Soft Lemon Sugar Cookies | Easy Chewy Citrus Cookie Recipe
Soft, chewy lemon sugar cookies with bright citrus flavor, crisp edges, and tender centers. Simple pantry ingredients and a quick chill deliver bakery-style cookies fast.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter, room temperature
- Granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling
- Egg
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Fine sea salt
- Pure vanilla extract
- Fresh lemon zest
- Fresh lemon juice
- Optional: Lemon extract
- Optional: Powdered sugar, for dusting
- Optional: Coarse sparkling sugar, for rolling
Instructions
Instructions
- Line two baking sheets with parchment and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Combine granulated sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl and rub together with fingertips until fragrant and moist.
- Add softened butter and beat 2–3 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed.
- Beat in the egg, vanilla, and lemon juice until smooth; add a few drops of lemon extract if using.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix on low until just combined with no dry streaks.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for 20–30 minutes.
- Scoop 1½-tablespoon portions of dough and roll each in granulated or coarse sparkling sugar.
- Arrange on prepared sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart, and bake 9–11 minutes until edges are set and centers look slightly soft and puffy.
- Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Notes
Measure flour accurately to avoid dense cookies. Slightly underbake for chewy centers. Use fresh lemon zest for the strongest citrus flavor. Bake one pan at a time for even results. Dough can be chilled up to 48 hours; if very firm, let sit 10–15 minutes before scooping. Freeze baked cookies up to 2 months, or freeze sugar-coated dough balls and bake from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes. Optional variations: lemon glaze, poppy seeds, strawberry powder, extra zest/extract, lemon-lime blend, white chocolate chips, or gluten-free/dairy-free swaps.