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Soft & Chewy Lemon Cookies

If you adore lemons, you’ll enjoy my Soft & Chewy Lemon Cookies. These cookies have a rich, buttery texture and a refreshing, zesty flavor that comes from three lemons. They are the right mix of sweet and sour. I defy you to eat only one!

Want more ideas for lemon cookies? You might also make my Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lemon Curd Cookies, or Lemon Crinkle Cookies.

Introduction to Soft & Chewy Lemon Cookies

Hey lemon lovers! 🍋 My new Soft & Chewy Lemon Cookies are going to be a hit with you.
I think lemon is a flavor that works well all year long. It’s very flexible and refreshing, and it’s the best alternative if you want to add some non-chocolate desserts to your dessert tray.
But do you know what makes me so sad? When you see a dessert that says it’s a lemon dessert and you take a bite and it tastes like lemon. What a letdown!
But not these cookies! They are full of lemon flavor, with lemon juice, zest, and extract all in them. These Soft & Chewy Lemon Cookies could be my new favorite cookie! They are made with dough that is quite similar to my Soft & Chewy Sugar Cookies. 😍

I adore how each bite of these cookies is the right mix of sweet and sour. Before baking, coating them in sugar significantly improves the texture of the cookies and makes them appear gorgeous and glittering too!
If you want a lemon dessert for your holiday cookie trays, this is the recipe for you! For more ideas, look at my other recipes in the 2024 Holiday Cookie Series. I really like the Pumpkin Pie Cookies, Gingerbread Snickerdoodles, and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies.

Why You’ll Love These Lemon Cookies

These cookies are full of lemon flavor since they have lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract in them. They taste just right!
The lemon and sugar work together wonderfully to make a sweet and sour taste. Every bite has a little bit of sweet and sour.
No hard sugar cookies here! The texture is exquisite. I really mean it when I say these are soft and chewy. They have the right balance of dry and moist ingredients to make the perfect, dreamy texture.
No need for a rolling pin! You will roll the dough into little balls and then bake them. We don’t have time to lay out dough and measure its thickness.
Simple to follow: These steps are clear and easy to understand!

Notes about the Ingredients

(See the recipe card below for the entire recipe)

Unsalted Butter: To make it simpler to cream with sugar, let the butter come to room temperature. This helps make the texture soft and chewy. I use unsalted butter, but if you have to use salted butter, just leave out the extra salt that is specified later in the ingredients.
You will need some granulated sugar for the dough and some more to roll the cookie dough balls in before baking.
Eggs: Eggs add moisture and help hold the cookie together, which gives it its shape. The extra egg yolk makes the cookie richer and softer, and it also holds the dough together. Before you use your eggs, let them stay out of the fridge for a while so they may warm up to room temperature. Eggs that are at room temperature mix better into the batter than cold eggs do.
I use all-purpose flour for this recipe; I haven’t tried it with any other types of flour. Use the spoon-and-level approach to get the right amount so your cookies don’t turn out too thick.
Use a zester to shave off 1 tablespoon of lemon zest. Tip: When you make the dough, press the lemon zest and sugars together between your fingers to help the lemon’s natural oils come out and give the cookies even more lemon flavor.
You can use either 2 teaspoons of lemon essence or 1 teaspoon of lemon extract and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, depending on what you want.
I like to use fresh lemon juice from the lemon I zested, but bottled lemon juice works too.
Other things you need are salt, cornstarch, and baking soda.

Things You Need

12 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter
1 ½ cups of granulated sugar
1 tbsp. lemon zest
One big egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons of lemon essence (or 1 teaspoon of lemon and vanilla extract)
3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 tsp. of baking soda
1 tsp. cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice
¼ cup granulated sugar, for rolling & garnishing

Directions in Steps

(For the full recipe, go to the recipe card below.)

Begin creating the dough
Mix the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together until they are light and fluffy. Then mix in the eggs and extract(s) again.

Add the lemon juice and dry ingredients.
Put the dry ingredients on top of the baking soda. Put lemon juice on top of the baking soda to make a froth. Mix until everything is mixed together. Be careful not to mix too much.
Scoop, roll, and chill!
Scoop out the dough and shape it into balls that are about 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons big. Put it in the fridge for at least an hour.
Roll in sugar and then bake!
Cover each ball of dough with granulated sugar. For 10 to 12 minutes, bake the cookies at 325°F. As soon as the cookies are done baking, swirl a glass or cup over them while they are still warm to help them become perfect circles.
Have fun!
Let them cool on the baking sheet for five minutes before moving them to a wire rack. You can add more granulated sugar and lemon zest if you want. Then, have fun! 😋🍋

Tips from the Pros for the Best Soft and Chewy Lemon Cookies

Rub the lemon zest and sugars together: Before you put them in the mixing bowl, rub the lemon zest and sugars together between your fingers. This will help the natural oils in the lemon come out and give the cookies even more lemon taste.
Get the right measurements for the ingredients: Instead of scooping the flour with your measuring cup, use the back of a knife to level it off. If you use too much flour, these cookies won’t be as soft and chewy.
Fresh lemon juice is best: You may use bottled lemon juice, but I think fresh lemon juice really brings out the lemony flavor of these cookies.
Don’t bake them too long: When you take these cookies out of the oven, they should seem soft, fluffy, and a little undercooked. They will settle down when they cool.
To make the cookies precisely round: Put a round cookie cutter or a round drinking glass around one of the biscuits right after they come out of the oven. The cutter or glass should be bigger than the cookie so you don’t chop off any edges. Then, spin the cookies around. Swirling the biscuit makes it look beautiful and round.

Storing and Freezing

You can create the cookie dough ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for up to 2–3 days. Let it cool to room temperature, roll it in the granulated sugar, and then bake it as indicated.
Put the dough in balls that are 1½ to 2 tablespoons big and freeze them in a single layer in an airtight container for up to three months. Let the dough come to room temperature, roll it in the granulated sugar, and then bake it as indicated.
You may keep these baked cookies on the counter in an airtight container for 3–4 days or freeze them for up to 3 months.

Detailed Method

Beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. (Pro tip: you may press the lemon zest and sugars together between your fingertips to assist release the natural oils in the lemon and infuse even more lemon flavor into the cookies). 12 tbsp unsalted butter, softened, 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, 1 tbsp. lemon zest
Add eggs and extract(s), stir again. 1 large egg, room temperature, 1 large egg yolk, room temperature, 2 tsp. lemon essence (or 1 tsp. each lemon and vanilla extract)
Add the dry ingredients in a mound with baking soda on top. 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. cornstarch, 3/4 tsp. salt
Add the lemon juice on top of the baking soda, it will foam = activated. 2 tbsp. lemon juice
Mix just till blended. Do not over mix.
You can refrigerate the dough immediately as is or scoop and roll into balls and then refrigerate. Balls will be about ~1 ½-2 tbsp. in size.
Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Add roughly ¼ cup granulated sugar into a bowl and roll the balls in the granulated sugar. ¼ cup of granulated sugar for rolling and decorating
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and arrange about 6-8 cookies at a time on a baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 min. DO NOT OVERBAKE. These ought to be very soft and chewy.
When the cookies are still warm, swirl a cup around them to create them perfect circles.
Rest on a cookie sheet for only 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. They will look puffy out of the oven but settle as they cool.
Sprinkle the tops of cookies with extra granulated sugar for a glittering finish and lemon zest if desired.

If using salted butter, simply eliminate the additional salt in Step 3.
Store on the counter in an air-tight jar for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Nutritional Information

Serving: 1 cookie, Calories: 203kcal (10%), Carbohydrates: 32g (11%), Protein: 2g (4%), Fat: 8g (12%), Saturated Fat: 4g (25%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 36mg (12%), Sodium: 144mg (6%), Potassium: 28mg (1%), Fiber: 1g (4%), Sugar: 18g (20%), Vitamin A: 235IU (5%), Vitamin C: 1mg (1%), Calcium: 8mg (1%), Iron: 1mg (6%)

Nutritional information is supplied as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be considered as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can fluctuate and Kroll’s Korner can’t give any promises to the correctness of this information.

Final Step

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