Lemon Cookies • They Melt in Your Mouth! (2024)

lemon cookies with powdered sugar

These zingy lemon cookies are part shortbread, part lemon meltaways. Their texture is soft and melting rather than crunchy or chewy, and this is because I use powdered sugar rather than granulated. Powdered sugar makes a creamy, tender cookie that melts on the tongue.

I rolled out my dough fairly thin, and cut them with a small cookie butter for a delicate little cookie (you could easily eat 2 or 3 at a time.) But there’s no reason you couldn’t do them bigger and thicker, the soft shortbread texture works well in a thicker cookie.

lemon cookie method

1. Cream the soft butter, lemon zest, and powdered sugar well, for at least 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl a couple of times. This aerates the dough for a lighter cookie.
2. Blend in the lemon juice and egg yolk.
3. Blend in the flour and cornstarch until the dough comes together and there is no dry flour left. It will be soft and sticky.
4. For the soft dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap, smoothing out the surface as you wrap it.
5. Put the dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours or in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up.
6. Roll out the dough to 1/4 in thickness on a lightly floured surface.
7. Cut into rounds with a small 2 inch cookie cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheets, one inch apart.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes until set. They will still be pale.
9. Let your lemon cookies cool before glazing.

secret to bright lemon flavor in a cookie

I’ve talked about it before, but infusing citrus flavor into baked goods is challenging. Often I use my favorite lemon sugar method, but that’s not appropriate for this lemon cookie recipe. Classic lemon flavor is a combination of the zest and the juice. It’s important to take the time to get all the bright yellow zest off a large lemon and into your batter. The glaze is equally important to this lemon cookie as it’s the way I incorporate the juice.

lemon zest: full of volatile oils and aromatic notes that give the classic lemon flavor without any sour or tart notes.

lemon juice: provides the tart acidity we associate with lemons. It needs a sweetener to bring out the flavor.

variations on lemon cookies

Definitely try other citrus flavors ~ orange, blood orange, lime, or grapefruit!

Form the dough into a log and slice and bake these cookies instead of rolling and cutting them out.

The cookies can be dusted with powdered sugar instead of glazing them, but the lemon flavor will be less pronounced.

Add mini chocolate chips to the lemon cookie dough.

Fold in a bit of finely minced fresh rosemary for an herbal twist.

Cut the cookies thin and make sandwich cookies filled with a lemon buttercream or lemon curd or homemade jam like strawberry or blackberry.

Lemon Cookies

Melt in your mouth soft lemon cookies brightened up with a sweet tart lemony glaze.

Nutrition

Calories: 105 kcal · Carbohydrates: 14 g · Protein: 1 g · Fat: 5 g · Saturated Fat: 3 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 1 g · Trans Fat: 0.2 g · Cholesterol: 19 mg · Sodium: 41 mg · Potassium: 11 mg · Fiber: 0.2 g · Sugar: 7 g · Vitamin A: 164 IU · Vitamin C: 1 mg · Calcium: 3 mg · Iron: 0.3 mg

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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