Chewy Iced Lemon Cookies – Easy Recipe

The great thing about lemons is you can buy them all year long which is such a good thing. Lemons add a great flavor to baked goods and a bold and tangy taste to these Chewy Iced Lemon Cookies that are perfect for any time you have a craving for sweet lemony cookies.  If you are a lemon lover like me, these are the cookies for you, and they can be baked anytime you have a cookie craving.

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The Best Lemon Cookies

One bite of these lemon glazed cookies and you will taste the fresh, tangy lemon flavor inside the cookie and the sweet lemon frosting on top. My thought, if you are going to make a lemon cookie, make sure it’s lemony.

To make these cookies you just need eight basic ingredients, nothing fancy because these cookies are all about lemons.

Another reason to love these cookies

• The dough and the icing are both simple to make
• The recipe uses a few basic ingredients
• No chilling of the dough required, just mix and bake
• You can freeze the cookie dough for later, and you can freeze the baked and frosted cookies too

I like chewy cookies and there are a few tricks to help get that perfect chewy cookie texture.

Chewy cookies need moisture so try these tricks

• Use brown sugar which has more moisture than white sugar
• Add a small amount of corn syrup, honey, golden syrup, or molasses which attracts moisture
• Watch your baking time.  Remove the cookies when they are still soft in the center, otherwise, your cookies are going to be crispy because you baked the moisture out of the cookie

Cookie Ingredients

Simple ingredients for a delicious cookie

• Butter – I love butter in my baked goods for the great flavor. Make sure it is softened and at room temperature.
• Brown Sugar – Using brown sugar helps make these cookies chewy and of course to sweeten them.
• Light corn syrup – this also adds moisture to the texture of the cookie.
• Granulated Sugar – I use this to roll the cookies in before they get baked.
• Flour – I use all-purpose flour to give the cookie structure.
• Baking soda – This will react with the acid in the lemon and help the cookie rise.
• Salt – just a little bit adds flavor.
• Lemons – try to use fresh if available for the best lemony flavor. Make sure to check out this guide on how much juice is in one lemon to determine how many lemons you need for a recipe.
• Powdered sugar – use this to making the icing

How to make the best lemon cookies

Step 1. With a stand mixer or a hand mixer. mix in room temperature butter, brown sugar, and the egg to combine for 3-4 minutes which adds air into the mixture and helps dissolve the sugar.

Step 2. Next, add the corn syrup and lemon juice. Make sure to use fresh lemon juice for the best flavor. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

You can use store-bought bottled lemon juice.  I honestly have not tried using lemon extract for this recipe.

Step 3. Finally, mix in all the dry ingredients and the lemon zest.  Don’t overmix the batter,  just make sure all the flour is incorporated.

That’s as easy as it gets, you don’t even have to chill this dough!

Step 4. Get your cookie sheets ready and a bowl of sugar.  I like using a cookie dough scoop to make the dough balls because it’s super quick and easy and all the cookies come out the same size.

Scoop out the lemon cookie dough and roll the balls in the granulated sugar, then place on the cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.

Ready, set, bake!

Step. 6 Bake for 10 minutes.  This is what you get,  beautifully browned lemon cookies. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack.

Step 7.  But wait, there’s more, top the cookies with a  sweet lemon icing with bits of lemon zest to add some extra lemony flavor. Just mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest and ice the cookies.  Let the icing set until firm.

Are you a lemon lover too! Try these One Hot Oven favorite lemon recipes.

If you love cake and lots of lemon flavor this Sweet, Tart, and Tangy Lemon Cake will be the perfect dessert for you.

Another favorite cake is this Lemon Ginger Sponge Cake with Raspberries,  three flavors in one delicious cake.

Crispy Lemon Shortbread Cookies are tender and lemony. The perfect cookie for tea, coffee, and lemonade.

And, if cookie baking is your thing check out all the One Hot Oven Cookie Recipes. You will find some delicious and fun cookies to make.

Tools I used to make my Lemon Cookies:

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4.67 from 12 votes

Chewy Lemon Cookies

These Chewy Lemon Cookies are the perfect cookies for the lemon lover. Bursting with fresh and tangy lemon flavor and topped with a sweet lemon glaze.

Course Cookie

Cuisine American

Keyword cookies, lemon, lemon cookies

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

Total Time 28 minutes

Servings 32

Calories 121kcal

Author Jere' Cassidy

Equipment

• Citrus Zester
• Citrus Reemer
• Cookie Scoop
• Cookie Sheets

Ingredients

Chewy Lemon Cookie Dough

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, light
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup lemon zest 2-3 medium-sized lemons
• 1 tbls lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar use this for rolling the cookie in before baking

Lemon Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted
• 2-3 tbls. lemon juice
• 1 tbls. light corn syrup
• 2 tbls. lemon zest, 1 lemon

Instructions

Making the cookie dough

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and prepare cookie sheets with Silpat or parchment paper.
• In a large mixing bowl beat the softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the egg until thoroughly combined then add the corn syrup and lemon juice. Beat again until the mixture is smooth.
• Add the flour, salt, and baking soda and beat on low until combined. Add the lemon zest and mix in just to combine.
• Using a cookie scoop make 1" balls of dough then roll in the sugar to coat. Place the dough balls on the prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. To keep the cookies chewy remove from the oven while the centers are still soft. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes then move to a cooling rack.

Making the Lemon Glaze

• Stir all the glaze ingredients together until smooth. If the glaze is too thick add additional amounts of lemon juice. You do want this glaze to be fairly thick so it doesn't run off the cookie.
• Once the cookies have cooled ice the top of the cookies with the glaze.
• Store cookies in an airtight container.

Notes

• Take the cookies out of the oven while the centers are still soft.  The cookies will continue to bake for a minute longer out of the oven.
• You can freeze the unbaked cookie dough.  Form the cookie dough balls and place them on a tray in the freezer.  Once frozen place the dough balls in a plastic bag or freezer container. When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove them from the freezer and let sit for 15 minutes, then bake.
• You can freeze the baked and glazed cookies.  Once the cookies have been baked and glazed and the glaze has hardened on the cookie, place the cookies in a plastic bag or freezer container.  When ready to eat remove from the freezer and let sit for one hour.

Nutrition

Serving: 32g | Calories: 121kcal | Fat: 4.6g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 133mg | Sugar: 19.6g

Help yourself to a cookie

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  Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog.  Please leave a comment to say Hello or just let me know what you are baking these days, I always love hearing from fellow bakers. Have any questions or just want to chat about the recipe? Contact me here, and I’ll be happy to help!

About Jere’

From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending.  Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory recipes with all my baking friends.