Why they’re so good!
Buttery, lemony, soft cookie goodness, these lemon biscuits have a wonderful lemon flavour and an almost melt-in-the-mouth texture.
These are not the US style biscuit (similar to a scone); these are lemon cookies, or what we call biscuits where I’m from. They’re basically a glazed lemon sugar cookie using my classic sugar recipe, with a big hit of lemon zest and a luscious, sweet lemon glaze and they’re just wonderful.
Aside from tasting amazing, these iced lemon biscuits can be made in advance. Make the dough and chill it for as little as 30 minutes or up to 3 days, or you can even freeze the cookie dough ready for when a craving hits.
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Ingredients
The ingredients for lemon biscuits are few and simple. They start with a very basic sugar cookie dough and have a good hit of lemon in the form of both zest and juice.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Butter: You just need unsalted butter for these cookies.
- Sugar: I use caster sugar for the cookie dough but white granulated sugar will work fine. You’ll need icing sugar (powdered sugar) for the icing (which you can make by blending white granulated sugar in a food processor, if you don’t have it on hand).
- Egg: Just 1 large egg.
- Vanilla: The dough really benefits from a good dose of vanilla extract. Make sure to use extract and not vanilla essence which is a synthetic flavouring.
- Flour: You just need plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- Lemons: Use fresh lemons – you’ll need both the lemon zest and the lemon juice.
- Baking powder: This gives the cookies a little lift and texture without allowing them to spread too much.
- Meringue powder: While not absolutely necessary, meringue powder, if you can get hold of it, helps the icing dry out nicely.
How to make them
These lemon iced cookies are incredibly easy to make. I prefer a stand-mixer for the stiff dough, however it could be done in a mixing bowl with a handheld mixer and wooden spoon.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Blend the lemon sugar
To get the most of that lemon flavour, use your fingertips to blend the lemon zest into the sugar until it’s like wet sand.
2. Butter, sugar, egg
Cream the butter and lemon sugar together until lightened and fluffy (takes 3-4 minutes) then add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. You’ll need to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.
3. Add the dry ingredients
Now add the flour and baking powder and beat until just combined into a thick but soft dough.
4. Chill the dough
You do need to chill this dough so the cookies will hold their shape. However, chilling means you can make them well in advance. See my time saving tips further down in the post but for now, split the dough into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firmed up.
5. Roll the dough
Once chilled, roll the dough out until it’s about 6mm (¼ inch thick) and cut small rounds from it. I use a 5cm / 2inch fluted cookie cutter.
6. Bake the cookies
Arrange the cookie dough rounds about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet and bake for around 9 minutes or until just beginning to turn the lightest shade of golden on the sides. You can bake them longer until they’re truly golden around the edge if you want a cookie with a crispy edge and more buttery flavour.
7. Ice the cookies
Once the cookies are cool, simply mix the icing ingredients and dip each cookie’s tops into the dough, scraping away any excess. Sit them on a wire rack until the tops have dried out a bit.
You can bake these cookies to your liking. 8-9 minutes will result in a lovely soft sugar cookie once cooled. 11-12 minutes will result in a cookie with a more golden hue which in turn gives a stronger buttery flavour but the cookie will be more crisp the more golden it becomes. At 11 minutes in my oven the cookies were very golden underneath and just around the edges. The edges were very crisp but the middle was still just a little soft on cooling, not hard. All ovens vary, so I always recommend just baking off 1-2 cookies as a test, then adjust your timing to suit the results.
Tips and Tricks
- Room temperature ingredients: Ensure the butter has softened and the egg is at room temperature before you start.
- Weigh ingredients like flour and sugar for the best results as the way different people can measure them into cups can result in too much, giving you a dry dough.
- Don’t overmix the cookie dough or you’ll end up with tough biscuits.
- Don’t skip chilling: If you try to roll the dough right after it’s been mixed it will be nearly impossible to do without adding more flour (and drying out your lemon biscuits). Chilling is needed so the dough is firmer and the cookies will keep their shape better.
⏰ Time-saving tips
You can make this dough up to 3 days ahead of time and keep it chilled in the fridge until required. You can also freeze the dough in a block or already cut into cookies. If you choose the latter, lay the cutout cookies on a baking tray on a sheet of baking paper and, once solid, transfer them to a airtight container or ziplock bag.
Storage
Store your baked lemon biscuits in an airtight container in the pantry for 4-5 days. They can be frozen too and retain a lovely texture after they’ve thawed. Freeze for up to 3 months.
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Ingredients
- 225 g unsalted butter softened (1 cup / 2 sticks)
- 1 cup caster sugar or white granulated sugar (200g/7oz)
- 1 large egg room temp
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 355 g plain flour (all-purp flour) (2 ¾ cups)
- ⅓ cup lemon zest, not packed (4 medium lemons or 3 large)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
FOR THE ROYAL ICING
- 2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar) (260g/9.2oz)
- 2-2½ tablespoons lemon juice (notes 1)
- 2 teaspoons meringue powder optional
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- stand mixer or electric handheld beater
- cookie cutters
- Baking sheets.
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, use your fingertips to press the sugar and lemon zest together until it’s like wet sand.
- Add the butter and beat with the paddle attachment on medium for 3-4 minutes until it looks creamy and fluffy. Scrape down the sides a couple of times during the process.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides if you need to help it come together.
- Add the flour and scatter over the baking powder evenly. Pulse until it starts to come together so the flour doesn’t fly up everywhere, then beat on low, until it’s just incorporated. Careful not to overmix or you’ll get tough cookies.
- Take the dough out of the mixer and shape into two flat disks, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes (or up to 2 days). See notes on freezing some dough for later if you choose.
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and depending on how long it’s been in there, it might need up to 15 minutes to relax a little.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle a little flour over the top. Gently roll out the cookie dough to 4-6mm thick (up to ¼ inch) being gentle so you don’t force cracks into the dough if it’s quite firm. If it’s still too firm, just leave it to warm up a little or wrap your hands around it to warm slightly.
- Use a 5cm round fluted cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies from each roll as possible before kneading the dough back together and rolling out again. You can use any shape or size cookie cutter.
- Transfer the shapes to the lined baking sheets. You can bake straight away as long as the dough hasn’t become too soft but 10 minutes in the fridge will ensure they keep their shape better when baked. Bake for 8-9 minutes until just beginning to turn the palest golden on the edges and underneath. The tops will still be very pale but matt and they’ll firm up a little as they cool.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
- FOR THE LEMON ICING: Add the icing sugar and meringue powder (if using) to a medium mixing bowl.
- Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and whisk a little. Add more, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing after each addition, until the mixture has a consistency where it settles smoothly in 10-12 seconds.
- Dip the top of each cookie into the icing, scrape a little on the side of the bowl, then turn, icing side up, onto the wire rack. Lift and drop the cookie gently (only about 1cm) to smooth out and level the surface of the icing. You can also just drizzle the icing over the top. Let them set a little before serving.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- Meringue powder helps the icing to set a bit firmer / drier.
- All ovens vary, so I always recommend just baking off 1-2 cookies as a test, then adjust your timing to suit the results.
- This recipe makes 48 cookies but if you don’t want to make them all at once, you can freeze some of the batch for later. An easy way to do this is to freeze one half of the dough once it’s made. Or go ahead and cut all the cookies, then freeze half of them. To freeze the already cut cookies, cover a baking tray with baking paper then lay the cookie dough shapes in a single layer on top. Freeze until solid, then transfer to an airtight container or ziplock bag. You can then bake them at will.
- You can use any shape or size cookie cutter however the quantity, baking time and nutritional information here is based on getting 48 cookies from the dough each around 21g (¾ oz) each.
- You can add sprinkles to the top of each cookie after you’ve added the icing if you like.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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