Bite through the crunchy shell to a fluffy lemon cloud of icing sugar cookie deliciousness…
It had been ages since I’d made a lemon recipe and a quick search for simple options turned up this recipe for soft melt-in-your-mouth lemon cookies.
These lemon melt icing sugar cookies are absolutely beautiful, particularly if you get the chance to eat one or two when they’re fresh out of the oven. The outer shell has a sweet crunch and the inside is a fluffy cloud of subtle lemony goodness.
Rolling and baking the sticky dough in several batches is a bit of a faff, but your efforts will be more than rewarded.
Ingredients (makes approx. 50 icing sugar cookies)
- 360 g / 12.7 oz / 2.75 cups plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- 0.5 tsp baking powder
- 230 g / 8.1 oz / 1 cup butter or baking margarine
- 170 g / 6 oz / 1.5 cup icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
- 1 egg
- 0.5 tsp vanilla essence/extract
- zest of one large lemon (I could only get small lemons so used 2)
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- 60 g / 2 oz / 0.5 cup icing sugar (confectioners sugar) for rolling the cookies before baking
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C (160 fan)/ Gas Mark 4 / 350 degrees F. Grease and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper. I had to reuse each of my sheets three times, baking the biscuits in three batches, and a final partial tray.
In a bowl mix together the flours, baking powder and bicarb of soda. Put to one side.
If you have an electric stand mixer or hand beaters, use them for the next part to make your life easier. Beat together the butter/margarine and icing sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Remember to go slowly at first or the icing sugar will blow up into a cloud.
Beat in the egg, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients gradually, mixing as you go to form a smooth dough.
Now for the sticky part. Have the extra icing sugar ready on a plate or in a shallow dish. Scoop small amounts of dough out of the bowl and roll them into balls. By “small amount” I mean a little over a teaspoon. Use the icing sugar to help combat the stickiness and make the rolling much easier.
Put the cookie dough balls on the prepared baking trays leaving at least 4 cm (1.5 inches) between them to give them room to spread out in the oven. I had to reuse my two trays several times, so it took a while to bake all the dough.
Bake for ten minutes or until lightly browned. I found ten minutes was the perfect amount of time, so set the timer or keep your eye on the oven. Take the cookies out and let them cool for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling (I encourage you to try at least one at this point, they are beyond lovely while still warm).
A final dusting of icing sugar is an optional final touch!
The texture inside the lemon melt icing sugar cookies is lovely, fluffy and airy. And they smell wonderful!
The cookies will keep for up to 5 days, but will be best if eaten in the first 3 days after baking, if stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
If you’re looking for more lemon baking ideas, you might like to try:
And remember, you can see a list of all the recipes on my website by visiting my recipe index.
Claire Huston / Art and Soul
Art and Soul 
I can always count of you to make me crave dessert 🤣 MUST TRY! xx
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😂😂 Honestly, if you can eat a couple when they’re still warm from the oven they are beyond delicious!
And relatively low fat/calorie for once! 😊😊
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Ooooh heaven!
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These look great, I’m going to make them tomorrow. Thanks 😀
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I hope they turn out well! The rolling bit is sticky, but once I’d got the hang of dropping each ball of dough into a small bowl of icing sugar and rolling it in there before putting it on the baking tray, it all got much easier 😊
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I made these yesterday. They were quick and easy to make, made the house smell wonderful, and were wonderful to eat. Definitely on my favourite bakes list! Thank you. ps: rolling in a bowl of icing sugar, made the job easy 🙂
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Yay! I’m so pleased! 😊 And definitely on the house smelling terrific ❤
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They look divine, Claire 😋
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Thank you!
They’re really nice. And you can feel quite virtuous eating them, as they’re a relatively low fat option 🙂
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An added bonus!
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These look amazing, Claire.
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Thank you! They were very nice indeed. I think they may have disappeared in record time!
The stickiness of the dough was initially a little annoying, but once I got the hang of rolling the dough balls in the icing sugar it got a lot easier. I need more flat baking trays though – having to reusing them is a pain!
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I have the same problem with reusing baking trays.
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Yummy!
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Thank you! I can’t deny it: I was surprised by just how nice they were! I scoffed quite a few straight from the oven because they were so good! 🙂
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OMG! These sound and look amazing! And so easy! Have no kitchen time this week but definitely making these next week! Thanks, Clair! 🙂
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Thank you!
They are lovely (even though I say that myself!). And very easy. The only slightly hard part is rolling the sticky dough. But once I got used to dropping each doughball into a little bowl of icing sugar and rolling it there, it all became far easier.
I hope they turn out well for you 🙂
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These look divine. I need to try making them for my lemon loving husband.
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Thank you! If you have a lemon fan in your house, they are definitely worth trying. He’ll love them!
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These look so good, definitely going to be giving them a go!
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Fantastic! I hope they turn out well for you. The only slightly tricky bit is rolling the sticky dough, but once I got the hang of just dropping each ball into a bowl of icing sugar and rolling it there, it all became easy. And worth the effort anyway – they’re delicious!
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Ooh! I need to give these a try ❤️x
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They are very very riice. And I can honestly say they’re a relatively low fat option (relative to cake and chocolate anyway!) 🙂 x
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Even better! 😊xx
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Yummm
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Sooooo yummmm
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Thank you! 🙂
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