Easy Soft and Chewy Lemon Sugar Cookies {No Rolling or Cutting Out}
Deliciously soft and chewy, these easy lemon sugar cookies are a simple drop cookie (no rolling or cutting out), and they are amazing!
Thanks to a brilliant way to infuse natural lemon flavor in every bite, these light and lemony sugar cookies are perfection.

How to Make Lemon Sugar
Lemon sugar is the key to this recipe (and it occurs in two places!). Making lemon sugar is easy.
- Combine granulated sugar and lemon zest in a bowl.
- Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers until it’s super fragrant and the sugar has a lightly moist, sandy consistency.
Rubbing the lemon zest releases the essential oils in the zest leading to maximum lemon flavor! Don’t skip this step!
Lemon Sugar Cookie Dough
The second place lemon sugar appears is in the cookie dough!
In the first step, adding lemon zest with the sugar and butter ensures that the mixing process will work on the zest to release those citrusy lemon flavors.
Fresh lemon juice is also added in a later step with the vanilla and egg.
Both the lemon juice and lemon zest in the cookie dough help to amplify the lemon flavor in the cookies.
Cookie Dough + Lemon Sugar
Scoop the cookie dough into balls – a couple tablespoons of dough each (I use a #40 cookie scoop) aff link.
Roll each cookie dough ball generously in the lemon zested sugar.
If the lemon sugar has been sitting for a while, you may need to break up any clumps with your fingers so it’s perfectly sandy before rolling the cookie dough.
For maximum soft chewiness, bake the cookies just until crackly and set.
They shouldn’t have a lot of golden color around the edges and on the bottom. If your oven tends to bake hot (and over brown baked goods), reduce the oven temperature by 15-20 degrees.
Perfect Lemon Sugar Cookies
The combination of lemon + sugar cookies is beautifully light and deliciously tasty.
I tend to find soft and chewy sugar cookies irresistible anyway, but add in bright lemon flavor, and I am really in trouble.
These cookies stay fresh for 1-2 days well-sealed or covered. The baked cookies also freeze amazingly well!
P.S. Our favorite way to use any leftover lemon sugar is on rollup pancakes, crepes or Swedish pancakes. Brush with butter, sprinkle on lemon sugar, and roll up. Yum!
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Easy Lemon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Lemon Sugar:
- ⅓ cup (71 g) granulated sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons fresh lemon zest (from one large lemon)
Cookies:
- 1 cup (227 g) butter, softened to room temperature (not too soft!)
- 1 ½ cups (318 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest (from one large lemon)
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups + 2 tablespoons (409 g) all-purpose flour (see note)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- For the lemon sugar, combine the sugar and zest in a bowl and rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers until super fragrant and the zest and sugar are evenly and well combined. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly grease with cooking spray.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and lemon zest until lightly and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the egg, lemon juice and vanilla and mix again for 1-2 minutes until the batter lightens in color. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. It will look a bit curdled; that's totally fine.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix until combined. Don't over mix – just mix until no dry streaks remain.
- Scoop the cookie dough into rounded balls (about 2 tablespoons in size; I use my #40 cookie scoop).
- Stir or crumble the lemon sugar to break up any clumps. Roll cookie dough balls in lemon sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets a couple inches apart (about 12 cookies per baking sheet).
- Bake for 9-11 minutes until slightly crackly on top (don't over bake).
- Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
10 Comments on “Easy Soft and Chewy Lemon Sugar Cookies {No Rolling or Cutting Out}”
Maybe it is just me but this recipe is kind of hard to comprehend. I will look up another recipe to make lemon cookies.
These were magical- had to send them to work with my husband or I would have eaten them all
I just made these!!! As expected they did not disappoint!!! So yummy!!
I recently made your lemon swig sugar cookies but skipped the frosting (they remind me of lemon shortbread cookies). They were a hit. And then I made your no cut sugar cookies last week for St. Patrick’s day and literally thought to myself…I bet there could be a lemon version of these. You must be a mind reader!!! I can’t wait to give these a whirl today! Just when I think I am going to take a break from cookie baking (I’ve made way too many cookies this winter but life is short right?), you entice me once more. 🙂
Haha. Well, these are definitely worth it, I promise!
Oh Mel, you did it again! I made these tonight for a mission call opening for my oldest tomorrow and they are delicious. Thanks for a great recipe (mine needed to be forked on top before cooking since my first batch was too puffy – but they are great!).
Thanks for taking the time to comment and let me know how they worked out for you, Jenn! Also, congrats and good luck to your missionary!
Me: Looking for dinner recipes. Let’s check Mel’s site.
Also Me: Lemon Sugar Cookies? Who needs dinner?! Or a diet? Or really anything except Lemon Sugar Cookies?
If I had lemons in the house right this minute, my family would be fending for themselves, and we’d be having lemon sugar cookies for dessert. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until I can grocery shop!
I honestly don’t know how you continue to provide such DELICIOUS content for us, but I’m forever grateful.
Thank you so much, Erin!
This just moved to the top of my “must bake very soon” list!!