Lemon Cookies with Lovely Lemon Glaze
These gorgeous lemon cookies are soft in the middle with crispy edges, and are delicious topped with a lovely lemon glaze. Add poppy seeds to these homemade lemon cookies to easily make them lemon poppyseed cookies! Lemon lovers will LOVE these cookies.
Servings 12 cookies
Calories 165cal
Ingredients
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cup (150g) all purpose flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Optional: 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Wet ingredients
- 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, softened at room temperature (do NOT use melted butter)**
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- Zest from 1 large lemon (about 2-3 teaspoons)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- For rolling cookies:
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar, for rolling cookies
- For the lemon glaze:
- ½ cup (57g) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, poppy seeds (optional) and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add in softened butter, sugar and lemon zest; beat on high for 2 minutes. Next add in egg and almond extract. Beat for 1 minute until well combined. (It’s SUPER important the egg is at room temperature. To achieve this, just run it under warm water for 1 minute).
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients and fresh lemon juice and mix on medium low speed until well combined.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to grab the dough, then use your hands to roll dough into a ball. Roll in sugar, then place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat, leaving at least 2 inches between each dough ball.
- Bake for 11-14 minute or until edges are barely golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Once cookies are completely cooled, you can glaze them. Make the glaze by adding powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice and almond extract in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. You may need to add in more lemon juice if the glaze is too thick (start with a teaspoon at a time). Glaze should be somewhat thick.
- Spoon about ½ tablespoon of glaze to each cookie and use a spoon to spread around. Enjoy! Makes 12 cookies.
Notes
*To make cookies gluten free: I suggest using an all purpose gluten free flour such as Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 baking flour. I also think chickpea flour or quinoa flour would work very well but you may get a different flavor. You can also try my paleo lemon poppy seed cookies, which are grain & gluten free.
**To make cookies dairy free: Feel free to use a vegan buttery stick, such as Earth Balance.
To make cookies vegan: Use a flax egg and a softened vegan buttery stick (such as Earth Balance).
If you want to use coconut sugar in this recipe, I suggest only using it in the cookies themselves. Personally, I think it overpowers the lemon flavor too much. Do NOT roll the cookies in coconut sugar; it doesn’t have the same consistency.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie with glaze | Calories: 165cal | Carbohydrates: 26.9g | Protein: 1.4g | Fat: 6.1g | Saturated Fat: 3.7g | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 17.4g