Lemon Shortbread Cookies:
Literally the best cookies ever! These light, buttery cookies offer a subtle lemon flavor, and are topped with a bright and vibrant lemon glaze, giving you a mouthful of delicious goodness. These are special cookies.
So special, I have made an apple version for the fall–apple shortbread cookies.
Lemon Shortbread Cookies/h1>
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These Lemon Shortbread Cookie embodies the taste of summer! It is lemony sweet and sour goodness with a light, refreshing, taste, and a melt away goodness. These are one of my favorite cookies, but warning, they are dangerously good, and come together start to finish in less than 15 minutes, so it is easy to succumb to their siren’s call. You may find yourself eating the whole batch, so bake with a friend, there is safety in numbers!
The first time I madeLemon Shortbread Cookies I made them too sweet, so I played around and tweaked them until I reached utter perfection. But I wasn’t sure I could trust my own judgement because I was kind of in a sugar coma haze of deliciousness. So I took them to bowling league.
Fun Fact about me: I love to bowl.
The ladies at league gobbled them up. Everyone raved about them, and a month later when we were having a bowling pot luck they all asked me to bring them again. I am not just saying these are the best cookies ever. Literally every single person who has ever had the privilege of eating one has agreed with me. So do yourself a favor and make a big batch!
Baking Tools Used:
These are shortbread, so they are soft with a bit of crispness on the edges. They end up so tender and just melt away in your mouth.
Making Lemon Shortbread Cookies
- Choosing Your Lemons: For these delights, I used Meyer lemons the first time I made them. They are slightly sweeter variety, and make for a nice alternative if you don’t like pucker. You can also use baby sweet lemons, which are a cross between lemons and another citrus. But honestly, any lemon variety will work.
- Know your Dough: This dough can be a little sandy. The more you work with it, the softer and more cohesive it becomes. So if your cookies aren’t staying together, knead the dough a little.
- Cut with a biscuit cutter for a uniform shape.
- Don’t over-bake: These shortbread cookies do not brown. If you wait for them to brown you will be eating hard cookies. Stick with the time, and just be gentle when removing them from the pan. Once they cool they will stay together just fine. Spoon the glaze over the top if they are still warm so that they don’t break while glazing.
- Bake on a silicone baking mat for easy removal.
These cookies are bite worthy in my estimation, and I hope you will love them as much as we do.
Try these other great cookie recipes too:
- Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
- Graham cracker chocolate chip cookies
- Peppermint Chocolate Cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Funfetti Sugar Cookies
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (softened)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbs lemon juice fresh
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbs lemon juice fresh
- 1/2 tbs milk 2%
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- In a mixer, mix together your butter and powdered sugar and lemon juice.
- When it is incorporated add in the salt and mix again.
- Then sift and add in the flour, and mix for a couple minutes. It will look like sand. Keep mixing and it will start to be more cohesive.
- Using your hands kind of squash it together to form a ball.
- Roll it out on a smooth surface using a rolling pin until it is about 3/4 a centimeter thickness.
- Use a round Cookie Cutteror biscuit cutter to form cookies.
- Transfer to a lined baking sheet. I used a pancake turner to transfer cookies from counter to pan without them falling apart or getting messed up.
- Bake on an un-greased baking sheet for 6 minutes. (do not brown)
- Let cool on pan 1 minute
- Move to a cooling rack
- Mix together glaze by whisking all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
- Glaze cookies by spooning glaze over the top, then let cool until glaze firms up.
- Lemon Zester a little lemon on top (optional)
- This makes 18 cookies
Video
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Hannah says
I made these last night for a potluck, and they were a big hit! I didn’t use Meyer lemons because I like tart lemons (also, I have no idea where I’d find Meyer lemons in my neighborhood), and I don’t have a sifter for my flour, but they still came out perfectly.
I REALLY appreciated all the details in the recipe instructions such as the tip to use a spatula to move the cookie dough onto the baking sheet, the note about not waiting for the cookies to brown before removing them from the oven, and the warning that the dough would look like sand before coming together. I always worry that I’m doing something wrong when I try a new recipe, so it’s very helpful to have guideposts that let you know you’re on the right track! And the result was so tasty, I will definitely be making these cookies again in the near future.
Sue says
Do you think these would work in a shortbread pan? I’m rating 5 stars, cause everything I make from your site is great. Thanks.
Rachael says
Hi Sue, I have never tried in a shortbread pan, but I can’t see why not. Let me know if you try it and what you think. Thank you so much for the sweet comment.
Beth says
Made these with gluten free 1 for 1 flour and they were horrible. All went in the trash…hope they’re good with regular flour but will never know, I can’t have wheat….
Lynne says
Hi Beth, it seems rather unfair to rate a recipe because it didn’t work with gluten free flour. If this recipe was specifically for gluten free cookies, then it would be fair to rate it. Just my 2 cents.
Rachael says
Thanks Lynne, I am so glad most of my readers are smart enough to realize that when someone makes “my” recipes and changes them, but gives a bad review that it isn’t a real reflection on the recipe. Thanks for having my back!
Allison says
You can’t substitute gluten-free flour 1:1 with regular flour in most recipes (especially baking) and expect it to turn out good.
Sharon says
These look and sound delicious! Just pinned recipe and hope to make later today 🙂 Can they be frozen once glaze sets? Also, wondering if it would work if I rolled dough into a log, chilled, and then sliced into 3/4″ thick rounds? Thanks!
Rachael says
HI! Yes you can freeze them. I make them ahead for my husband to take on work trips with him. I haven’t tried the rolling them into a log, if you try it and it works, please let me know. thanks!
Maxie Bryant says
I prepared the dough the night before I baked them and made it into two rolls in wax paper. The next day I sliced them into 1/4 inch slices. I baked them for 10 minutes (because the dough was cold) at 375 and they were perfect! They browned a tiny bit around some of the edges, but we thought they were perfect! The glaze is amazing! We love this recipe!
Sharon says
Hello??
Rachael says
So Sorry, my daughter had surgery around the time you left your comment, and I missed it! I really try to respond to all comments. But sometimes life gets crazy and things slip through the cracks.
Andromeda says
Could you use these for cut out cookies? I was wanting to use a Batman cookie cutter for my son’s birthday.
Kelly says
These held their shape really well for me- I think they would be great as shaped cookies. They don’t spread or anything- perfect recipe for that IMO.
Rebecca says
I made this recipe vegan, just needed to add a bit more oil! Great recipe. I added some zest to the dough for extra zing.
Rachael says
How awesome, so glad it turned out for you!
lolajane says
thank god I was looking for a vegan to say if they tried it 🙂
Kelly says
The icing is 90% of the lemon flavor- the shortbread itself didn’t come out very… anything? Not buttery, not lemony- the icing was really necessary to call it ‘lemon’ anything. These were really simple to pull together which was nice, but not a stand out flavor or texture for me.
Rachael says
Hi Kelly, thanks for the feedback. I love that the glaze gives it such a nice lemon flavor, and that is why it is included in the recipe. But I can see what you mean. Sorry you did not like them.
Justin says
Hello
Great recipe! Question, when I made it I didn’t have a mixer so I melted the butter and made my own powered sugar. The dough didn’t seem to wanna set despite tons of mixing, tried chilling but still wouldn’t combine.
Rachael says
I haven’t tried it the way you mentioned so I am not sure what happened. I am sorry I don’t have an answer for you.
Emily T. says
I think the problem is that you melted the butter. You want to have a solid butter like room temp but not melting. Melting the butter does not work well with cookies. Room temp and cold butter are the only things that work well with cookies. Also never used whipped butter. Best thing to use is stick butter salted. Unless the recipe calls for something else it should be salted stick butter or margarine with 80% fat.. this may have been your problem with the dough with the butter being melted. I found the best way with butter is to put gloves on with the cookie dough and hand mix to break the butter up until you can whisk everything else!
Allison says
I agree with Emily, by melting the butter you are changing the structure of the dough and you won’t get the results you are expecting. With the butter at room temperature, creaming the butter and sugar should result in a light almost fluffy texture. With melted butter, I would assume “creaming” the butter and sugar would result in a soupy mess.
Stephanie says
I really wanted to love these, as they were so simple to make. I made my cookies smaller, so I had 36 from a recipe for 18. That’s great, but at 375F for 6 minutes gave me cookies that tasted like raw flour. The lemon juice did not impart any flavor to the cookies, although the glaze was tasty. I’ve returned them to the oven many times, trying to get them to not look & taste raw. Yes, my oven functions normally for other recipes, so I don’t think that’s the problem. Did anyone else have a problem with the timing?
Rachael says
I am so sorry they tasted raw to you. I am not sure what is going on. The cookie base isn’t the most flavorful, it is meant to be served with the glaze, but they certainly shouldn’t taste raw. I will make them today and troubleshoot.
Brian says
I had problem with them to sing like Reidell also. I wonder if the time needs to be longer than six minutes. I haven’t put mine back in for an extra minute or two and they still didn’t taste done.
Shelia Steptoe says
Just made these today because I had 20 something Meyers lemons on my tree this December. These cookies turned out absolutely amazing!!! So delicious! I used 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in icing and put zest on cookies. They are to die for!!! I do appreciate this wonderful recipe!
Rachael says
THANK YOU! We love this recipe, so glad you enjoyed!
Teresa George says
How did you get the rolling pin not to stick ? I love shortbread cookies ,but I’m not very good at baking them .
Rachael says
I have coated it in powdered sugar before, and have done nothing. Depends on the day.
Laura says
I have made these the last two Mothers days and I think forever more! Perfect recipe, perfect cookie and perfect taste. Thank you for this recipe:)
Emily says
Hello,
Hope you’re well! I was wondering if you had the measurements for this lemon Biscuit recipe in grams? Thanks, Emily 🙂
Rachael says
I do not, but I do believe if you google it, you can find some metric conversion calculators.
Barb says
They were very tasty. Quite enjoyed them.
However, I’m only giving 4 stars because for the 1st Batch, after 6 minutes @ 375º F, they were still barely baked. Popped that batch back into the oven for another 3 minutes. Still could have done a wee bit longer.
The 2nd batch I dropped the oven to 350ºF for 13 minutes. That was perfect for my oven.
The instructions state: “rolling pin until it is about 3/4 a centimer thickness”. I made my cookies 1/4” thick. Used a 2” scalloped-edged cutter and came up with 34 cookies.
Oh, and I placed the rolled out dough into the fridge for 2 hours to firm up. I then placed the cut-out cookies back into the fridge while the oven warmed up.
Thanks for the recipe.
Agatha says
I’m not in the mood to churn cream into butter. But these cookies turned out perfectly.
Rachael says
Hahahaha