Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Lemon sugar cookies feature the bright citrus flavor of lemon in a buttery cookie. The lemony flavor is irresistible, and the cookies are easy to make.
How long it takes: 15 minutes to make the dough, time to chill the dough, and 12 to 14 minutes to bake each batch
Equipment you’ll need: electric mixer (optional), cookie sheet
Servings: 3 dozen cookies, depending on size
Easy Lemon Sugar Cookies
With a good amount of lemon zest and lemon juice, these cookies have plenty of citrus flavor. This is pretty much an old-fashioned sugar cookie recipe with the addition of lemon juice and zest which really brightens the cookies up.
I love these lemon cookies in the summertime. They are a perfect snack or light dessert, with iced tea or lemonade (try vodka lemonade!). But when winter rolls around, what’s more welcome than a sunny cookie with a cup of hot tea to brighten your day?
So give chocolate a break and try lemon sugar cookies today. I know you’re gonna love them.
Helpful Tips
Chill the dough. Allow a couple of hours or even overnight to chill the dough. There are multiple reasons for chilling cookie dough. Basically, these cookies just turn out better if the dough is well chilled and they’re easier to roll into balls. If you’re in a hurry, put the dough in the freezer for an hour.
Use a mixer. I’ve made plenty of cookies with good old arm power and they turn out fine. In fact, I’ve made this recipe without a mixer with no problem. If you have a stand mixer, they are super nice for mixing stiff cookie dough. They have that powerful motor that saves you a little energy. An electric hand mixer is fine for creaming the butter, sugar, and eggs but it will labor pretty hard when you add the flour. I usually end up doing that part by hand.
Zest the lemon before juicing it. It’s so much easier to zest a whole lemon rather than a squeezed lemon half. If you’ve tried it, you know what I mean. When you zest the lemon, be sure not to go too deep. You only want the yellow outside of the peel, not the white pith which can be bitter. Use a fine zester or a microplane.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter, Granulated Sugar, Egg: Use unsalted butter and let it come to room temperature before you get started.
- Lemon: You’ll need one or two lemons for this recipe, depending on how large they are.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Lemon and vanilla really like each other; they go hand in hand for perfectly flavored sugar cookies.
- All-Purpose Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt: Normal stuff for baking cookies.
- Extra Sugar: I like to roll the cookies in coarse sanding sugar or turbinado sugar, as pictured (which gives them a slightly brownish color). However, I’ve also rolled them in regular granulated sugar which works just fine, too.
How To Make Lemon Sugar Cookies
Cream sugar and butter. Using an electric or stand mixer, blend together the sugar and butter until it’s nice and creamy. You can do it with arm power, too.
Add egg, lemon, vanilla. Add the egg and mix it in until it’s completely incorporated. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla, then stir in the lemon zest.
Add dry ingredients. Measure out the flour and add it to the bowl along with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Lightly stir those three ingredients together on top of the wet ingredients. Many recipes call for doing this in a separate bowl but why make another bowl dirty?
Cooking Tip
Use a measuring cup for dry ingredients, not a liquid measuring cup. Always spoon the flour out of the canister or bag and lightly fill the measuring cup. Don’t use the measuring cup to scoop the flour because the flour will be compacted. You’ll end up with too much flour which makes dry hard cookies.Chill. Stir the dough well. It will be pretty stiff and thick. Place the dough in a covered container or resealable bag, and chill it.
Preheat the oven. When you’re ready to bake cookies, preheat your oven and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Remove the dough from the fridge and get rolling.
Roll dough into balls. For each cookie, roll about one tablespoon of chilled dough into a ball. I love how all the cookies turn out perfectly round that way. Roll them in sugar and place them on the cookie sheet. They’ll spread quite a bit so allow a little room between each one.
(Just thinking about one of my favorite recipes, ginger sparkles (aka gingersnaps). Same process: roll the dough into balls, then roll in sugar. Maybe I should call these cookies lemon sparkles. I kind of like the sound of that.)
Bake. Bake until the cookies are very lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Don’t overbake the cookies. Let them cool briefly on the cookie sheet, then use a large spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Recipe Variations
- Any type of citrus can be used. Try lime, orange, or grapefruit. Zest and juice as directed.
- Use lemon extract. You could substitute lemon extract for lemon juice although I much prefer the taste of fresh lemon juice. Lemon extract is oil extracted from lemon peel, alcohol, and water. It’s more potent than lemon juice so use a lot less. To substitute lemon extract in this recipe, use ½ tablespoon of extract and ½ tablespoon water.
- Prefer a slice and bake cookie? Try these lemon poppy seed cookies with cream cheese or honey lemon shortbread cookies.
- Glaze the cookies. Make a simple glaze. Mix together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, and enough lemon juice to make a glaze consistency. Drizzle fully cooled cookies with glaze and allow to harden, at least 1 hour.
- Rather have bread? Try my lemon poppy seed bread. You’ll love it.
Store baked cookies: After the lemon sugar cookies have cooled completely, store them in an airtight container for up to a week. For longer storage, baked cookies can be frozen for up to a month.
Store cookie dough: Tightly wrapped cookie dough will keep in the freezer for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge for best results. If you prefer, roll the cookie dough balls, freeze on a tray until firm, then freeze those in a bag or container (this is our preferred method). When you’re ready to bake, simply remove the balls from the freezer, put them on a cookie sheet, and bake them. You’ll need to add a couple minutes to the baking time.
More Lemon Recipes
Lemon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (zest lemon first!)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- coarse sugar to roll cookies in (regular granulated sugar is fine, too)
Instructions
- In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, beat well. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice. Scrape sides of bowl as needed. Stir in lemon zest.½ cup unsalted butter, softened, 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or more.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.
- Make round balls using a generous 1 tablespoon dough. Roll in turbinado sugar or sanding sugar, and place on baking sheet. Leave a couple of inches between the balls of dough. Cookies will spread.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until very lightly browned around the edges. The longer you bake the cookies, the crispier they'll get.
- Cool slightly. Remove cookies to wire rack to cool completely. Makes 3 dozen, depending on size of cookies.
Notes
- Extra lemony cookies: Use the zest from two lemons. Add a lemon glaze to the cookies: Mix together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, and enough lemon juice to make a glaze consistency. Drizzle fully cooled cookies with glaze and allow to harden, at least 1 hour.
- Storage: Store lemon sugar cookies in an airtight container for up to a week. For longer storage, baked cookies can be frozen for up to a month.
- Make ahead: Freeze cookie dough, tightly wrapped, for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge for best results. If you prefer, roll the cookie dough balls, freeze on a tray until firm, then freeze in a bag or container. When you’re ready to bake, simply remove the balls from the freezer, put them on a cookie sheet, and bake them. You’ll need to add a couple minutes to the baking time.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
These are excellent! I have a 1tbsp scoop that helps portion the dough, although I do find rolling all the dough into balls is a little tedious. Still, freezing the balls allows me to bake just a few at a time when my husband and I are in need of a treat. Thank you.
So glad you like them! Thank you for leaving a review!
Is there a substitute for turbinado or sanding sugar like regular sugar?
They will turn out slightly differently, but it should work!
I love the thought of lemonade cookies! They look great. I’ve never thought of using colored sugar to roll cookies in. I don’t know why. And yay on your Kitchenaid! Have fun with it. :)
These cookies are so pretty! I’m going to suggest to my boys that we make these cookies to sell at their next lemonade stand.
Great idea!
Those are pretty and yummy!
These are the perfect summer cookie! I love the lemon flavor…and all the sprinkles!