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These simple small batch Lemon Sugar Cookies are soft and chewy and with the perfect amount of citrus to bring some sunshine to your day. 10 minutes to prep and no chilling necessary–this easy recipe will be a new favorite for the whole family!
I have no doubt that a touch of lemon in your sugar cookies will have you feeling all the sunshine–all of it. And some days, we really just have to make our own sunshine, am I right?!
I am very much a boredom baker, and that’s how these simple citrus cookies came to be. When I am stuck in the house–I bake. These Birthday Cake Sugar Cookies were also a bit of a stuck inside kind of boredom recipe–but no one has complained just yet!
I am also a sucker for small batch cookie recipes. I very rarely have enough time to make a few dozen cookies at one time. However, I can squeeze a dozen in for sure! I can make that happen.
So, if you want some sunshine in your day, and you don’t often have a lot of time to bake, these small batch lemon sugar cookies are 100% the way to go. Refreshing, soft and chewy–the very best!
Why You Will Love These Lemon Sugar Cookies:
- so soft and chewy
- refreshing and vibrant lemon flavor
- very easy to make
- freezer friendly
- so delicious!
Try these Key Lime Iced Cookies if you love citrus flavors as much as I do!
Recipe Ingredients:
- butter: I use unsalted, softened butter in my cookies. If you aren’t sure if your butter is softened, gently press your finger into it and see if it leaves a small indentation but is also still cool to touch. To speed up this process, cut the butter into smaller pieces. I don’t recommend using a microwave at all to move things along.
- sugar: divided, 3/4 cup for the dough and 1/4 cup for rolling.
- brown sugar: I prefer light brown sugar, adds a touch of chewiness to your cookies
- vanilla: you could use 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 lemon extract for an even stronger lemon flavor if preferred.
- egg yolk: a large egg yolk at room temperature for best results. The egg yolk makes these lemon cookies extra chewy and gives them that crinkle versus using a whole egg which makes them a touch more cakey in the center.
- lemon zest: measure this with your heart–all the lemon zest and more for me!
- flour: all purpose flour, stirred to aerate, spooned and leveled
- salt: I prefer sea salt
- baking soda and powder: PLEASE make sure your baking soda and powder are fresh. Not sure if they are? You can test to make sure!
I typically have every single one of these ingredients in the house. And if I am missing something, it is almost always the lemon zest. I have most certainly made these without the lemon zest as just regular sugar cookies and they have been delicious as well.
One reader said she used lime zest instead of lemon and loved those. What about orange? Lots of options if you are out!
How to make this recipe:
- Cream the butter and sugars. When you cream the butter and sugars, the mixture should be light and almost fluffy. The sugars will be fully incorporated into each other. Don’t skimp on this part–it can take about 2-4 minutes. You are aerating the butter and creating tiny pockets of air that will be the difference of a nice, light and chewy cookie versus a flat, dense cookie. Take the time! (steps 1 and 2)
- Add in the lemon zest, vanilla and egg. Using a hand or standing mixer, beat to fully incorporate the egg. (steps 3 and 4)
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. (steps 5 and 6)
- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and beat to incorporate. Toward the end, it may seem a bit crumbly or dry, but don’t worry, this is ok. Press the dough together to form a ball. Chill at this time if desired. It can help the cookies spread less. (steps 7, 8 and 9)
- Scoop the dough with a cookie scoop or roll into balls and then roll into the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Place on a cookie sheet ( I typically line mine with parchment.) and bake for about 9-11 minutes. Take them out when they are just barely starting to get a light brown around the edges. Don’t over bake these. Allow to cool before enjoying. Or if you are like me, you will scald yourself eating one the second you pull them out. Oh, such is life, right? (steps 10, 11 and 12)
Do you need to chill the cookie dough before baking?
I find sugar cookie dough is best when chilled to help keep any extra spreading, however these lemon sugar cookies are still okay even if I don’t chill. If your cookies are spreading a lot, it typically means your butter was softened too much and is making the dough too warm, or the flour was measured incorrectly and is less than needed. Expired baking soda and powder can also cause the same issue.
If I do chill this cookie dough, I only do about 15-30 minutes, but that doesn’t always happen. As long as you don’t over soften the butter and measure your flour well, you should be fine without chilling.
Lemon Sugar Cookies Notes and Pro-Tips:
- Always, always always make sure to cream your butter and sugar well enough. Do not skimp on the time. This seems to be where I get myself in trouble when trying to cut corners. Creaming helps give the cookies the right dense texture.
- Check to make sure your baking powder and baking soda are both fresh. Expired leavening agents can cause issues when trying to bake. Keep them fresh!
- Make sure not to over bake these lemon sugar cookies. When you pull them out, you may think they are not quite ready yet, but they should be perfect that way.
- Depending on the size you make these, you will get about 12-15 cookies. If you make them much smaller you may even get closer to 18. I use a cookie scoop and press the dough into the scoop nicely to get a dense cookie.
FAQs and Troubleshooting:
This could be a matter of over baking. They will come out more on the crispy end if you leave them in the oven too long. When you think these lemon sugar cookies are almost there, then they are actually probably ready to be taken out.
You will notice the cookies will still be puffed up a bit and just starting to crinkle. I take them out at that point and love the texture. If you like crispy cookies, then feel free to keep them in a bit longer as well!
Two possible things for this issue. One, your dough is too warm. If your cookie dough dips below room temperature, the cookie dough is not cool enough.
Cooler dough has more solidified fat (from the butter) that takes longer to spread as it is baked. Once the cookie dough becomes too warm, the fat is not longer fully solid and will spread out and bake quickly. Pop the dough in the fridge for 15-30 minutes and then get back to it!
The other possibility here is that your baking powder or baking soda are not fresh. If your leavening agents are bad, you will have some flat and even thin cookies for sure.
This is often the result of too much flour. Flour can be tricky to measure and should not be packed into measuring cups like brown sugar or other ingredients. I like to stir my flour a bit with a spoon before measuring to aerate it a bit. This tends to help.
Other Cookies and Treats:
- Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Eggless Sugar Cookies
- Gluten Free Blondies
- Rosemary Orange Almond Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Molasses Cookies
- Cream Cheese Snowballs
I can’t wait to hear how these turn out for you! Keep me posted!
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Lemon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter, softened (1/2 cup), unsalted
- 1â…“ c flour *see note below, (167g)
- 3/4 c sugar , (160 g)
- 1 T brown sugar, (18 g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- zest of 2 lemons, 2-3 T
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1/4 c sugar, for coating, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk together to combine.
- In a medium bowl, using a hand or standing mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and 3/4c sugar until light and fluffy. (about 2-3 minutes or so). Add in egg, lemon zest and vanilla and beat until combined.
- Slowly pour in the dry ingredients and beat just until combined–do not over mix. (Chill for about 30 minutes if desired.) Roll cookie dough into about 1 1/2 inch balls or scoop with a 1½ T cookie scoop and roll into the remaining 1/4 cup sugar (add sugar into a small bowl first.) and place about 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking pan.Â
- Bake 9-11 minutes. Allow to cool before eating.(ha–right, I burn my tongue every time)
- Store in an air tight container or freeze.
Video
Notes
- Check to make sure your baking powder and baking soda are both fresh. Expired leavening agents can cause issues when trying to bake. Keep them fresh!
- I read that adding a touch of brown sugar is what helps sugar cookies form well and spread nicely. I found that the result of adding just a Tablespoon of brown sugar did the trick for these.
- Make sure not to over bake these lemon sugar cookies. When you pull them out, you may think they are not quite ready yet, but they should be perfect that way.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Just what I was looking for! With my little scooper it made about 18 nice size cookies. I had to take them out the oven just before they were done. I had to make it twice to get it right, the first batch I cooked for 9 minutes and that was too long because then they got hard. The second batch I cook 8 minutes and they were perfectly soft even after an hour or two. I didn’t have lemon zest so I use lemon extract and they were still delicious.
Great to know that lemon extract works well! All ovens are different and that can make baking recipes a bit challenging no doubt. So glad you found the sweet spot!
I was having a late night craving for something lemon and these cookies really hit the spot!
Yay! So good to hear Gigi!!
What if I want to double this recipe? Would I use a whole
egg or 2 yolks? Any other suggestions? It will be a lovely addition to my Christmas cookie list.
Hi!! This is something I have been meaning to test out. I had a friend double it and use two egg yolks and say they were ok. I think another option would be one whole egg and one yolk. If I have time this week I will test it out and report back! These are one of my faaaaaves.
I just made these! It was my first time baking from scratch. The recipe was easy to follow and they are absolutely delicious! I think I rolled them too large because they took much longer than 9-11 minutes to bake. Next time I make them, I’m definitely adding more lemon zest and rolling smaller cookies 🙂 thank you for this recipe!
Tessa! So excited to hear this! You made my day for sure–I feel like I have gotten a lot of feedback on adding more lemon zest so I may go retest the recipe this weekend and add some more. Thanks so much for sharing and congrats on your first bake!
I made these for my family last night for a must-have-cookies-now emergency… everybody loved them! My husband said they made up for the quinoa I made him eat for dinner! Perfect size, amount, and texture- my oldest loved the crispy skirt and the chewy middle. This will definitely be a go-to recipe- a cookie I can always whip up, even when someone has secretively eaten the last of the chocolate chips. Again.
This comment made my day Kristen!!! Your husband sounds EXACTLY like mine! Ha! Thanks so much for sharing and sooooo glad you enjoyed them!
I made these today and they are good but look nothing like yours. The cracked a little and are raised on the edges but flat in the center, crispy on the edges and chewy in the center. I used turbine sugar but did not roll to the bottom. Think I will used regular sugar next as I think they are too sweet. Hubby likes them as they are.did not use parchment paper and did not stick to pan.
Thanks Mary Lou!The sugar could definitely impact the way they turned out especially since turbine sugar is more coarse. Thanks for the feedback and glad they at least tasted good!!
Hi
What if I want just simple sugar cookies, can I just subtract the lemon?
Thanks
Hi! Yes, that should work just fine!
I’m absolutely adoring your photography!!! And these lemon sugar cookies look and sound delicious too :)!
Awwww thanks Daniela! I promise you they are a dream!
Ooooh lemon is always and forever my favorite flavor for desserts, and SUCH a good pairing with sugar cookies. I have a favorite lemon sugar cookie I go back to over and over, but I always try new ones to see if I can fine one to beat it — I’m adding yours to the list for my next recipe testing session!
summer cookies for the win–and yes, this is that recipe for me, hope you love it!