These easy vegan lemon cookies are EVERYTHING you could want from a cookie recipe.
They feature chewy and slightly gooey centers surrounded by a crispy, crunchy outer shell that gives off lemon meringue cookie vibes 🤤.
If you prefer a softer cookie, then I'd recommend these blueberry lemon cookies instead. These eggless lemon cookies are specially made for team chewy cookies!
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📖 Recipe Overview
- Quick & Easy: You only need 5 minutes of hands-on prep time, 15 minutes of chilling time, and 10 minutes of baking time. Plus, you don't need a stand mixer, electric whisk, or any fancy kitchen equipment!
- Full of Flavor: These cookies are made with a tonne of REAL lemon zest and a splash of freshly squeezed juice. They are bursting with zesty flavor which is balanced with the sweetness of the crinkle sugar coating.
- Guaranteed Crowd Pleaser: This is the ultimate vegan cookie recipe for lemon dessert and cookie lovers alike. They are undetectably vegan and depending on the butter you use, are also nut-free and coconut-free.
For more easy vegan cookie recipes check out these key lime cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, tahini chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, and snickerdoodles.
🧾 Ingredients Needed
Here's the simple list of ingredients you'll need for this vegan lemon cookie recipe:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan Butter - You specifically need vegan block butter (aka stick butter), which is not the same as margarine. I use either flora plant butter or violife block.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder - These work in tandem to leaven the cookies.
- Vegan Greek-Style Yogurt or Skyr - If you're a regular here to the blog, you'll know I'm obsessed with using yogurt as an egg replacer.
- Fresh Lemon - "Fresh" is the key here. Please don't swap the fresh lemon for lemon extract as it won't do these delicious cookies justice. The recipe calls for a lot of lemon zest to ensure a bright and zesty flavor.
🥣 How To Make Vegan Lemon Cookies
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
You're only a few easy steps away from the best lemon cookies you've ever tasted. Before getting into the recipe, I recommend getting a few things prepped to make the rest of the steps smooth sailing:
- Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F).
- Line 2 baking trays or cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt).
- Sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl and set aside.
Step 1: Flavor the sugar. Rub together the sugar and lemon zest using your fingertips.
Step 2: Mix the wet ingredients. Whisk in the melted butter, followed by the yogurt, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Step 3: Mix the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the bowl and fold it in using a spatula.
Step 4: Chill the dough. Cover the bowl of cookie dough and place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
Step 5: Shape. Scoop out 12 portions (approx 50g each) and roll them into balls.
Step 6: Roll. Coat each cookie in powdered sugar.
Step 7: Bake. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie. Bake until spread and golden.
Step 8: Shape. Remove them from the oven and round off the edges using a large cookie cutter.
📝 Recipe Tips
Don't skip the cookie scoot! This is where you use a large cookie cutter to scoot around the edges of the cookies while they're still warm and fresh from the oven. This step is important if you want to get a nice round shape as pictured.
Repurpose your lemons. Why not make a batch of lemon curd with the leftover lemon juice? You'll have some lemon juice to spare after zesting the lemons (You'll need 2-3 large lemons to yield the 2.5 tablespoons of zest).
Use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients. This without a doubt will give you the most accurate measurements. If you must measure in cups, use the scoop and sweep method.
💬 FAQs
Absolutely! While I do recommend the powdered sugar coating (it creates an almost lemon meringue cookie experience), you can omit this step and your lemon cookies will still be delicious.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5-6 days. They almost always never last that long in this house though! 🤭
It depends on the recipe! As these cookies use melted butter, it's best to chill them for a short period of time first to make the cookie dough easier to scoop and shape.
For best results, I recommend freezing the cookie dough before baking. Roll them into balls and coat them, and store them in a sealed container separated by sheets of parchment.
That way, they will stay as fresh as possible and the texture will be spot-on once baked. Just increase your baking time by a few minutes if baking them from frozen.
🍋 More Lemon Desserts
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Description
Ingredients
- 200 g (1 ½ cups + 2 ½ tbsp) all-purpose flour, (plain flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 30 g (¼ cup) powdered sugar, use organic if in the US
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar, use organic if in the US
- 2 ½ tablespoons lemon zest , freshly grated
- 130 g (⅗ cup) vegan butter, melted
- 40 g (2 tbsp) Greek-style yogurt or skyr, or regular unsweetened soy or coconut yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Line 2 baking trays or cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and set aside. Add the powdered sugar to a separate small bowl and set aside.
- Flavor the sugar: Add the sugar and lemon zest to a separate large mixing bowl and use your fingertips to rub the zest into the sugar.
- Mix the wet ingredients: Whisk the melted butter into the sugar mixture, followed by the yogurt, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- Mix the dry ingredients: Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the bowl and fold it in using a spatula.
- Chill the dough: Cover the bowl of cookie dough and place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
- Shape and roll: Scoop out 12 portions (approx 50g each) and roll them into balls. Roll each cookie in the powdered sugar and place them on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake: Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, then remove them from the oven and round off the edges using a large cookie cutter. (This step is important if you want to get a nice round shape as pictured, otherwise the cookies will be large and flat).Allow the cookies to sit on the baking tray to cool for about 5 minutes.
- Storage: Place in an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 5-6 days in a sealed airtight container.
Notes
- Use a cookie scoop or a kitchen scale for even portioning.
- You'll have some lemon juice to spare after zesting the lemons (You'll need 2-3 large lemons to yeild the 2.5 tablespoons of zest). You could use them to make a batch of lemon curd.
Nutrition
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