Lemon Cookies
My lemon cookies are the perfect summertime treat with their sweet and refreshing lemon flavor, which comes from the zest and freshly squeezed juice of ripe lemons. No artificial lemon flavor or color here!
These lemon cookies have a soft interior that will melt in your mouth. Before baking them, I roll them in white sugar to give the exterior some texture and an appealing sparkle!
I am proud to say that my lemon cookies are Deke Shaw approved!
As with all my recipes, I use the scientific method to carefully craft them to ensure you get deliciously perfect results every time.
To get a bright lemon flavor without using lemon extract, I mix the lemon zest into the sugar and set it aside to allow the lemon oil and flavor to infuse the sugar before creaming it into the butter. The result is a full lemon flavor, but if you want more, you can add a 1/4 teaspoon of pure lemon extract if you have it in your pantry.
My lemon cookies will surely put a smile on your face, so I hope you give them a try!
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
2 sticks (226 grams or 1 cup) of unsalted butter
2 large eggs
300 grams (1 ½ cups) of white granulated sugar
Zest of four whole medium-sized lemons
3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon of pure lemon extract
384 grams (3 cups) of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
50 grams (1/4 cup) of white granulated sugar for rolling
Yields 20 cookies
Instructions
Let all ingredients come to room temperature. Cut the butter into small pieces to help it come to room temperature.
Geeky Tip: Ingredients that are all the same temperature incorporate more easily and fully.
Zest the lemons and thoroughly mix the zest into the sugar until all of the sugar has a yellow color. Using the back of a spoon, grind/mash the zest into the sugar. Set it aside.
Geeky Tip: This is the secret to getting a big lemon flavor in the cookies. Every bit of sugar will be infused with the lemon oil, and the cookies will have a more yellow color.
Fully whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set it aside.
Geeky Tip: Whisking together all the dry ingredients ensures a homogenous mixture, and it breaks up any clumps in the flour. Also, make sure to keep flour in an airtight container in a cool, dry place to maintain freshness and prevent spoilage.
Beat the butter until it has a smooth appearance. About 1 minute on medium-high speed.
Geeky Tip: This helps to work some air into the butter that will aid the rise later, and it makes it easier for the sugar to cut into the butter.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the lemon-infused sugar into the butter, and cream together until lighter in color and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Beat in the eggs until they are incorporated.
Occasionally, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Mix in the lemon juice and pure lemon extract.
The batter may look curdled because of the acid from the lemon juice, but this is to be expected. After the dry ingredients are mixed in, the cookie dough will look smooth and fully incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by halves, and mix until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
Geeky Tip: Overmixing will build up the gluten and protein structure in the dough and lead to a tougher and denser cookie.
Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 1 hour. This dough is quite soft, so refrigerating it allows the dough to firm up, so it won’t spread too thin when baking. It also lets the flavors develop more.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Geeky Tip: Oven temperatures vary wildly, so get an oven thermometer. When my oven “beeps” to indicate pre-heating is done, it is usually 50-75 degrees below the target temperature. An oven thermometer is the best $5 baking investment you can make!
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Geeky Tip: I highly recommend using a light-colored aluminum baking sheet. Baking sheets that are dark will conduct more heat and may burn whatever is on them. Just think of wearing a black shirt versus a white shirt on a hot sunny day. Old baking sheets that have dark spots may heat unevenly.
Put the sugar for rolling into a bowl.
After the dough has chilled for 1 hour, remove it from the refrigerator.
Using a #24 cookie scoop (2 1/2 tablespoons), make scoops of dough, and form them into balls with your hands.
Geeky Tip: Rolling them into balls helps them have a more uniformly circular shape during baking.
Roll the balls in the sugar to coat them.
Evenly space the balls 2 inches apart on the sheet.
Bake on the oven’s center rack for 13-15 minutes. If making smaller scoops, you may need to reduce the baking time by a couple minutes.
After baking, place the sheet on a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!
Storage
To store the cookies, put them in an airtight container with a slice of fresh plain bread. The bread helps to keep the cookies from going stale. They can be stored at room temperature for 3-5 days. They can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (226 grams or 1 cup) of unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 300 grams (1 ½ cups) of white granulated sugar
- Zest of four whole medium-sized lemons
- 3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon of pure lemon extract
- 384 grams (3 cups) of all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) of white granulated sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Let all ingredients come to room temperature. Cut the butter into small pieces to help it come to room temperature.
- Zest the lemons and thoroughly mix the zest into the sugar until all of the sugar has a yellow color. Set it aside.
- Fully whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set it aside.
- Beat the butter until it has a smooth appearance. About 1 minute on medium-high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the lemon-infused sugar into the butter, and cream together until lighter in color and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Beat in the eggs until incorporated. Occasionally, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Mix in the lemon juice and pure lemon extract.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by halves, and mix until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
- Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Put the sugar for rolling into a bowl.
- After the dough has chilled for 1 hour, remove it from the refrigerator.
- Using a #40 cookie scoop (medium or 1 1/2 tablespoons), make scoops of dough, and form them into balls with your hands.
- Roll the balls in the sugar to coat them. Evenly space the balls 2 inches apart on the sheet.
- Bake on the oven’s center rack for 13-15 minutes. After baking, place the sheet on a wire rack to cool.
Notes
To store the cookies, put them in an airtight container with a slice of fresh plain bread. The bread helps to keep the cookies from going stale. They can be stored at room temperature for 3 to 5 days. They can be frozen for up to 6 months.