Soft Lemon Sugar Cookies

There’s something magical about lemon in baked goods. Whether it’s lemon scones, cake, poppy seed bread, or pancakes, lemon adds a brightness that’s unmatched in desserts.

And in these soft sugar cookies? Well, it’s incredible. The lemon is just enough…subtle but definitely present, yet not overpowering.

The texture of these cookies is light and fluffy, and the buttery texture melts in your mouth with each and every bite. They do have a slightly chewy texture too… it’s just the best of all worlds.

Enjoy them with a cup of tea with friends, over the holidays when you need a lighter dessert option, or whenever a lemon-dessert craving kicks in!

You can even frost them with vanilla or lemon buttercream!

Drop Cookies – So Easy!

Technically these lemon sugar cookies are drop cookies because they don’t require any rolling or cutting out of the dough. You simply need to drop the dough and bake.

For this recipe, you will need to gently press the dough down with a sugar-dipped glass, but that’s it. They are not traditional cut-out sugar cookies, but rather a simple anytime kind of cookie that’s quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

This recipe is based on my all-time favorite soft-sugar cookie recipe. So it has a few unexpected ingredients in it, like powdered sugar and vegetable oil. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

• Butter: use unsalted to control the amount of salt in the recipe, and be sure it’s properly softened to room temperature (around 68°F) to cream up properly.
• Granulated Sugar: the sugar base for these cookies.
• Powdered Sugar: using powdered sugar in these cookies helps them remain soft; if we had more granulated sugar, they’d crisp up more quickly, so powdered sugar it is for super soft cookies! It also helps with that soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
• Vegetable Oil: used to help keep the moisture in the cookies.
• Vanilla Extract: highly recommend using real vanilla extract for the best flavor.
• Egg: room temp so it incorporates fully.
• All-Purpose Flour: weigh it properly!
• Baking Soda: contributes to that light and fluffy texture.
• Cream of Tartar: a traditional ingredient in sugar cookies, it has a little tang and helps the cookie texture as it interacts with the baking soda.
• Salt: fine sea salt is my go-to
• Lemon zest and juice: we’re using both the lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice in these cookies…both because they each add a ton of fresh lemon flavor, and why would we not use the zest when we have a lemon?! Please use fresh lemon for this recipe, you don’t want to use jars of lemon juice.

And if you really want more lemon flavor, use some lemon extract in place of half of the fresh juice. It’s quite a vibrant lemon flavor addition if you’re looking for more of a pow of lemon flavor.

How to Make Super Soft Lemon Sugar Cookies

This lemon sugar cookie recipe is so easy to make!

It’s perfect all year round – from holiday Christmas cookies, to spring brunches, to summer get-togethers. There’s always a time and place for lemon sugar cookies!

So, here are the easy recipe steps, starting with the most important:

• Rub the lemon zest and sugar together. Yes, put the zest and sugars in a bowl (you can do this in the bowl of the stand mixer for ease) and rub the two between your fingers until a sand-like mixture forms. This releases the oil from the zest, infusing the sugars with even more lemon flavor.
• Cream together butter and sugar (photos 1 and 2). This helps create a light and fluffy base for the cookies, so be sure to continue creaming until they’re fully combined and lighter in color. If you’re not sure, keep going, you’ll see the change as it comes together and becomes a pale color, and basically forms into a ball.
• Add vegetable oil, egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice until combined (photo 3).
• Add the dry ingredients. I do recommend sifting the dry ingredients together before adding them to the wet ingredients to make sure they are fully incorporated (photo 4).

Chill The Dough

I do recommend chilling this dough to help the flavor develop and to help it set up in order to not spread too much during the baking process.

Here’s my silver lining: you’ll be able to clean up the kitchen and once the cookies are done baking, all you’ll have to do is enjoy them!

Do you absolutely have to chill the dough? No, I’ve made them without chilling before, and while they spread slightly more than when chilled, it’s not a huge deal. This does depend on the temperature of your home though – my home is pretty cool, which means the dough isn’t too hot to begin with. If you are in a warm environment, please be sure to chill the dough!

Bake the Cookies

• Scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet, then press with a sugar-dipped glass. Gently press a flat-bottomed glass that has been dipped in sugar on top of each dollop of dough. Don’t press too hard, you’ll be able to feel once the dough is pressed to the right amount – don’t force it further.
• And bake! The key to soft cookies is slightly underbaking them. Bake these cookies until the edges are set and only ever so slightly turning golden. If the edges look like they’re beginning to turn golden brown, take them out. If you cook them too long, the edges will be crispy (which tastes fine, it’s just a different texture than what I’ve been describing).
• Let them cool on the pan for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. This gives them time to continue setting up before you move them, keeping them together. If they’re already pretty set from baking, do remove them immediately so they don’t overbake.

Tips for Making the Best Cookies

Use Room Temperature Ingredients

It’s especially important the butter is at room temperature for this recipe. Room temperature means enough that a fingerprint holds. Not too soft that it is close to melting, and not cold enough that it doesn’t like to budge.

Room-temperature butter will cream best with the sugars to create this beautifully soft melt-in-your-mouth texture. If the butter is too cold, it will end up in small clumps and melt in odd ways as the cookies bake. You can even use a thermometer to take its temperature; around 68°F is ideal.

Weigh the Ingredients

…especially the flour! Too much flour and the cookies will be dry.

If not enough, they will end up too thin.

The best way to properly measure flour for baking is to weigh it out (this also saves on dishes – always a win). If you don’t have a kitchen scale, sift and lightly spoon the flour into a measuring cup, being careful to not pack it down. You want it light, fluffy, and not packed in.

Do Not Overbake

It’s worth repeating: bake the cookies until they are just set around the edges. This will keep the texture of the cookies soft while being slightly chewy.

How to Freeze Sugar Cookies

You can freeze either the baked cookies or the cookie dough for future baking.

To freeze baked cookies, simply let them cool completely, then store them in an airtight container in the freezer. You will likely want to wrap the cookies individually, then place them in an airtight container, for the best results.

To freeze the cookie dough, I like to use SouperCubes – they make freezing individual dough balls super easy. Otherwise, dollop the dough on a baking sheet and press down, freezing the pucks. Once they’re chilled through, transfer them to a storage bag. To bake, place the frozen dough directly in the oven and bake for an additional minute or two.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

If you love lemon sugar cookies with icing, then you are more than welcome to add some lemon buttercream frosting to these sugar cookies. It is absolutely the most irresistible combination!

It’s creamy, and soft, and is the perfect addition to the cookies.

Remember, these are not cut-out sugar cookies that hold the shape of whatever cutout you use, and then frost. These are classic sugar cookies, cookies, similar to the Lofthouse-style frosted cookies you can find in the store.

These cookies are delicious on their own, but if you’d like to decorate them, you absolutely can! The buttercream frosting recipe I’ve included is soft and spreadable. It’s easy to make ahead of time, too. You can even freeze it so you have it on hand whenever you need it.

Once it’s made, simply spread buttercream frosting on cooled cookies, then add sprinkles or sanding sugar.

Feel free to use another variety of frosting, almond, vanilla bean, or even orange would be yummy!

Common Questions

More Sugar Cookie Recipes

• Chocolate Sugar Cookies
• Brown Sugar Cookies
• Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
• Sugar Cookies turned Mini Fruit Pizzas
• Giant Raspberry Sugar Cookie

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating and review in the form below. I appreciate your feedback, and it helps others, too!