Lemon Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

Dough

• 75 grams unsalted butter softened
• 125 grams granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 egg yolk room temperature
• ½ egg white room temperature
• 11 ml lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
• 160 grams all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Lemon sugar

• 25 grams granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon lemon zest

Instructions

1. Combine soft butter, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl and beat with an electric stand mixer on medium-high speed for 1-2 minutes until a bit pale and slightly fluffy. You can also use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. TIP: you can rub the lemon zest and sugars together between your fingertips to help release the natural oils in the lemon and infuse even more lemon flavor into the cookies.
2. Add the egg and mix until well incorporated, then mix in egg yolk and vanilla.
3. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend evenly.
4. Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl with the butter mixture and mix gently on low speed until mostly combined but not smooth. There should still be some dry patches of flour visible. Add the lemon juice and mix on low to just to incorporate. The dough will be sticky at this point. Scrape down the beaters to get all of it off, then switch to a spatula. Add the rest of the flour and fold it in.
5. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
6. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
7. Make the lemon sugar. Combine sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and rub it together until the sugar smells fragrant.
8. Use a 1.35-oz cookie scoop to portion dough and roll into smooth balls. Roll the balls of dough in the sugar so they are evenly coated.
9. Place dough balls on the lined baking trays spacing them 3 inches apart and bake for 9-11 minutes until lightly golden on the edges and still slightly soft in the middle. Do not over-bake. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

16 November 2025: I made a half-batch of these today for the first time. They came out very well. Some notes: I think I made 12 cookies, so they were a little smaller than the ones in the recipe. I didn’t note it at the time, but I think they were about 40 grams each (will need to check next time) and I used the black cookie scoop. I flattened them a bit before baking, which helped them to spread, but they needed to be pressed down a little bit while baking, too. I used a quarter sheet pan lined with parchment. The first time I used a double layer of parchment and the cookies didn’t brown, even after 12 minutes, so for the second half-batch I used only a single layer, and they still didn’t brown (but turned out just fine). So the single layer of parchment is fine, but don’t expect browning. I was concerned that the 12 minutes would be too long because the recipe specified 9-11 minutes (for larger cookies), but 12 minutes was fine, and they stayed fresh and chewy for days. Next time I think I would skip the sugar coating, but still roll them in lemon zest before baking. I baked them on rack 3 for 12 minutes, and let them cool on the pan for several minutes before transferring to the wire rack.