These frosted lemon cookies are soft and chewy and loaded with real lemon juice and zest. Topped with light and fluffy lemon cream cheese frosting, these cookies are easy to make and the perfect treat for lemon lovers.
If you love lemon treats as much as I do, check out my recipes for Lemon Biscotti, Lavender Lemon Shortbread Cookies, and Lemon Meringue Cheesecake.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- These large lemon cookies (think Crumbl style) are soft, thick, and chewy with lightly crisp edges.
- The lemon frosting is light, fluffy, and lemony with a slight tang from cream cheese.
- No chilling of the dough is necessary.
- Easy to follow recipe with step-by-step photo instructions for perfect frosted lemon cookies every time.
Recipe Ingredient Notes
(See recipe card for a full list of ingredients and amounts.)
Unsalted butter – Melted and room temperature. Using melted butter contributes to the cookies chewy interior and results in less spread when baking.
Eggs – One full egg and one egg yolk contributes to the cookies fluffy structure and lends a bit of richness.
Lemon zest and juice – The oil in lemon zest is highly concentrated lemon flavor, far more than the juice itself. Both the zest and juice are used in this recipe.
Cream cheese - Use full fat cream cheese. Reduced fat and fat free tend to contain more water.
Recipe Instructions
(See recipe card for a detailed recipe instructions.)
- Whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Combine the granulated sugar and lemon zest. Mix the zest into the sugar until it is moist and very fragrant. This maximizes and intensifies the lemon flavor of the curd.
- Beat in the melted butter until well incorporated. Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla.
- Beat in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
- Scoop the cookie dough using a large cookie scoop and place on two cookie sheets lined with parchment. Six cookies per cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes until the centers look just set and no longer shiny. Cool completely.
- Beat together the butter, cream cheese and lemon juice until smooth.
- Beat in the powdered sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Distribute the frosting between the cookies. I like to use a piping bag but you can use a cookie scoop or spoon.
- Spread the frosting over the cookie and enjoy.
Baking Tips
- Don't over bake the cookies. The tops should be just set and no longer glossy. Don't leave the cookies in the oven longer because they will continue to bake from residual heat once they've been removed. Err on the side of under baking just a bit for the best texture.
- Immediately after the cookies come out of the oven, scoot a large round cookie cutter around them in circular motion. This helps shape them to be perfectly round.
- Whip the frosting until light and fluffy. Whipping the frosting after everything has been beaten together ensures a light, airy, and fluffy frosting. This usually takes about 3-5 minutes.
Storage
These frosted lemon cookies are best the day the made. Cookies should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Cookie dough can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to a month.
Recipe FAQs
You can use any size cookie scoop to portion the dough. I use a large scoop to make larger, thicker cookies, but you can use a standard size or a mini cookie scoop. Adjust the baking time for smaller cookies.
Orange, lime and grapefruit are also wonderful this recipe.
Did you make this recipe? Share it with us! Tag @littlevintagebaking on Instagram and leave a star rating below if you LOVED this recipe. For more baking and decorating ideas follow me on Pinterest.
More Cookie Recipes to Try
Recipe
Frosted Lemon Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Electric Stand Mixer (optional)
Ingredients
Lemon Cookies
- 2 ⅔ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- Zest of a large lemon
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and room temperature
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Lemon Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 ½ cups confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
Lemon Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Rub the mix between your fingers to release the oils. The mixture will be like wet sand and very fragrant.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the melted butter. Beat until well incorporated.
- Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.
- Beat in the flour mixture just until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then beat again for 15 more seconds.
- Using a large cookie scoop (I use #20, filling it about ¾ full) scoop the cookie dough, placing 6 cookie dough balls per baking sheet. You should have 12 cookies total.
- Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are golden around the edges and the centers no longer look wet. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Lemon Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, cream cheese and lemon juice. Mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- On low speed, beat in the powdered sugar, lemon zest and salt.
- Turn the speed to medium high and whip the frosting for 2-3 minutes, or until it's light, smooth and fluffy.
- Top the cooled cookies with frosting.
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