Easy & Soft Lemon Cookies Recipe with Lemon Glaze

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These easy-to-make Soft Lemon Cookies are a must-have summer dessert. They are drizzled with lemon glaze, soft, and melt in your mouth.

Are you a lemon lover like me? Then you need to try these Lemon cookies. My son and I love everything citrus, and lemon is one of them. I love lemon cakes but never thought I would love lemon cookies so much that they would be one of my favorites.

First, I was skeptical about the lemon flavor in a cookie until my son convinced me to bake them for him. I was so impatient I popped a little cookie dough before baking to check whether it was zesty enough. Oh my, I don’t think it needed baking. I could devour the whole thing raw. It was so delicious! However, I took my chances and left about a Tablespoon of cookie dough to snack on while the rest baked. I got hooked when I took my first bite of the lemon cookies. They were so refreshing and bursting with lemon flavor. Finally, I made 2 more batches to freeze for later.

They are lovely to have with a cup of tea or as a dessert. These Soft Lemon Cookies are fantastic for any season. Therefore, I have added this recipe to my Christmas cookie list with other favorites.

Ingredients for Soft Lemon Cookies

Flour – use all-purpose flour for this recipe.

Corn flour/starch -I added 1/2 Tablespoon of corn starch. It yields a soft cookie.

Butter – use unsalted room temperature butter.

Sugar – I used granulated white. You can use light brown sugar if you prefer a slightly chewy cookie or half of both. 

Eggs – add one large room temperature egg.

Leavening agents – Baking powder works well with these cookies. Adding Baking soda will spread, crisp, and brown the cookie more. However, if you prefer the latter, you can replace the baking powder with baking soda. 

Salt – add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to balance the sweetness and tartness. If adding salted butter, leave the salt out. 

Lemon – add 1 Tablespoon of zest and 3 tablespoons of juice for a lemony flavor. I used 2 large lemons. 

Lemon extract – I love adding the lemon extract to bring the lemon flavor more. If you don’t have any lemon extract, replace it with 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice. 

Vanilla extract-Improves the flavor and pairs well with lemon. It is optional. 

For the Lemon Glaze 

Powdered/ icing sugar – I added 3/4 cup for the glaze. 

Lemon Juice – add 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons depending on how thin or thick you like the glaze consistency. 

How to make the Soft Lemon Cookies

You can put this together using a whisk, wooden spoon, or a hand mixer. Remember not to cream the butter and the sugar for too long as you do for a cake. It may lead to cake-textured cookies. Cream it only for a minute or 2. 

Chilling the dough is very important. It helps the flavors to develop. So most of the time, I refrigerate the cookie dough for 24 hours. Otherwise, I chill the dough for 30 minutes. Especially; when we have a cookie emergency at home. 

To shape the cookie, I like using a small ice cream scoop or a Tablespoon to have even size cookies. 

The baking time for the cookie is 10-12 minutes. I suggest you check it when it’s around 10 minutes and see whether it’s golden on the edges and slightly set on top. If so, take them out of the oven. If not, bake them for another 2- more minutes. 

Once you take them out of the oven, leave the cookies on the sheet pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. This recipe makes about 18 cookies. 

Serve them with tea, coffee, or as a snack or dessert. On a hot summer day, I had these cookies with a glass of cold sugar-free 7-up for a double lemony flavor. It was so refreshing!

• In a separate bowl: combine flour, salt, baking powder, and cornstarch. 
• Cream the butter, lemon zest, and sugar for 2 minutes or until well combined
• Next, add the vanilla and lemon extract and combine.
• Add the egg and lemon juice and mix well. Scrape the bowl a few times. 
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. Lastly, use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl for any remaining dry flour mixture. Fold until incorporated. 
• Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes – an hour. 
• Pre-heat the oven to 350F/ 176C for 20 minutes
•  After chilling, use a Tablespoon/ small ice cream scoop to scoop out the cookie dough. 
• Take about 2 Tablespoons of dough and shape it into a ball. 
• Place the cookie dough balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350F/176C for 10- 12 minutes. 
• Take the cookies out from the oven and leave them to rest for 5 minutes on the pan. 
• After 5 minutes, transfer them to a cooling rack and cool them completely. 
• Meanwhile, make the Lemon glaze for the cookies. 

How to make a lemon glaze for the Lemon cookies

In a small bowl: add 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons lemon juice. Mix until smooth, drizzling consistency. 

Drizzle on the cooled cookies. 

Freezing cookie dough

Shape the cookie dough into balls and flash-freeze them on a sheet pan. Stick them in a freezer ziplock bag and freeze them for up to 3 months. 

You can also freeze unglazed baked cookies. 

Place the frozen cookie dough balls on a parchment line cookie sheet and bake in a 350F/176C pre-heated oven for 14-16 minutes. 

Already baked and frozen cookies can be defrosted on the counter and glazed with lemon glaze.