Frosted lemon cookies are the perfect warm weather treat for sharing. Soft and tender sugar cookies are topped with sweet buttercream frosting and bursting with fresh lemon flavor.
Why you'll love this recipe
Flavor/texture: A soft, tender lemon sugar cookie topped with sweet lemon buttercream frosting.
Yield: 32 cookies
Chill time: Dough must be chilled for 30 minutes before scooping and baking.
Similar to: Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars and Soft Sugar Cookies
Jump to:
Ingredients and substitutions
- Lemon - Lemon zest and juice add a burst of lemon flavor to the cookies and frosting. Want more lemon flavor? Add additional lemon zest, not juice. Zest adds flavor without making your dough wet or frosting runny.
- Dry ingredients - You'll need all-purpose flour, confectioner's sugar (for the frosting), baking powder, and salt for this recipe. I haven't tested this recipe with other flours, and it's often not a simple 1:1 swap, so don't make this recipe with other types of flours. Instead, do a quick search for a recipe developed with your preferred flour in mind.
- Wet ingredients - Butter, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and milk add flavor and moisture to your cookies. If you'd like to use salted butter, omit the listed salt in the recipe.
How to make frosted lemon cookies
- Mix your cookie dough in a large bowl. Chill for 30 minutes while your oven preheats.
- Scoop dough with a medium scoop onto your sheet pan, then gently flatten the tops.
- While your cookies bake, prepare the frosting in a large bowl.
- Transfer your baked cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before adding your frosting.
Tips and tricks
Room temperature ingredients - To bring butter to room temperature quickly, unwrap and slice into small pieces or grate with the large side of a box grater. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, add them to a bowl and cover with warm tap water. Both methods result in room temperature ingredients in about 10-15 minutes.
Properly measure flour - Adding too much flour to any baking recipe will make your dough dry. To properly measure flour, use a kitchen scale and the gram measurements in the recipe card below. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use a spoon to gently add flour into your measuring cup, then level off with a knife. Do not scoop flour directly from a bin. This compacts the flour into the cup and adds up to an extra 25% flour to your recipe.
Allow to cool before frosting - Buttercream frosting will melt, so make sure your cookies have cooled completely before adding frosting.
Frosting breaking? - Sometimes acidic ingredients like lemon juice can cause a buttercream frosting to break. If this happens, simply add another ¼ cup of confectioner's sugar to compensate.
Frequently asked questions
Cookies will keep for up to 5 days in a sealed container at room temperature or up to 3 months in the freezer. To thaw frozen cookies, place them uncovered on the countertop for 30-60 minutes.
Yes! Lemon zest and juice can be substituted with orange or lime if desired. If you give either of these flavors a try, let me know in the comments section below!
Yes, this frosting does harden and form a crust when left out for 2-3 hours after frosting. However, the frosting stays relatively soft inside and can be crushed if cookies are stacked or squished.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Frosted Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups (248 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour, *measured properly
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Frosting
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 ½ cups (284 g) confectioner's sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Cookies
- In a large bowl, add room temperature butter and sugar. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about a minute. Add eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat until fully incorporated and fluffy, about a minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually stir (or use a mixer on low speed) dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined.
- Cover bowl and chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Refrigerating allows time for flavors to meld and also creates a firmer dough that's easy to roll into balls.
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove dough from refrigerator. Scoop dough using a medium 1.5 inch cookie scoop or shape by hand into 1.5 inch balls.
- Place cookie dough balls 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten balls slightly using your hands or the bottom of a glass dusted with flour (to prevent sticking).
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until tops look set and edges barely begin to lightly brown (times will vary based on your own oven and size of cookies). Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting
- In a medium bowl, add room temperature butter, confectioner's sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Use a hand mixer to whip until frosting is smooth and spreadable. Add milk as needed to achieve desired consistency.
- Use an offset spatula or knife to spread frosting over cooled cookies. Optionally, add lemon zest as a garnish.
- Allow to air dry for a few hours before storing (frosting will crust on the outside but the inside remains soft, so pressure can cause the frosting to indent).
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- * How to measure flour properly: Use a kitchen scale to measure flour for accurate results every time. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use the spoon and level method. Stir the flour (especially if it's been packed down in a bag/container), then gently spoon into the measuring cup, leveling off the top with a knife. Scooping with a measuring cup compacts flour into the cup and adds up to 25% extra to the recipe, resulting in dry, bland cookies that don't spread properly.
- Dough storage: Cookie dough will keep in refrigerator for 2-3 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
- Cookie storage: Cookies will keep for up to 5 days in a tightly sealed container at room temperature. Add a slice of bread to the cookie container to help keep cookies moist. Replace as needed (bread will dry out).
- More tips: Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!
I had so much fun creating this recipe! I hope you give it a try and love it as much as I do. If you have a question, check out the post above, which is packed with information about the recipe. Tried the recipe? I'd love to hear your thoughts — leave a comment and a star rating to share your feedback!