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 2Â 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 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!
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!
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.
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!
This was so yummy. My family loved them. Thank you for a great recipe.
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.
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.
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 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
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!
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.
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