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Perfectly zingy and sweet these Lemon Sugar Cookies are to die for! Topped with a lemony icing, you won’t be able to hold yourself back.
Lemon Sugar Cookies
I had a bunch of lemon sugar cookies the other day. And they were tasty as ever. And my trainer had a heart attack. J/K. I had a heart attack. But, you would give into a sweet, chewy, freshly glazed lemon cookie too. I’m sure of it. And lucky for you, I’m posting the recipe today so you can indulge a little…..and make me feel better for eating 8 1/2 of them.
Main Ingredients
Simple cookie making ingredients are needed for this Lemon Sugar Cookie Recipe! Here’s what you need:
- Butter and Sugar – regular granulated sugar (no brown sugar here) and salted butter! If you only have unsalted butter, just add a pinch of salt with the flour and baking powder.
- Egg and Vanilla Extract – the egg is for structure while the vanilla is for flavor.
- Lemon Extract and Lemon Zest – speaking of flavor, these are where all the lemon flavor comes from. Try not to zest the white parts of the lemon rind.
- Flour and Baking Powder – flour fills out the cookies and baking powder provides essential cookie lift!
- Powdered Sugar and Lemon Juice – these two are used to make the lemon icing, optional but totally and highly recommended.
Love sugar cookies? Same here! Here are a couple more to try: Soft Pumpkin Sugar Cookies, The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe Ever, Bakery-Style Soft Baked Sugar Cookies, Sugar Cookies with Icing, and Pomegranate White Chocolate Sugar Cookies.
How to Make Lemon Sugar Cookies
This should be a super easy and familiar recipe to follow. For full recipes on how to make lemon sugar cookies, see the recipe card down below.
- Grab a stand mixer of choice and fit it with the paddle attachment. Start by creaming butter and sugar together until fluffy.
- Stir in an egg, a little vanilla, and lemon extract. And some lemon zest too.
- Now we can stir in our dry ingredients and call this dough good to go! I love cookie dough, yo.
- Scoop out your lemon sugar cookies. Obvs.
- Now call the kids over and let them go to town: take a cup, dip it into a pile of sugar and flatten out your cookies.
- Bake off these suckers and transfer them to a cooling rack. Now, you can eat these as is BUT…
…cookies are better with icing. Read on friends!
Lemon Sugar Cookies with Icing
After baking your lemon sugar cookies and letting them cool completely, make some lemon icing!
This icing is just powdered sugar and lemon juice stirred together and drizzled over the top!
Mix together until the consistency of school glue (if too wet, add more powdered sugar. If too thick add more lemon juice). After a few minutes, these will be dry and ready to eat 🙂
Freezing Instructions
Over the years, those who have made this lemon sugar cookie recipe have asked if the cookie dough can be frozen to make these ahead of time. I am happy to inform you that yes, they can be frozen.
- Simply make the dough and scoop into balls. Lay on a baking sheet and freeze for a couple of hours or until frozen.
- Once this is done, transfer the cookie dough balls to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
- When ready to bake, transfer the cookie dough balls to a prepared baking sheet. Flatten with a cup dipped in sugar then bake away!
- You might have to bake for a minute or two longer if baking from frozen. Cool lemon sugar cookies completely before icing!
More Lemon Cookie Recipes to Try!
- Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Lemon Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies with Zucchini
- Glazed Lemon Cookies
Hello, lover. I don’t know about you but I love chewy cookies. Especially chewy lemon sugar cookies. My new faves 🙂 Give them a whirl today!
Have a great week!
Lemon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar + an extra 2 tablespoons
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
for the glaze-
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and set aside.
- Cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar together in stand mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, vanilla, lemon extra and lemon zest. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.
- Scoop onto prepared sheets and flatten slightly with the bottom of a cup dipped in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake 8-9 minutes, cool 2 minutes and transfer to cooling rack.
- Stir powdered sugar and lemon juice together until smooth. Drizzle over top of each cookie. After a few minutes, the glaze should dry and you can eat them ALL.
Can I substitute lemon extract for lemon juice in rhe glaze?
yes, but the extract will make it a lot stronger, so I would use a little extract and make up the difference in milk.
Totally awesome in every way! These are my lemon scones in cookie form! Yippee! Thanks for the great recipe!
These cookies were delicious last week I made the lemon crinkles they were also awesome.
Adding this to my things to eat this weekend! I love, love, love all things lemon, yet have never made a lemon sugar cookie. I can’t wait to try this recipe out.
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We are gearing up for our summer lemonade stands and I’m thinking these are making the list- WELCOME SUMMER and all things LEMON!
If anyone has made these, how much dough are you putting on your baking sheet? It’s never mentioned!
[…] For my tarts, I used this yummy sugar cookie recipe from Lauren’s Latest. It’s the perfect amount for making 24 tarts. If you’re […]
I can,t wait to try these cookies thank you for sharing. do you have a cookbook
I can’t have dairy. Do you think I could use coconut oil instead of butter? If so would it be 1:1??
Yes, that would work nearly as well and the ratio is exactly 1:1.
These look delicious and I’ve got to try them. I love lemon! My question: About how much dough do you think you’re using for each cookie? A tablespoon, 2 tablespoons, a 1/4 of a cup? I’d like to know before I get started! Thanks!!!!!!
I don’t have a stand mixer (don’t throw eggs at me please LOL). Can I use a regular hand mixer?
Of course!
Lauren! Rebekah made these with her friend yesterday and I absolutely Love them!! They are so amazingly soft!! And lemony!! : ) Thanks for the yummy recipe!
thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!! it was delicious!
Lauren,
Hi ! I’m following you from Brazil! Love your recipes, and I have to tell you that I’m using some @ my business (a Coffee & Bakery Shop). People love them! Thanks for the wonderful recipes and comments!
Can’t wait to make these! YUM!
Just finished making these and both my husband and I agree. They are very, very good! Thanks!
I made these the other night and love them! I’m not so good at measuring sometimes…I doubled the recipe and then just used all the lemon juice from the lemon I zested, which maybe ended up being more liquid than necessary. i then had to keep adding powered sugar so the glaze wasn’t so runny. And very lemony! Which I loved, but if you don’t like lemon, this might be a bit much. Also, next time I might add poppyseeds to the batter. Thanks for the great recipe!
Ok, I did make them again, and this time added poppyseeds into the batter at the end. Equally tasty!
Lemon awesomeness!
My husband is now my slave whenever I make these. Thanks!
Thank you for an amazing recipe! I made them for my family and they were devoured…my sister ate 6 in one sitting! 🙂
I only have unsalted butter… do I add 1/4 tsp salt to the recipe? ( I usually do keep salted butter in the house but am down to my last 1/4 stick)
Want to make them today!
You can skip the salt and they will be fine or add 1/4 teaspoon if you prefer. Hope you have tried them by now but wanted to give you that info.
These are delicious! I have found some like this at a restaurant and have been dying to replicate the recipe. This is it!
I am hoping these are just like the one’s at Maggiano’s! Not sure if that is where you were referring or not but they are delicious and I’ve been looking to replicate them at home.
I’ve never eaten there!! Hopefully they’re a close match? If not, they’re still really good 🙂
These are magnificent ! The willpower is nil,
considering how moist and tasty they are. Thank
you for the recipe, I am hooked!
So amazingly delicious!
I’m in love with lemon too!!!!! and these cookies are making me want to rush home and bake them…and eat them…all lol. Such pretty pictures too, thanks for posting these 🙂
Love lemon desserts! These cookies look irresistible!
I’m all over the lemon thing. I made Lemon bread last week and shared so much of it that I had to make another one yesterday!….just for ME. So, i’m so making these this week…..and hiding them!
I have three lemons in my fruit bowl, and I think i might just need to make these! I cannot resist either! Oh well :0) That glaze is gorgeous Lauren!
Yummy! These look so yummy! Perfect for spring.
Lauren, these cookies look amazing. Do you know if the unbaked cookie dough can be frozen? I want to make these, but the batch is too big for just me and my husband.
I’d like to know if the dough can be frozen also!
I’m totally unable to resist lemon too! These cookies look awesome – love the glaze!
Wow. These are amazing! I’d make an exception for the “no sugar” rule if I had these staring at me in my kitchen too!
Love, Love Love anything and everything with lemon as well! I can’t wait to make them! Thanks Lauren!
I love lemon cookies so much. Love this recipe!
These look positively perfect. That dough begs to be eaten straight from the bowl, too.
I think these are worth every bit of extra cardio I’d have to do after eating about 6 😉