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Crispy lemon cookies bring the zing with bright citrus flavor, buttery crunch, and a sprinkle of sweetness. Drizzle them with tangy lemon icing or keep it simple. Bold, zesty, and unapologetically crunchy, because boring cookies aren’t invited.
While these crispy lemon cookies are amazing on their own, they’re also the perfect base for my Lemon icebox cake.
Here is Why This Crispy Lemon Cookie Recipe Works
Big lemon flavor, no artificial vibes: Thanks to fresh lemon zest, juice, and culinary-grade lemon oil, these cookies pack a citrusy punch without tasting like cleaning spray.
Crispy perfection: The buttery crunch gives these cookies a satisfying snap—because nobody wants a soggy cookie.
Customizable topping: Keep it simple with a sprinkle of sugar or go all out with tangy lemon icing. Either way, you win.
Quick and easy: Minimal chilling, straightforward steps, and no rolling pins required. Your cookie game just got a whole lot simpler.
If you love a little crunch to your cookie, try our crispy chocolate cookies or our homemade gingersnaps.
The Ingredients
- Pantry: All-purpose flour, cornstarch, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, coarse sugar.
- Spices and seasonings: Baking soda, salt.
- Produce: Lemon zest, lemon juice.
- Fridge: Butter.
- Other: Lemon oil (culinary grade).
Variations
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies: Stir 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds into the cookie batter.
Coconut Lemon Cookies: Mix in ½ cup of shredded coconut into the cookie batter.
Almond Lemon Crisp Cookies: Add ½ teaspoon of almond extract to the batter and top with slivered almonds before baking.
Tips for Success
- Use a kitchen scale for precise measurements, especially for the flour, to avoid overly dense cookies.
- Chilling the cookie dough, even briefly, makes it easier to handle and prevents excessive spreading.
- Culinary grade lemon oil gives the cookies an intense, natural lemon flavor. Skip the essential oils meant for diffusers.
- Use a spatula or glass dipped in flour to get uniform thickness for even baking.
- Pull the cookies as soon as the edges turn golden; they’ll crisp up as they cool.
- Adding the coarse sugar while the cookies are still warm so it sticks.
Storing Lemon Crisp Cookies
Room Temperature: Store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Freezing: To freeze, arrange the cooled cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Transfer the frozen cookies to a resealable freezer bag or airtight container. They’ll stay fresh for up to 3 months.
Crisp Lemon Thins
Thin crisp lemon cookies are the perfect pairing for a cup of tea or coffee. These cookies are a little slice of nostalgia and comfort, with a texture that stays crispy long after baking.
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Thin Crisp Lemon Cookies
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Ingredients
- 2-¼ cups all-purpose flour, 270 grams
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 sticks butter, melted and cooled (230 grams)
- 1-½ cups granulated sugar, 300 grams
- ¾ teaspoon lemon oil, see notes
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons coarse sugar for finishing
Optional lemon icing
- 1-½ cups powdered sugar, 169 grams
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F
- Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together, whisk to combine, and reserve until needed.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the lemon oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest, and mix until well blended.
- Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter and mix at low speed. Slowly add the remaining flour and increase the speed to medium until well blended. The dough will be very soft.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 to 20 minutes to firm up slightly (this will make the dough easier to handle but you can skip this step and the dough will eventually firm up while it sits at room temperature.)
- Drop 12 rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Space the cookies to allow for spreading. With a silicone spatula dipped into flour, or the bottom of a glass, flatten each of the mounds to 1/4 inch thickness.
- Transfer to the middle rack of the oven and bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until the edges begin to turn slightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool 3 minutes on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the cookies with coarse sugar while they are still warm. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will get crisp when they completely cool down.
For the lemon icing:
- Place the powdered sugar in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time until you get a consistency that is easy to drizzle on the cookies.
- Drizzle the cookies with lemon icing and let the icing dry before storing.
Notes
- Lemon oil has a much more intense lemon flavor than lemon extract. Lemon oil will also give the cookies a more natural lemon flavor.
- To get an equivalent lemon flavor by using lemon extract instead of lemon oil, you will need to use over 1 tablespoon of extract and the cookies will have an artificial flavor.
- Make sure you use a culinary grade lemon oil and NOT lemon essential oil that is intended for aroma diffusers.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Do you know if this dough is freezer friendly? Now that my husband and I both work full time day jobs, getting the holiday baking done requires some aggressive pre-planning. I try to batch my doughs in late November and early December so we can just bake bake bake when the time is right. I’d love to add this to my arsenal, and will test the freezability myself, but was curious if anyone had ever tried it.
I can’t wait to taste these, my lemon oil arrived two days ago and I’m thrilled to have added it to my pantry!
Yes, you definitely can freeze this cookie dough. Thanks for the question. Enjoy all your cookie baking 😉
A very good lemon cookie. I’ve tried it twice, and I never get a batter. Just a mixture that resembles crumbles if making biscuits. But they still turn out great. Thanks.
Thanks for the comment, Fred. Glad you enjoyed them. Are you weighing the flour?
This is my third time making these yummy cookies. Previously I only had extract on hand but this time I used lemon baking emulsion. Yay, way more lemony. One change I make is flattening the dough with a glass dipped in regular granulated sugar. It leaves just a little sugar on each cookie and keeps the dough from sticking. Love, love, love these cookies!
Thanks for the comment, Linda. Great idea to dip the glass in sugar
Hi! I made these cookies tonight and they were wonderful. However, your recipe says to spoon them out with a rounded teaspoon. That looked way too small, so I used a rounded tablespoon instead. Even so, I got 24 cookies from the recipe (but who’s complaining!).
Hi, Peter….I am so pleased you enjoyed these cookies. Thanks for that catch, a teaspoon would make a small cookie….it should be a tablespoon and I have corrected the recipe card. I love the bright lemony flavor of these cookies….thanks again for your feedback to us.
Hi! I’ve had this recipe Saved for a while, and came back to check the ingredients, and noticed you changed the amount of flour and sugar. The changes definitely improved the cookie. I find the lemon (a bit more oil) and sweetness to be perfect. I do make them a bit smaller, and bake them at 350. I also experimented with reverse creaming for these, and even better, and easier. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you, Michelle for your comments, we love to hear back from our readers when they try our recipes. I am pleased that these cookies worked well for you!
2 sticks of butter is how many grams.?
Patricia!
Hi, Pat….That would be 226 grams….each stick says 113g
They look like they have been rolled/dipped in granulated sugar…after baking…cooled…still warm…?also…at the top of the recipe it shows yield 12…
Other than that…this recipe looks like what i’ve been wanting for a couple years…looking forward to trying them now for later use on Christmas trays…thank you…?..I do not use or check e-mail…only listed as a requirement….
Hi, Dianne, No rolling of the cookie dough, just scoop the chilled dough and flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped into flour. I have added the sprinkling of coarse sugar to the warm cookies to the recipe. Yes, this will give you 12 cookies. Thank you so much for your comments. I hope this recipe works out for your Christmas trays. 🙂
. The cookies were good but barely tasted of lemon. I would double the lemon extract ( I didn’t have lemon oil) and lemon peel next time and see.
Hi, Susie….I’m sorry your were disappointed with the lemon flavor in the cookies. Lemon extract is way less flavorful than the lemon oil but increasing the lemon zest should help. Thanks for your comments 🙂