GLAZED LEMON COOKIES

Lemon Glazed Cookies made with buttery sugar cookie dough, fresh lemon juice, and zest for a bright citrus flavor. A sweet lemon glaze takes these soft cookies to the next level!

These little lemon cookies are favorites of mine. We start with a buttery sugar cookie dough and infuse bright lemon flavor with both fresh lemon zest and lemon juice. The cookies are soft inside with crisp outer edges. We finish them with a lovely sweet lemon glaze that I just want to eat by the spoonful!

Recipe Highlights

• Fresh Lemon Flavor – Made with real lemon juice and zest, these cookies have the perfect bright, citrusy flavor in every bite.
• Soft & Buttery Texture – The combination of butter, sugar, and a tender cookie dough creates soft cookies with slightly crisp edges.
• Sweet Lemon Glaze – A simple homemade lemon icing adds the perfect finishing touch with an extra burst of sweet and tart flavor.

Ingredients for Glazed Lemon Cookies

Butter: Butter creates a rich flavor and helps give these cookies their soft texture with lightly crisp edges.

Lemon: Fresh lemon juice and zest add bright citrus flavor to both the cookies and the sweet lemon glaze.

Eggs: Eggs help bind the dough together while adding structure and moisture to the cookies.

Sugars: A combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar adds sweetness while keeping the cookies soft and flavorful.

Flour: Flour provides the structure needed to create a tender cookie that holds its shape.

Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the cookies rise slightly and creates a soft, delicate texture.

Salt: Salt balances the sweetness and enhances the lemon and buttery flavors.

Vanilla: Vanilla adds a warm depth of flavor that complements the bright lemon taste.

Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar creates the smooth, sweet glaze that tops each lemon cookie.

How to Store Lemon Glazed Cookies

Make sure you let the icing set before storing the cookies in an airtight container on the countertop. Once the icing is set, the cookies will stack just fine, but if you’re nervous about it, you can put a piece of parchment between the layers.

Can you freeze Glazed Lemon Butter Cookies?

Yes! Even iced cookies freeze well. An airtight container works the best, but you can freeze them in 2 layers in a gallon sized bag with a piece of parchment paper between the layers.

How to make Glazed Lemon Cookies

Can I use Lemon Extract Instead of Lemon Zest or Juice?

I prefer to use lemon juice and lemon zest instead of lemon extract because the fresh lemon instills a much more authentic flavor than the extract. I use other extracts in baking, but lemon just tastes terrible to me! I just taste an alcohol flavor instead of lemon flavor. If you really, really don’t want to use fresh lemon, a Lemon Emulsion has better flavor than an extract.

How to juice a lemon

I often use bottled lemon juice in this recipe, but it’s very easy to get fresh lemon juice if you prefer! To get the juice from a lemon, I just cut the lemon in half and squeeze it really hard. You can also use a citrus press like this one to get all the juice out of the lemon.

How to zest a lemon

You can also add a little more lemon flavor to the recipe by adding some lemon zest to the icing.

Don’t be intimidated about getting the zest from a lemon – it’s really easy! And fresh lemon zest adds such an amazing lemon flavor to recipes!

Lemon zest is just tiny pieces of the outside of the peel of a lemon. I use the small side of a regular cheese grater – as long as the holes are tiny, it will work just fine. You can also use a citrus zester like this one if you prefer! Either way, make sure to just grate the darker yellow outer layer of the lemon peel. Once you have revealed the lighter part of the peel underneath, rotate the lemon and start grating another part of the outer layer.

How do I soften butter?

The traditional way of softening butter is leaving however much you need for a recipe out at room temperature for long enough to soften. However, there are some other, quicker ways to soften butter such as: cutting up the butter, pounding the butter, beating the butter and if it comes to it, microwaving the butter. If microwaving, use the defrost setting for only about 15 seconds. You don’t want your butter to melt!

Enjoy more of our Lemon Cookie recipes here:

• Our Lemon Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with bright lemon flavor in every bite! They’re an easy cookie that feels like a bakery treat.
• These Lemon Zucchini Cookies are the perfect way to use up fresh zucchini! Finished with a simple lemon glaze that makes every bite irresistible.
• Topped with a simple piped frosting rosette, these Frosted Lemon Sugar Cookies are just as delicious as they are beautiful!
• Spring Lemon Crinkle Cookies are bursting with bright lemon flavor and a rich, buttery sweetness in every bite. A perfect fresh and festive treat for spring!
• Loaded with fresh blueberries, bright lemon flavor, homemade blueberry jam, and a buttery streusel topping, these Lemon Blueberry Muffin Cookies are an irresistible treat.

Glazed Lemon Cookies are a sweet frosted lemon butter cookie made with fresh lemons. This delicious lemon cookie recipe is the perfect amount of sweet and tart.