Name: Easy Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 120 min
Ingredients: 2 cups white sanding sugar; 2 drops yellow food coloring; 1 cup butter (room temperature); ½ cup granulated sugar; 2 cups cake flour; 3 lemons

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This Easy Lemon Shortbread Cookie recipe is definitely for the lemon lover and cookie lover. Zested lemons flavor these buttery slice-and-bake cookies, and a pretty yellow sanding sugar adds a delightful crunch. These are hard to resist the melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness.

If you love chewy cookies, these Iced Lemon Cookies are a must-try. Each bite bursts with fresh lemon flavor, both in the cookie and the sweet frosting.

Stacked lemon shortbread cookies on a white plate.

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During the spring, the two lemon trees in my backyard produce an abundance of lemons. The limbs start drooping from the weight, which is good since it makes reaching the tall branches easier. I love my trees, but picking the lemons requires full body armor because lemon trees are notorious for having thick and super pointy thorns. Since I have deer in my yard, this is one thing they won't eat, so my lemons are safe. However, the rest of my garden is fair game.

When I have fresh lemons, I like to bake these cookies. The dough freezes well, so making several batches and freezing them for later is worth it.

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Lemon Shortbread Cookie Ingredients
How To Make Lemon Shortbreads
Why do you chill shortbread cookies?
Rolling shortbread cookies in sugar
Do you want more shortbread recipes?
Baking supplies for this recipe
More Citrus Recipes To Try
Recipe
Hello there, I'm Jere'

These cookies take four ingredients. To make them extra special, you can roll the dough in colored sugar for a bit of sparkle.

Flour, sugar, butter, food coloring and lemons for lemon shortbread cookies with text overlay.

Butter - unsalted is best, but if you have salted butter, use it.
Sugar - just white granulated sugar for this recipe.
Cake Flour - this will make these cookies nice and tender.
Lemons - needed for the lemon zest.

Optional, But Worth It

Sanding Sugar - used to coat the outside of the cookies for flavor and crunch, and it looks really pretty, too!
Food Coloring - make sure it's yellow

How To Make Lemon Shortbreads

Did I mention how easy these cookies are to make? Another reason to love them.

For this heavy dough, it is best to use a stand mixer. However, you can start the recipe with a handheld mixer and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon.

Step 1. Measure the sugar into a medium-sized bowl and zest the lemons over the sugar. Then, with your fingers, mix the lemon zest and sugar. This releases the oils in the lemon zest and flavors the sugar.

I make lemon sugar and keep it on hand for other recipes.

Mixed sugar and lemon zest in a glass bowl.

Step 2. Add the butter to a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until it's fluffy.

Step 3. Mix in the lemon-sugar mixture, then add the flour and mix until no flour is visible.

Creamed butter, and sugar in a glass bowl.

Step 4. When the dough is made, divide it in half and roll it into logs about 2 inches wide. If you are rolling the cookies in the colored sanding sugar, you need to do that now. You want the dough logs to be warm from rolling so the sugar will stick to the dough.

See below for how to color the sanding sugar.⬇️

Shortbread cookie dough in a glass bowl.

A shortbread cookie dough log in yellow sugar on a white plate.

Step 5. Wrap the logs in wax paper and chill for about an hour. At this point, you can wrap these cookie rolls in plastic for another day or put them in freezer bags to freeze for later.

Step 6. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. After the cookies have chilled, cut the dough logs into ¼" slices and place them on baking pans; bake for 30 minutes.
If you are baking frozen dough, let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, then slice and bake. That's it—shortbreads are so easy.

Two cookie dough logs rolled in yellow sugar on a plate.

Slices of lemon shortbread cookie dough on a cutting board.

Why do you chill shortbread cookies?

Shortbread cookies contain a large amount of butter, and chilling the dough before baking solidifies the butter. If you don't chill the dough, the cookies will melt too fast in the oven and lose their shape.

Rolling shortbread cookies in sugar

I like to roll these cookies in colored sanding sugar for an extra touch. This step is optional, but I enjoy the color and crunch it adds to the shortbreads. Since I bake often, I keep white sanding sugar on hand and color it to match my creations. You can also use regular sugar, but it won't bake quite as well as sanding sugar.

What is sanding sugar?

Sanding sugar is large, sparkly sugar crystals that do not dissolve in baking and add a nice little crunch to your baked goods.

Try sprinkling sanding sugar on top of all types of baked goods, such as bread, scones, turnovers, or muffins.

How to make colored sanding sugar

It is easy and actually kind of fun to color the sugar. Put your sugar in a bowl, add a few drops of gel food coloring and stir. Pretty amazing!

Yellow food color in white sanding sugar in a clear glass bowl. — Add a small drop of gel food color to the sugar.

Yellow sanding sugar in a clear glass bowl. — Stir the sugar until it is covered in the food coloring.

If you want to roll the dough in the colored sugar, do this immediately after you roll it into the logs. You have to do this while your cookie dough is warm so the sugar will stick to it.

A white plate with lemon shortbread cookies.

Want to learn how to measure lemon juice and lemon zest for recipes? Make sure to read these lemon tips.

What do you do with the lemons once you zest them? Just cut them in half and juice them using a citrus reamer. You can make a small glass of lemonade or freeze the lemon juice to use for later.

Do you want more shortbread recipes?

Rose Flavored Shortbread Cookies have a hint of rose flavor baked right in and these cookies are topped with rose petals.
Spiced Shortbread Cookies have the spicy flavors of chai with sweet chai icing.

Baking supplies for this recipe

I love using white sanding sugar on my cookies for extra flavor and decor and use gel food coloring to tint your sugar with all these pretty colors.

More Citrus Recipes To Try

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Recipe

A stack of lemon shortbread cookies on a white plate.

Easy Lemon Shortbread Cookies

Jere' Cassidy

These tender lemon shortbreads are slightly sweet with a rich buttery taste with lots of lemon zest baked right into these melt in your mouth cookies.

4.37 from 19 votes

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

chill time 1

Total Time 2

Course Cookies

Cuisine American, Dessert

Servings

Calories 132 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

Colored Sanding Sugar

2 cups white sanding sugar
2 drops yellow food coloring

Shortbread Ingredients

1 cup butter room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour
3 lemons

Instructions

Colored Sanding Sugar - Optional

Place the sanding sugar in a large bowl and add a few drops of yellow food coloring; mix well to incorporate the color throughout the sugar.

Making the shortbread cookies

Place the sugar in a medium-sized bowl. With a citrus zester, zest the three lemons over the sugar, then mix the sugar and zest together.
Using a stand mixing or a hand-held mixer, add the softened butter to a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy on medium speed.
Gradually add the lemon-sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until incorporated.
With the mixer on medium-low speed, mix in the cake flour ½ cup at a time, mixing well with each addition
Divide the dough in half and form into two logs so they are about 2 inches wide.
If you are using the sanding sugar, immediately roll the dough logs into the sugar to completely coat the dough. You want the dough to be a bit tacky from rolling into the logs for the sugar to stick.
Wrap the dough logs in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
Preheat the oven to 300° F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Slice the dough logs into ¼" slices and place on the baking sheets.
Bake the shortbreads for 30 minutes, let sit for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then place on a cooling rack to completely cool.
Store cookies in an airtight container for up to a week.

Notes

These cookies can be frozen before baking. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap then in foil. When ready to bake, defrost slightly and slice and bake as directed.

Tinting the sanding sugar is optional but it does add extra flavor to the cookies. Sanding sugar has bigger crystals than regular sugar and holds its shape in the heat.

You can also tint regular sugar if you don't have the sanding sugar, it will not bake a pretty as the sanding sugar.

After zesting the lemons, cut the lemons in half and juice them. You can use the juice immediately or freeze for later.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 132kcalCarbohydrates: 21gFat: 5.5gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 39mg

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First published: March 17, 2019; last updated: July 7, 2024, for better readability.

Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog. Please leave a comment to say hello or tell me what you are baking; I always love hearing from fellow bakers. Do you have any questions or want to chat about the recipe? Please visit my About page for information, and I’ll be happy to help!

Hello there, I'm 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 sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.

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