Deliciously soft and refreshing: These soft and chewy lemon cookies with cream cheese are a great alternative to traditional cookies. Definitely taste great all year round!
Hello my friends and attention to all cookie fans!
These moist lemon cookies are a delicious contrast to regular cookies. And one that tastes good all year round - especially in summer! Because these lemon cookies are wonderfully refreshing. They literally melt in your mouth 🙂
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About this Lemon Cookie Recipe
The recipe may seem a bit strange at first, as the dough is quite different from that in normal cookie recipes. This is because they are a kind of cream cheese cookies. It is also a stirred short pastry (similar to granny's rascals). Which is admittedly very soft and sticky.
The result of the ingredients and the way of preparation, the reward for the effort 😉 : incredibly soft, soft lemon cookies. A lovely little treat!
Taste & Occasion
These lemon cookies are perfect for summer parties, hot days, and any occasion which demands light and fresh pastry. As you can store them easily in a cookie box (more hints on storage at the end of this post), you can also take them along to the office or a day trip.
If done right, you will love those cookies for their fresh and dominant lemon flavor, which you can alter depending on your personal preference (see my hints below). Also, you will remember them for being light, fluffy (and - if you are like me - that you, unfortunately, made too few of them ;-)).
Ingredients
The secret ingredient for our wonderful Lemon Cookies is the cream cheese, ideally the full-fat version. Of course, they won't look as yellow naturally, so if you want them to look like a lemon outside, you need to add a few drops of yellow food color.
You can alter the lemon taste by adding more or less lemon juice and lemon zest, but even if you're lemon-addicted, keep the maximum to twice what is mentioned in the recipe below. Otherwise, the acid level in the recipe will impact the baking result.
How to make the Lemon Cookies
Should we get started?
OK. So we'll start by beating the butter (ensure it is really soft) with the sugar and the cream cheese until the you have a really creamy paste. If you want it to look even more "lemonly", you can add some yellow food color as desired.
Now stir in the egg, mix all the dry ingredients and gently stir in the lemon juice.
Those who prepare the Lemon Cookies recipe with fresh lemon juice (instead of lemon extract) will definitely get the best taste. (This applies in general, so e.g. also for the classic lemon cake from the baking sheet.) The dough has to be well cooled before you roll it into mini-balls. At least 2 hours, gladly more.
Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C degrees top and bottom heat. Cover 2 cold baking sheets with baking paper. Then take only half of the dough from the fridge and bake the lemon cookies in two stages. In each step, take small portions and roll into balls with your hands. Roll in the sugar and spread out on the baking sheet with plenty of space between them.
Also, place the dough balls on the baking sheet or baking paper with sufficient space between them. They will melt in the oven. And should not melt together 😉 . In the oven, the creamy, soft cookies get an ingenious sugar crust.
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. They may still be soft. Do the same with the second half of the dough.
Even if it's hard: the finished lemon cream cheese cookies should be allowed to cool on the baking sheet before you carefully remove them and eat them. Well, you feel like it? I look forward to your comments on these special lemon cookies!
Top Tip
For the success of the Lemon Cookies, it is very important that you follow my tips.
Not that you get me wrong: the lemon cookie recipe is not complicated or time-consuming at all. On the contrary. But you just have to pay attention to a few things. Then nothing stands in the way of summertime enjoyment!
When rolling the dough balls quickly, you can also dust your hands with sugar so that the dough sticks less.
The cookie dough is very sticky due to the cream cheese. This results in wonderfully soft biscuits. They melt a little in the oven. In order to prevent them from running extremely thin, it is important that the dough is absolutely cool. Hence, I recommend you to roll and bake the dough in two stages so that one half is still cooled while the other is already in the oven.
Recipe Card
Soft & Fluffy Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
For the dough
- 110 grams (4 oz) butter, soft
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) cream cheese, creamy and full fat
- 130 grams (4.5 oz) sugar
- 3 drops food color, yellow, optional
- 1 egg, medium size
- 230 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, up to 2 teaspoons
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
For rolling
- 50 grams (2 oz) sugar
Instructions
- Beat the soft butter with sugar and cream cheese until creamy. Add some yellow food colouring as desired. Stir in the egg. Mix all the dry ingredients and gently stir in the lemon juice.
- Cool the very sticky dough in a well covered place for at least 2 hours (overnight is also possible).Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Cover 2 cold baking sheets with baking paper. Take half of the dough from the fridge. Take small portions and roll into balls with your hands. Roll in the sugar and spread out on the baking sheet with plenty of space between them.
- Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. They may still be soft. Do the same with the second half of the dough.
- Let the cookies cool down on the baking sheet and then remove them carefully, e.g. with a mini cake pallet.
Notes
Ingredient substitutions
Recipe Variations
You can easily convert the cookies to vegan. For the cream cheese, you should use a vegan substitute (so a "vegan cheese"). Instead of the egg, you can use Apple-Banana-Mash, and replace butter also with a vegan butter substitute.
How to store the cookies
There are no special requirements how to store those cookies. You can keep them either in the fridge for a few days, or in a cookie box. If you want to keep them fluffy, additionally cover them with a plastic bag.
Nutrition
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About Kathrin & Jan
It's like a little miracle to me every time. Seemingly simple ingredients are made into something that can brighten up your life. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour melt into an airy biscuit, a fine tart, a juicy cake, or a crispy biscuit. Baking simply makes you happy. Welcome and enjoy our blog!
Kathrin & Jan
Bake at 175 degrees? Is that a typo?
Hi Steve, thanks for spotting this - it is 175°C / 350°F. I corrected it in the recipe.
Cheers
Jan