Soft Chewy Lemon Cookies (Print Version)
Tender lemon cookies with fresh zest and juice, offering a chewy texture and bright citrus flavor in every bite.
# What You Need:
→ Dry Ingredients
01 - 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
02 - ½ teaspoon baking soda
03 - ½ teaspoon salt
→ Wet Ingredients
04 - 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
05 - 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
06 - 1 large egg
07 - 1 egg yolk
08 - 2 tablespoons lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
09 - ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
10 - 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
→ For Rolling
11 - ½ cup granulated sugar (optional, for coating)
# Directions:
01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
02 - In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
03 - In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
04 - Beat in the egg, then the egg yolk, followed by the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract, mixing until well combined.
05 - Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing on low speed just until incorporated. Do not overmix.
06 - Scoop tablespoon-sized portions of dough and roll into balls. Optionally, roll each ball in granulated sugar for a sweet coating.
07 - Place the cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
08 - Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the edges are set but the centers remain soft and slightly underbaked.
09 - Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
# Expert Tips:
01 -
- The texture walks a perfect line between a sugar cookie and a shortbread, tender and almost gooey in the center.
- Real lemon juice and zest give a brightness that extract alone could never pull off.
02 -
- Pulling cookies from the oven when the centers still look a touch underdone is the single most important step for that chewy melt in your mouth texture.
- Overmixing once the flour goes in develops gluten and turns soft cookies into bread like ones, so stop stirring the instant everything comes together.
03 -
- Use a cookie scoop rather than a regular spoon so every cookie is the same size and bakes at the same rate.
- Zest your lemons before juicing them because trying to zest a squeezed dry lemon half is a frustrating exercise in futility.