These soft lemon sugar cookies are absolutely perfect! They melt in your mouth, have a perfect balance of fresh lemon flavor and butter, and will no doubt become your favorite sugar cookie!
This recipe was originally published in July of 2020, but was updated on January 25, 2022 with newer content and fresh pictures.
These lemon cookies are soft, chewy, and have a bright lemon flavor. That's because both lemon juice and lemon zest are incorporated into the dough.
The cookies are also a drop-style cookie that's rolled into sugar and immediately baked. No need to chill the cookie dough. Just scoop, roll, and bake! If you're looking for a cookie to compliment the Spring and Summertime, these lemon sugar cookies are a must-bake.
Craving even more lemon desserts? Then you should definitely check out these recipes: lemon bars, mini lemon cheesecakes, and lemon sheet cake.
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Why You'll Love These Cookies
- They're soft, fluffy, and slightly thick.
- Both fresh lemon juice and lemon zest are used.
- No chilling required.
- They're rolled in sugar for an extra crunchy element!
Sugar cookies aren't just for the holidays, especially when they're made with citrus! These cookies are perfect for the Summer months because they're light, refreshing, and can be served at any occasion.
Expert Baking Tips
- Room Temperature Ingredients: For this recipe, we want both the butter and egg to be at room temperature before baking. I recommend taking these ingredients out of the refrigerator 1 hour before you want to start.
- Measuring Flour: To help ensure you don’t add extra flour, follow these three simple steps: 1) Fluff up the flour using a fork. 2) Spoon the flour into your measuring cup. 3) Scrape a knife across the top of the measuring cup to level out the flour.
- Lemons: Prep your lemons before starting. It'll save you a little bit of time. Use a zester and a lemon squeezer to make this process a lot quicker.
- Perfectly Shaped Cookies: The trick to getting more circular cookies is to use a round cookie cutter to essentially “rotate or spin” around each cookie immediately when they come out of the oven. Since they’re really hot, the cookies will easily mold to that circular shape as you move around them.
Ingredients Needed
Here are some of the ingredients we'll need to make these sugar cookies:
- All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to properly measure your flour (check out "Baking Tips" above).
- Corn Starch: This helps the cookies to bake up slightly thicker.
- Butter: Besides lemons, butter is one of the main flavors of these cookies. Be sure to use unsalted butter and it's at room temperature.
- Lemons: Two medium-sized lemons is all you should need. You'll use both the zest and the juice.
Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions:
- Dry Ingredients: Combine the flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Wet Ingredients: Cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fully combined and creamy. Add the egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until fully combined.
- Combine Ingredients: Gradually beat in the flour mixture at low speed until fully incorporated, being careful not to overmix.
- Bake: Use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out the cookie dough into your hands. Roll the cookie dough ball into the sugar and repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or just until the edge of the cookies turn golden-brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Frequently Asked Questions
They can last up to 1 week in an airtight container on the counter.
I would not recommend using lemon extract. Stick with using fresh lemons.
If you made this recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below. I love hearing from you! Also, please tag me on Instagram and check out my Pinterest for even more recipe ideas.
It brings me so much joy to see you make my recipes. 🙂
Happy baking!
More Cookie Recipes
📖 Recipe
Soft Lemon Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Silicone Baking Mat
- Electric Stand Mixer
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup sugar (for rolling cookie dough)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fully combined and creamy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until fully combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Gradually beat in the flour mixture at low speed until fully incorporated, being careful not to overmix.
- Use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out the cookie dough into your hands. Roll the cookie dough ball into the sugar and repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or just until the edge of the cookies turn golden-brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them over to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Keep any leftover cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 7 days.
Notes:
Nutrition
Yum! Am making these today! Thank you for sharing.
Awesome! Enjoy!!
OMG! I love lemon-flavored desserts! These sound absolutely amazing. My husband isn't a fan of lemon, so I would be devouring the entire batch myself! lol. I'm adding these to the things I want to make. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you! I hope you love them!
it looks so good! I'm going to send this to my husband now to make it! 🙂
Good idea! 😉
What is the nutrition label on these cookies ?
Hi Shan. I don't currently use a nutrition label on my recipes because of how often people might substitue ingredients. Because of that, it would make the label inaccurate. You could always type in the ingredients of those cookies into a nutrition website so you can get the exact information you're looking for. Hope that helps!