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Three and a half stacked lemon sugar cookies on parchment paper.

Easy Lemon Sugar Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies (2-3 dozen depending on size)
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 11 minutes
Total Time: 31 minutes

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.

Notes

Flour: at my elevation (2,500) and with the added lemon juice to the recipe, the extra 2 tablespoons flour is really important. Depending on where you live (high elevation), you may need a few tablespoons more beyond that (3 cups flour total). I recommend baking one "tester" cookie first - if it flattens too much, stir in a bit more flour to the dough. 
Another Cookie Spreading Tip: if the cookies spread and flatten too much while baking, try adding more flour per the note above or increase the baking temperature to 375 degrees F or use convection bake (if you have that function on your oven – see my Instagram experiment here to come to this conclusion). Conversely, if your cookies are not spreading enough in the oven, try reducing the oven temperature to 325 degrees and/or measuring the flour with a lighter hand next time (or use a scale to weigh the ingredients).