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!
Table of Contents
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.
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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More Lemon Desserts:
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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!!
Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread — This EASY, no-mixer homemade quick bread combines tangy lemon flavor with tender zucchini which keeps it so incredibly soft, tender, and moist! Topped with a simple lemon glaze, this bread is not overly sweet.
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Originally posted on August 25, 2014 and reposted on June 24, 2020 with updated text.
These cookies are so lemony and fresh tasting! I will make these 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!
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!
Wonderful.
I’m glad they turned out wonderfully for you!
Wonderful.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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 :)
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! :)
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!
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.
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!