one day….. if I am allowed. Lol
Hahah!! Well….stick to your the orders your family gave you since they were a big hit as-is! :)
This is the most amazing recipe ! They were such a hit my family could barely contain themselves from eating them all at one sitting !Now….. it shows that the cookies do spread out. Mine stayed in mounds. But I have to say… it was NOT a problem. They were so soft and chewy. I made a lemon drizzle for on top. 3 days later… they were still soft and the lemon drizzle was still so lemony but it had become sweeter. Still so so lemony… but the lemon got sweeter. If there are 5 stars for this recipe? I give you 7 !! Thank you so much for a fantastic recipe.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they turned out amazing and your family loved them!
As for the staying in mounds, not that it sounds like it was a big deal to you, but you could flatten them more before baking, cut back on the flour by about 2-3 tbsp (stiffer dough with more flour in it doesn’t spread as easily and looser dough spreads more), or possibly don’t chill for more than 30-60 mins. One of those tricks should do the trick!
I did everything right I double checked, lol. My cookies didMy flatten at all. They are just domes…?
It could possibly happen if you added just a bit too much flour. Dough that is slightly over floured doesn’t tend to spread. And even if you measured totally correctly, from climate to climate, oven to oven, brand of flour to other brands of flour, there can be just enough variance to change the results.
Or you could flatten your mounds halfway down or more than halfway down for the future since you realize they hardly spread.
This was so yummy. My family loved them. Thank you for a great recipe.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad your family loved these!
You have in your lemon cookie recipe to refigerate cookies for 3 hours or 5 days, why? What does referigerating do to the dough?
Prevent it from spreading.
3 hours minimum, or UP TO 5 days.
These are amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I followed exactly, only I used 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder instead of food colouring and this worked out great. And I made them smaller and cut the bake time to 8 minutes. They were perfect on one of my baking trays, though my two other trays brown the bottoms to dark at 8 minutes. So I played around with the bake time, 6 minutes and it was perfect.
Thanks for the 5 star review and great to hear that a bit of turmeric turned out great for the coloring!
With cookies, I find that it’s best to bake one tray at a time, in the middle rack, and that other racks tend to have less desirable results.
made these for work and they were awesome I put the lemon frosting on them going make them for the family for thanksgiving they are the best cookies
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that they were awesome and that you’re going to make them again for Thanksgiving!
Made this recipe and it was very good. Crunchy outside and soft inside. I did have to tweak it a bit as I did not have any lemon zest, lemon extract nor honey. In the place of those missing ingredients: for the lemon zest, I mixed in unsweetened lemon powder into the sugar mix until it was nice and lemony / light corn syrup for the honey and vanilla extract for the lemon extract. All the substituted ingredients did not at all take away from the lemon flavor of the cookie. I used a regular size ice cream scooper and scooped the dough into a shallow muffin pan ( as you indicated that the dough spreads). I made a glaze of 1/2 cup powdered sugar and added enough fresh squeezed lemon juice till it was liquid and glazed the cookies. Thanks for this recipe.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad you were able to customize the recipe to suit what you had!
Just wondering…are these cookies better freshly made or baked a day ahead? Everybody seems so excited to try this recipe so they eat them right away and enjoy them immensely. Opinions? My dough is made and chilled. Just an FYI: The Chunky Chef gave credit to your recipes for an awesome lemon square recipe. I thought the squares were extra super perfect the day after and the day after that which is why I ask.
Freshly baked for the cookies.
Glad you loved my lemon bar recipe!
What type of flour? Cake or all purpose? Sorry I’m new to baking
all purpose
Make them without the glaze and they’re awesome! Next time I’ll make the glaze for sure to give them that extra zing. May even make a key lime glaze to see how that goes.
This will be made again, 100%
A key lime glaze sounds delicious!
Glad you loved the cookies and will make them again!
Having trouble finding how long to cook them. At 350, I did for 13 minutes and they still look like dough- not just the middle: on the edges! I’m turning up to 400 and going to try another 4 mins. Do they continue to cook on the tray?
Any idea if I did something wrong? I didn’t sub anything! Usually our oven runs hot and I have to reduce the time for other cookie recipes I have.
I wouldn’t have increased the temp, would have simply baked longer. An increased temp will cause exterior burning, whereas extra time at a lower temp will provide a more even doneness. All ovens vary, bake until done in yours.
Thanks. They did get a big browned around the edges, so next time I’ll just bake longer as you suggested. They turned out delicious and our guests enjoyed them too! I especially loved them with the lemon glaze on top!! Thanks for the nice, chewy, lemony recipe! :)
Ok glad that your guests still enjoyed them and that you will make them again! Just bake them a bit longer, as necessary until done, that’s all :)
Does this recipe make only 12 cookies?
If you make them 1/4 cup each like I do, yes. You can always make them smaller.
I’m going to try this. Can I double the recipe? Or should I just play safe and bake one batch at a time because if I double I would be adding a lot of cornstarch. I would love to bake some for our family reunion. Thanks
I would try it both ways…just a single batch first and then you could try doubling it. Cookies generally double well, but I haven’t personally tried with these.
Wow, these were so gooey and flavorful! I followed it exactly but I used bread flour instead cuz I ran out of normal flour. But everyone in my family loved them, even my picky mom!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these were a hit with the whole family!
W-w-wow! These are a-MAZ-zing! The cornstarch and honey? Genius! Thank you for sharing the recipe and for your attention to detail. We L♡VE them!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they turned out amazing!
I made them and they were delicious, however, they ended up being cakey, rather than chewy. What could I have done wrong?
Over-added the baking soda and/or flour; overbaked. Those would be my guesses. Use a lighter hand next time when measuring and bake a minute or two less and that should do the trick I am guessing.
This has become my favorite! I have to give them away so I don’t eat entire batch. Substitute orange for lemons and added lightly chopped craisins for an orange cranberry cookie that’s just as wonderful!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that you love these so much! And I love the twist that you do with them, sounds delicious.
These are AMAZING! I always love and appreciate your precise instructions. Perfect results every time!Such epic lemony flavour!!! omg! Thanks for the recipe!
Do you know if these freeze well, either before or after baking? Thanks!
I would just freeze the prepared dough balls and then bake them off when you are ready for cookies.
When baking from frozen – do you add baking time, or does the dough need to thaw first?
I would just add a minute or two, no need to wait for them to thaw before baking.
These are the BEST lemon cookies I’ve ever tried! Thanks for the great recipe. It was a winner with all the crew here at home! The best part is learning about the use of Cornstarch!!
Glad to hear they’re the best lemon cookies you’ve ever tried and that you enjoyed the cornstarch tip!
These cookies are so lemony and fresh tasting! I will make these again and again!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad you will make them again and again!
This is an absolutely amazing recipe! The honey and cornstarch give them just the right consistency, the advice to take them out a minute too soon rather than a minute too late is spot on, and the food coloring (something I use so rarely I had to go buy it) really ties it all together. The only thing I would change is, when flattening the dough balls make the cookies lemon shaped instead of just round. Because, lemons!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad you love the recipe and that’s a fun idea to make lemon shapes!
Wonderful.
I’m glad they turned out wonderfully for you!
My daughter, the lemon dessert lover, absolutely raved about these cookies! We used a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop for smaller cookies, and they were great. I didn’t get the cute crinkly effect, but I think it’s because I didn’t flatten the cookies enough. This is now a required cookie recipe in this house!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad this is now a required recipe in your house!
Just wanted to say I love this recipe. As a person with food issues; I doubled the recipe, made with GF flour, alternative sugars and added an extra egg (to balance out the dryness of GF flour). Sometimes all these changes don’t turn out well, but these cookies turned out perfect. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad the recipe works well for you given your food challenges and the substitutions. I agree, sometimes lots of changes just, well, change a recipe for the worse but glad to hear that did not happen with this one!
It must be 12 coockies or can i make them smaller? Will they keep the texture if they r smaller?
You can make them smaller and the texture should be roughly the same.
I can’t get lemon extract where I live. Any idea on alternative? I really want to make these cookies and the lemon loaf cake.
I’m not sure what to tell you other than to order it on Amazon or some other type of website that you can get it from because for both the cookies and the bread it’s imperative and necessary. Lemon juice just will not work, it’s too acidic and will throw off the bacon chemistry.
These are some of the best cookies I have ever made, and I followed your instructions to the letter. I never would have thought of adding honey and cornstarch. They’re just beautiful! I topped them with an intensely flavored lemon buttercream. Just perfection. You’ve gained a new fan – I’m checking your site now when looking for recipes! Thanks for taking the time to be so particular! :)
Thanks for the 5 star review and the lemon buttercream sounds perfect! Thanks for the confidence to come back to my site in the future and for noticing that I am particular. In baking, that is the only way to be :)
I am good at cakes and I never believed that I can make an amazing lemon cookie as a man. This was the best and first cookie I have ever made. It is so soft, it feels like you eat a cotton candy, that much soft. I made the recipe without the lemon extract, I add extra lemon juice instead of extract. And I only used 1 tablespoon lemon zest instead of 2. I also added vanilla powder, it turns out amazing soft, vanilla lemon cookie. It leaves the tart and zest on tongue for about 10 minutes which is amazing. Thank you 5 stars, love from Turkey.
Thanks for the 5 star review and this turned out amazing for you!
We love, love, love these cookies! Soft, tart and sweet. They were gone in no time and I’m making more.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these were a hit!
These look really good, and I have fresh lemon juice and zest in the fridge, so I really want to make them! The trouble is – I don’t have lemon extract! What can I do to substitute? More zest/juice? Thanks in advance!
I would wait until you get the extract. It’s pretty critical to the lemon flavor for this recipe.
I made these and the bitterness from the lemon extract was way too strong, I would have used 1/2 the amount. The texture of the cookie was excellent. I will try again with less extract.
OMG!! These cookies were AMAZING. I am 14 yrs old and I love baking. I made these for my mom birthday. She LOVED them.They are really delicious.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved these cookies and so did your mom! Wonderful that you have a passion for baking at your age – keep it up!
looking for a cookie to add to a wedding cookie bar table….want a lemon cookie and this one looks perfect….might do a test run first though…..I use essential oils in my cooking and baking sometimes….and wonder about using lemon essential oil to get some good lemon flavor. I would still use the zest etc the recipe calls for but add that…..what do you think?
I would use lemon extract rather than essential oil, personally. Oils tend to be much stronger than extracts.
But definitely absolutely do a trial run especially since this is going to be served at a wedding. Good luck!
my family and i love these! i followed the recipe exactly and they turned out absolutely perfect!!-i have a question if you’re still available to answer. what would you suggest if i wanted them more lemony? more zest would prob work. i’d be nervous about just adding more lemon juice without offsetting the liquid. more flour?thanks in advance!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you love these! If you want more lemon flavor I would add more zest or you can try making an icing. Powdered sugar thinned out with lemon juice as necessary. I love lemon glazes/icing and feel they go a long way to really oomphing up the lemon flavor.
thanks!
I am so happy I have found this site! I made the lemon cookies and they were excellent. I was a little shy of having the full tbs of the lemon extract, and it might have been a little old, but I will be making them again. I did make them smaller and got over two dozen—still a decent size cookie. I love baking so will be trying more of your receipes.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved this! Keep me posted what else you make!
Just wondering if I could make them smaller so that I get more cookies?!
Yes
Me and my daughter just made the batter and now we are waiting. Can’t wait! The batter didn’t seem to be lemony but I smell it. So I’m praying that after they bake they will be lemony, if not I will be adding the lemon glaze.
Great and I hope you love them!
Your website won’t let me comment!
All comments go through moderation which is why you may not have seen your comment right away. But all I see is “your website won’t let me comment” – but you did – so it will.
I followed the recipe exactly, making 12 patties and chilling 3+ hours. Other commenters thought humidity was the problem, but I baked on a dry Summer day in CA. After 10 minutes in the 350* oven they were nowhere near done. However, I didn’t find that out until they were cooled because I baked “until edges have set and tops are just set”. I baked on parchment lined stoneware baking sheets and cooled them on the pans. All but the edges were wet and sticky; when I moved them to a rack to decorate, they oozed through the wire. : ( Sadly, I had to throw them away.
The edges were tasty, though!
stoneware baking sheets <--- That is your culprit! Things baked in/on stonewear need much longer to cook than baked on metal! That is why they weren't done after 10 minutes; had you baked longer and/or on metal everything would have been fine. In all recipes I treat baking times as estimates and guidelines and it's up to the baker to determine what's truly done in their oven, using their pans, their ingredients, their climate, etc.
These cookies are AMAZING!!! But I read the refrigerate part after I put them in the oven, and it tastes great. And they weren’t thin at all! So… I’m just goin with that, and I’m also very impatient, So I am not waiting 5 days for the dough to chill…
You don’t have to wait 5 days. You can if you want. But you definitely don’t have to, just a couple hours. Reread that part :)
But I’m glad you loved them and they came out great without chilling.
I just made these and they didn’t come out anything like the picture :( what have I done wrong? I followed the recipe exactly but the dough was too wet, even then it didn’t spread at all in the oven. Even when I managed to pressed them down REAL HARD (almost squashed them) then they still turned out cake like :/ could even see the bubble inside them like you see in sponge cake????
Sorry my bad I forgot to mentioned I used lime instead of lemon but that shouldn’t make it into something completely different like that surely? (where I am staying lemon is not an option). Could it be because I used too much lime juice? I used 2 limes which is probably equivalent to 1.5 lemon? I want it to be extra lemony but even after all that lime juice it still has a very subtle taste of lime/lemon :(
It sounds like you used too much liquid. It’s hard to tell exactly where you went wrong because I wasn’t there with you but yes, sounds like you used too much if the dough was too wet. I would follow the recipe exactly next time, use lemon, and the amount called for.
Very delicious. Made these today with a couple of changes. We didn’t have any cornstarch but did have clearjel so used that, same amount. We also used a large muscovy duck egg because, well, we have ducks and A LOT of duck eggs. So there was extra egg because they’re bigger than a chicken jumbo. Then we added white chocolate chips. We didn’t refrigerate them at all and they didn’t spread too far so that was good. Actually, they’re very lofty with a very nice texture. Also, the pan was not greased and no problem with sticking (the butter takes care of that). The kids and myself were sold. We’ll see how they go over at the family gathering tomorrow :)
Glad the duck egg worked! They’re probably loftier than mine were because of the extra egg volume. Glad your family enjoyed them!
I made these exactly as written and didn’t read the reviews.. they were very good. Now this is just personal preference but we all thought they could be a little more lemony so I did end up making the glaze (putting the glaze in a ziplock biggie, cutting off the tip and just drizzling the glaze over each cookie) Also.. the last batch I forgot to put on the oven timer and they were in the oven a min or two longer than the 10 mins suggested and the bottoms got a little light brown and crispy. I LOVED THOSE COOKIES!! the crisp bottom with the chewy cookie = DELISH! So next time I’m going to just cook them for 12 mins. I’ve never made ANYTHING lemon before and these were a HUGE HIT, I made them about an hour ago and they are already almost gone. THANK YOU!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad you were able to doctor them up with a lemon glaze – I actually have another lemon cookie with a glaze already built into the recipe https://www.averiecooks.com/2015/06/softbatch-glazed-lemon-cream-cheese-cookies.html Try that one next! If you like the bottoms crisper, bake a few mins longer.
My cookies were a total flop :( The consistency was spongy and moist. If I was making Madeleines I’d be thrilled. Don’t know what I did wrong. Maybe it was overmixed or didn’t have enough flour?
Hard to tell exactly what went wrong but not enough flour sounds to be the culprit. I use King Arthur brand and know it gives me better results than other brands do in baking. Also if you’re in a more humid climate and/or snow, you may need to use a bit more flour.
I have a good way to test your baking soda, making sure you don’t add old, ineffective soda to your cookie dough mix. Put a half teaspoon of it in a saucer or small dish, and add a few drops of vinegar. If it bubbles it’s good. This way you don’t waste any of your lemon juice and you don’t put old flat baking soda into your dough mix and ruin it. That being said I am absolutely going to make these cookies! I don’t have any lemon extract on hand but watch my dust as I head out on that 9 mile drive to the nearest grocery store to get it hahaha! I’ll let you know how the lemon-loving husband likes them. I’ve got fresh ponderosa lemons I’m using, so I’m betting I’ll be making these a lot! And thanks for the tip about the extra flour for humidity … It is almost always humid here in Florida. I always bake with the air conditioner on, even in winter!
Averie,
I have been searching for something like this, but I wanted to add pomegranate seeds for Christmas. Do you think that would work?
Possibly but I would worry that the seeds will bleed and run into the cookies since they are so prone to that and these are so pale
These cookies are amazing! Thanks for posting! I am planning on trying to convert them to gluten free soon so my family can eat them as well
Thanks for the praise and keep me posted how it goes when you make them GF!
I just made them gluten free with a homemade gluten free mix (the first one that pops up on Google) and they turned out good. Only slightly grainy (although it could be the cornstarch because I taste it in the regular cookies too)
These cookies are AWESOME. I wanted a recipe for a chewy lemon cookie that I could add white chocolate chips to and I made these. They turned out TERRIBLE…….because my lemon extract was bad. DARN. Had to throw them away. My daughter and I tried again the next day with fresh extract and they are AMAZING. I’ve never used this combination of ingredients before and it seemed a little wacky, but it’s definitely a good wacky. They come out soft and chewy and stay that way when cool. And it took a while to figure that out because we’d only make 4 at a time and finish them all before they had a chance to cool all the way off. I didn’t add the food dye but as I said, I added the white chocolate chips. They’re so good I am going online to try and find lemon extract in bulk that will be cheaper than buying it at the grocery store. We WILL be making these again. Thanks for the new ideas! Can’t wait to use them on some other recipes. :)
Lemon extract is one of those extracts that 1. varies widely by brand I’ve found and 2. can go bad easily. I know the exact taste you are talking about and yes, it’s awful. Glad you tried again with fresh extract and that you love these!
Thanks for the tip! My little one loves to cook. We bake at least once per week. The cookies had amazing flavor, but the consistency was off. The bottoms were golden brown and the top/middle were really doughy. Maybe that was due to the humidity and heat, as well. We are in Southwest Missouri, so it’s pretty humid right now. We will definitely be trying them again. Maybe in the winter. :)
Yes that’s it for sure! There’s an old grandmotherly wives tale about baking on humid days…basically don’t do it :) Sometimes it can’t be helped but if you are baking when it’s humid, you’ll need more flour. Happens for sure with bread making in the summer too. More flour and you’ll be set. Just add til it’s not sticky. No need to wait all the way until winter.
So, my four-year-old daughter and I just made the dough, which is currently chilling. She loved learning how to zest the lemons! However, rolling the dough into balls was a bit complicated since the dough was super sticky. I hope we didn’t do something wrong! The dough is delightful, though! We will let you know how they turn out. :)
In this summer heat and humidity, sometimes dough needs a touch more flour. That would have combatted the stickiness. Just a tip for you for summer baking in general. Glad you’re in the kitchen with your little girl!
I have a question about the soft lemon cookies recipe. Why do you ‘make a mound’ of baking soda on top of the flour instead of mixing the soda into the flour to distribute it evenly, as per ‘ standard’ instructions??
(If you are concerned about the potency of your baking soda, you can (and should) test it before using it.)
That instruction puzzles me.
In this recipe, it’s what I found worked best. In most other cookie recipes I do as you describe but not this one.
It’s fun for the kods to watch? Lol.
My son is in the Army and stationed in South Korea. I baked a batch of these and sent them to him for his birthday to substitute for the Lemon Cake he loves so much (clearly a cake was not going to survive being sent that far). He asked for more cookies and said all the other soldiers on base want another batch too! Guess I’ll be baking this weekend.
Wow what an amazing story!! So glad the cookies made it all the way to South Korea and that there are requests for more cookies :) Thank you for sharing the story behind this all…so awesome to hear!
I’ve never tried to make lemon cookies before, but this recipe looks great! Love these for the Summer!
My two year old little boy loves all things sweet we both had fun making and even more fun eating these cookies. Thank u for your blog
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out great for you! Love that you’re baking with your little son, so cute!
I have made these twice and absolutely love them! However, mine always come out more cakey and no crinkles :( Any ideas as to what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks!!
Possibly over-baking and over-flouring. Most people tend to add too much flour when baking, in general, so use a light hand and use King Arthur brand all-purpose. Will make a world of difference in results.
Glad you love the cookies!
Hi Averie! These look delicious! Can we substitute lemon extract for more lemon juice?
No because it will change the consistency of the batter and the chemical reactions that happen while baking with increased acidity from the lemon juice so follow the recipe exactly as written.
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
http://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!
Grown up tart! GREG
Hi! The cookies look soooooo good. I was thinking about making the tomorrow. Can I use margarine instead of butter? And what can I use instead of cornstrach? I live in Spain and I can’t find it. Thank you!! :)
PS: I love your blog!
I would not use margarine because it’s much more watery than butter and I don’t think that would work well in the dough. And if you don’t have cornstarch, then you can omit it. It will alter the texture slightly, but if you simply cannot get it where you live, then you can’t get it :)
one of these days you have to post a pic of your daughter eating a lemon! heeehee I want to see her expression after taking a bite. :P
These cookies are just another reason to love you Averie! Hope your day is going smoothly. t c
Ahh, haven’t posted pics of her since about 2009-10. Too many people out there with the wrong intentions! Live and learn :)
Averie, You’re COMPLETELY right. I promise I am not a sicko who had asked for that reason. I have a 5 yr old girl myself so I can see it from your eyes. :) I’m just simply a person head-over-heels in love with your baking talent!
No worries, at all :)
Mmmmmm! These look so good :) I always forget how much I love light and refreshing lemon
I LOVE intense lemon flavored-anything. I haven’t gotten around to making your lemon bars yet (it’s on my bucket list) but soon! Although I may skip them and start with the cookies.
I loved these cookies, and the lemon bars, and the lemon lemonies – you can’t go wrong with any!
My son is all into lemon anything lately, so he’ll love these. They look so soft and I’m loving the bright yellow color!
Thanks, Heather, and if you try these LMK!
I LOVE all the different ways you got lemon into these cookies. plus soft and chewy is my favorite way to eat a cookie! I can see why your daughter was obsessed with these! She’s lucky to be able to taste test all of your incredible creations!! Pinned :)
Thanks for pinning and wish you lived closer and I’d be glad to donate stuff to you! :)
these looks great! Perfect for tailgating!
I love desserts with lemon and these cookies, i can only imagine how lemony delicious these will be!
Gorgeous, Avery! I’m lying in bed and still waking up but now all I want for breakfast is LEMON COOKIES!
Thanks, Lynn!
I only like lemon in cookies and bars, but I really LOVE it then. Oh, and lemonade.
I used to make Lemon Crinkle cookies, but they were always too crunchy. These look like the perfect soft texture. Love that cornstarch!
The texture on these was so dreamy. Like between the honey, the lemon juice, the CS, the texture of the baked cookie was so doughy – you would love it :)
Yum, these look amazing! Also, thanks for the tip about honey. I didn’t know that, but the info will come in handy during my kitchen experiments.
Well that’s awesome!
I’ll take 2 dozen! I love all the lemon in these!!
You are the lemon cookie queen! I had already made these when you posted your most recent lemon cookie and I was chuckling to myself that there you go again :) I love all your lemon cookies!
Loving the triple lemon whammy; extract, juice and zest. They even look very lemony from the pictures as well as soft and chewy. Can’t wait to give these a go!
I discovered lemon extract about a year ago and I was amazed how it intensifies the flavour of lemon baked goods. I could never have enough lemon!
Lemon extract is a miracle worker, isn’t it!
I might have to try these with a little bit of buttercream frosting on top! Yum!
Love the way you think!
i love lemon, and I bet these would make perfect ice cream sandwiches
They sure would! I bet some sort of fruity/sorbet-ish would be great or really any kind :)
Lemon extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest – I love that these cookies are packed with lemon flavor! These cookies look amazingly soft and chewy and I am SO glad to see a lemon recipe – summer isn’t over yet!! Pinned :)
Thanks for pinning and I figured I give it one last hurrah with lemon/summer. Plus, I see lemon over Xmas for Xmas cookies so hey, it’s seasonless, right :)
not sure if they could be any more chewy and soft! They look and i know taste like a breath of fresh air. I love them
I’m glad you can see from the pics that they were totally soft & chewy!
I love that you used all three lemon ingredients! And I love that there are only 12 because you better believe I’d eat them all!
Dorothy these are SO YOU! I know you love lemon stuff a ton and I think you’d give your seal of approval :)
Delicious! I didn’t know corn starch created a softer cookie!
Oooh, I love these. It seems like whenever I see a lemon cookie recipe, it always starts with a cake mix. I’m excited to see a from-scratch recipe!
I know, or cake flour. Nothing wrong with cake flour but the avg woman doesn’t keep it on hand and so I wanted to make a recipe that was from scratch and EASY! :)
And thank you for pinning!
I love lemon cookies, but haven’t eaten good ones in a while. These look perfectly thick and for sure with lots of flavor, since you used lemon 3 ways. And your cornstarch recommendation really helps cookies not spread and stay soft. Thanks, pinning!
Thank you for pinning and glad you like the CS recommendation!
Gorgeous cookies, Averie! Soft and chewy are always my favorite kind of cookie. I love that you made a lemon flavor with these. Looks absolutely perfect!
These look amazing, Averie! I love anything with lemon, just like your daughter. I also love that this is a small-batch recipe! As always, gorgeous!
Small batch, you know it :) As a blogger, we don’t need big batches because every day of the week we’re cooking something brand new for the blog plus what we feed our families for normal meals!
I’ve never made lemon cookies so it’s nice to see a great recipe for them. Love the crinkly tops and beautiful color! Seeing these brings up some some memories of moving here after college. I think Archway was the only lemon cookie I ever tried and the bakery used to be here in Ft Wayne with a little outlet store.
Archway. Oh wow, I remember seeing those products in my college cafeteria and random gas stations in the midwest when I was growing up. Sort of like a regional Little Debbie if you will. Wow, blast from the past :)
So funny – I have lemon sugar cookies scheduled for the blog next week! Love lemon desserts! These cookies look so thick and chewy – LOVE it! Pinned!
Can’t wait to see yours. All I need to do is see what Sally or Jessica posts on like Monday, and then I guaranteed will have a recipe in my drafts pre-scheduled for that week or the next week. It honestly happens to me at LEAST once a week :)
Wonderful recipe – pinned to my ‘Lemony& Delicious’ board on pinterest. And thank you for the interesting fact about honey – I never knew that!
Thanks for pinning & glad you like the factoids :)
I have never baked a lemon cookie before. All that is about to change! These look amazing. So soft! Your daughter must be thrilled.
LMK if you try them!
So much to love here! 1. Cornstarch in cookies is my favorite! 2. Small batches are better, because I feel less bad when I eat ALL the cookies 3. Lemon is my favorite so I need these! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning and as a blogger, you can appreciate small batches I’m sure! I mean we have our blog/dessert food + the normal food we make anyway and we do that 7x a week! So small batches are appreciated for me at least :)
I prefer fruit desserts and treats to chocolate based ones and the bigger the pucker the better so these are right up my alley. I love how bright and sunny the photos are and who knew honey was hydroscopic..your posts are the best.
the bigger the pucker the better = love that :)
And the factoids…I remember just enough from college biochem classes (the ones I went to LOL) that it kind of helps me here and there. Not much though b/c those classes were always at 8am and that was way too early for me :)
I like lemon! These cookies look fantastic Averie! I have never thought about a lemon cookie before but how divine are these? Must try!