Sweet and lemony, these Lemon Sugar Cookies make a great dessert or snack. Fast and easy to make, these cookies are ready to eat in less than 30 minutes.
Soft and chewy on the inside and crispy on the edges, these cookies are a refreshing change from traditional sugar cookies.
Ingredients For Lemon Sugar Cookies
A total of nine ingredients are needed to make this cookie recipe:
- White sugar.
- Lemon zest.
- Butter.
- Vegetable oil.
- Eggs.
- Lemon extract.
- All-purpose flour.
- Baking powder.
- Sea salt.
Infusing the Sugar With Lemon Flavor
This step of the recipe can be skipped but we highly recommend infusing the sugar to get the most lemon flavor.
It is easy to infuse the sugar with tons of lemon flavor using a stand or hand mixer. Place both the sugar and the lemon zest into the bowl and beat on medium for 2-3 minutes.
This releases the oils in the zest. The oil then gets absorbed by the sugar, bringing so much more lemony flavor to the cookies.
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Can I use Lemon Juice Instead Of Extract?
This is not something we recommend. Lemon juice can be added in place of extract but the flavor won’t be there.
Lemon Extract is much stronger in flavor than juice so less is needed to get the full flavor.
Love lemon recipes? You may also like our Homemade Lemon Tarts.
Tips For Making Lemon Sugar Cookies
These cookies are easy to make and these tips make them even easier.
- The cookies have to be pressed down before baking. This is easily done with the bottom of a glass dipped in additional sugar.
- The dough will be sticky. When rolling the dough into balls, dampen your hands slightly to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.
- Don’t overbake the cookies. They should be crispy on the edges and light and chewy in the center.
Make The Cookies Festive
Lemon Sugar Cookies can be served at any time of year. We like to make them at Easter but we also enjoy them at Christmas.
To make them festive for a holiday, a cookie stamp is one way we like to use. Instead of using a glass to press down on the dough balls, we use Christmas stamps.
A sprinkle of colored sugar can also be added to the tops of cookies before baking to match a color theme.
Storing Lemon Sugar Cookies
Keep these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.
Lemon Sugar Cookies can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to three months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
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Lemon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1½ cups white sugar
- 3 Tbsp lemon zest
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon extract
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- additional white sugar for pressing cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, add sugar and lemon zest. Beat for 2-3 minutes to infuse the sugar with lemon.
- Add in the butter and continue beating until smooth and creamy.
- Beat in the eggs, vegetable oil, and lemon extract.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Stir until combined.
- Roll cookie dough into 1-inch balls and place 2-3 inches apart on prepared pans.
- Dip bottom of a flat bottomed glass in sugar and press down on each cookie dough ball until flat and about ⅛ of an inch thick.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the edges of cookies are starting to turn brown.
- Cool on pan for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
