These soft Lemon Sugar Cookies are zesty, sweet treats that are perfect for spring and summer snacking!
The sun is shining in the Pacific Northwest, and we're gearing up for summer! How is the weather these days where you are living?
With the warmer weather comes a need for more sunshine-ready recipes. If you follow me on Instagram and have seen my InstaStories, you know that we're all about throwing together fun and yummy summer soirees with fresh salads, light appetizers, and crisp summer wines!
Now, when it comes to dessert, I will always have a special place in any season for chocolate desserts. But once the sun comes out to play, my tastebuds tend to crave fresh, bright and sunny citrus flavors. Like those found in my Mini Citrus Bundt Cakes recipe or in my Lemon Shortbread Cookies.
But for summer soirees with lots of adults and kids around, I love serving cookies. These Soft Lemon Sugar Cookies are just the sweet treat to compliment your delicious sunny day spread. You and your guests will love these!
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🍊 Big citrus flavors
I took the recipe for my favorite soft almond sugar cookies and modified it to have a citrus summer twist.
If you're looking for a single citrus flavored cookie, try my yummy Key Lime Cookies. They are similar, but have big key lime flavors. This cookie recipe calls for orange, lime, and lemon!
It does take a little extra time to zest lemons, limes, and oranges for the dough and the citrus rolling sugar, but trust me: it's TOTALLY WORTH IT.
It's easy to customize the citrus flavors to your liking in this recipe. Personally, I love a citrus combo that is heavier on the orange and lemon and lighter on the lime, so I adjust the zest amounts accordingly.
The result is an absolutely delicious, soft, bright and zesty lemon sugar cookie that packs a nice juicy zing of summer in each bite.
🍽 Serving ideas
Want some fun serving ideas? Try one of these to spice up your summer dessert bar:
- Make Lemon Sugar Cookie Sandwiches by spreading a thick layer of lemon buttercream frosting in the middle.
- Cut cookies in half and decorate a store-bought or homemade vanilla cake with halfmoon cookies around the edges.
- Crumble cookies and top scoops of ice cream, or layer and make a parfait.
- Place a layer of ice cream between them then freeze to make super summery ice cream sandwiches.
- Crumble or cut into quarter pieces and top a fresh key lime or lemon pie or tart.
I think you and your family are going to ADORE these soft citrus sugar cookies. I know that my family loves them and we'll be making them again and again this summer! If you make them, be sure to share the photo on Instagram and tag Urban Bliss Life!
🍋 Recipe FAQs
Allow cookies to cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Yes! These cookies are GREAT to freeze! Store them in a freezer-friendly airtight container for up to two months.
🍪 More cookie recipes
Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you really loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!
Soft Lemon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (3 sticks)
- 1 ½ cups sugar, divided
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp lime zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs near room temperature
- 2 ¾ cup cake flour
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
Zesty Rolling Sugar
- ½ cup baking sugar crystals, turbinado sugar, or sugar in the raw
- ½ tsp orange zest
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- ½ tsp lime zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until creamy and well blended, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixer as needed.
- Add the orange, lemon, and lime zests to the mixer, and blend together for about 30 seconds.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and blend together until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until ingredients are fully combined. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap in wax paper, and chill in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, mix together the rolling sugar with ½ teaspoon each of orange zest, lemon zest, and lime zest.
- Once dough is properly chilled, form the dough into balls and roll into the zesty citrus sugar. Place on cookie sheets covered in parchment paper. Using the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand, gently press down onto the tops of each cookie to flatten a bit (cookies will not spread much during baking).
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition information is a general estimate. Actual nutrition details may vary depending on the exact foods & brands you use to make this recipe. It does not take into account any substitutions, toppings, or optional ingredients.
Samuel frodo says
Oh my these are absolutely awesome, best part is it seems really practical and doable, I would definitely try this. Thanks for sharing such a beauty with us..
Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says
Of course! I'm glad you enjoyed the post! :)
Holly says
I love how beautiful your pictures are! The cookies sound great too. I love a good soft cookie.
Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says
Thanks so much for the nice comment, Holly! :)
Denay DeGuzman says
What adorable little cookies! I love that you added orange, lemon and lime zest to these. I can almost taste how amazing these are. I can hardly wait to bake up a batch!
Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says
Let me know how they turn out! Thank you, Denay!