If you love a classic sugar cookie but want a bright and fresh variation, these lemon cut out sugar cookies are a must add to your “to be baked” list! Lemon feels like sunshine, spring, and summer, making this recipe a great way to lean into the seasons.

My go to Soft and Chewy Cut Out Sugar Cookies recipe is one of the top recipes here on the blog. When I decided to start making flavor variations of it, I knew lemon would be among the first! This lemon cut out sugar cookies recipe uses the same base as my original, but with the addition of bright and authentic lemon notes (no artificial flavors here!).

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Here’s Why You’ll Love These Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies…

• Bright authentic lemon flavor (no artificial taste)
• Easy to work with dough
• Holds shapes extremely well (without being dry!)
• Soft and chewy texture
• Chill and no chill dough options
• Delicious and not too sweet

Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookie Ingredients

As mentioned this recipe uses my Soft and Chewy Cut Out Sugar Cookie base, but swaps out the classic vanilla almond combo for bright lemon flavor with just a touch of vanilla!

• All Purpose Flour
• Salt
• Cornstarch (A little trick I picked up from Preppy Kitchen to help increase dough workability and decrease spread when baking!)
• Salted Butter (You can always try unsalted instead, just make sure to add 1/4 tsp for every 4 oz of butter to compensate)
• Cream Cheese (Just enough to add richness, flavor and moisture to the cookies)
• Granulated Sugar
• Lemon Zest (Make sure not to include the white pith)
• Lemon Juice (Fresh squeezed for best flavor, not bottled)
• Lemon Oil (A boost of authentic lemon flavor! I’ll make a note on the recipe card of how much zest to add to compensate if you don’t have lemon oil or want to stick with just zest and juice. The cookies will be slightly less lemony, but will still be delicious!)
• Vanilla Extract (Just a touch to compliment the lemon notes)
• Whole egg AND egg yolk (The extra yolk adds extra chewiness to the texture)

Testing Ways to Add Lemon Flavor to Cookies

This was one of those recipes I thought would be a snap to develop. HOWEVER, the multiple ways to add lemon flavor to cookies really added a lot of options to try out! I wanted these cookies to have prominent lemon flavor, without being too bitter or causing a weird aftertaste. SEVEN batches later (oof), I landed on the sweet spot for these lemon cut out sugar cookies.

Lemon Flavoring Options for Cookies

Speaking of lemon options, let’s chat about the different ways to add bright and delicious lemon flavoring. Each have their pros and cons when it comes to ease of access, strength in flavor, price, and the amount of adjustment needed to add in to a recipe.

Lemon Zest

Up first, lemon zest is one of the best ways to add authentic lemon flavor to baked goods! It adds very little if any moisture, which is helpful in the sense of not having to compensate your ingredient ratios for more liquid.

Lemon zest can also be rubbed into granulated sugar beforehand to release even more flavor. The sharp edges of the granulated sugar cut into the zest to release the lemons oils, and that oil absorbs into the sugar. Most of the resources I cam across online said it’s best to rub the zest in for a minute or two, or even run them both through a food processor if you don’t mind an extra dish.

When it comes to zesting, a key thing to keep in mind to avoid bitter lemon flavor is to make sure you’re not getting the white pith of the lemon when microplaning. As much as possible, you only want the yellow outermost layer.

Fun fact: the pith itself is not bitter! It’s only bitter once it reacts or combines with the zest. This was something I learned while testing and researching this recipe. Check out more details in this article from America’s Test Kitchen linked below!

Debunked: The Bitter Pith Myth

Lemon Juice

Next up, lemon juice! Fresh squeezed lemon juice is easily accessible and inexpensive. It also makes sense to incorporate it if you’re already buying lemons for zest. However, in recipes like cookies, you need to take into account the fact that you’re adding more liquid into the recipe ingredient ratio.

Extra liquid like lemon juice can make sugar cookies more moist, but can also give them less structure causing stickier dough and more spreading in the oven. As an ingredient with high acidity, can also react with baking soda or other baking powder (if the recipe uses them, mine does not) and cause leavening and spreading.

While offering authentic and delicious lemon flavor, fresh lemon juice unfortunately isn’t the strongest flavoring option unless used in larger amounts.

One non negotiable (in my opinion) is to use fresh lemon juice and not bottled. The bottled juice simply doesn’t taste the same and adds different flavor notes. (However if I’m only using a 1/2 tsp or so like in my Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe, I might make an exception IF that’s all I have on hand.)

Lemon Oil

When I think of the most potent lemon flavoring option, lemon oil definitely takes the number one spot! Lemon oil is extremely concentrated and offers VERY strong genuine lemon flavoring in just a few drops or teaspoons.

Something to watch out for with lemon oil is simply overdoing it and adding too much. Too much lemon oil can cause bitterness, particularly in the aftertaste from my experience.

I was first introduced to lemon oil by my boss at a bakery I used to work at. We used the Boyajian Lemon Oil to add a boost of lemon flavor to lemon cakes and buttercreams. It was DELICIOUS and tasted just like tangy fresh lemons.

The taste lemon oil offers is tough to beat when it comes to strength and authentic lemon flavor. The biggest “con” would be that it isn’t quite as easily accessible at grocery stores, and costs more than an extract.

However, when you think about how many lemons you would have to zest and juice to get the same amount of flavor lemon oil offers, the price seems very reasonable. Especially considering the time you save, and the ease of not having to adjust a recipe as much (if at all).

Lemon Oil Brand Recommendations

As mentioned before, I love the Boyajian Brand of Lemon Oil, but unfortunately it’s a little more inconsistent to purchase online without having to pay for shipping! For this recipe, I ended up trying out the Lorann Lemon Oil by recommendation of one of my baking friends, Kayla from Almond’s and Apricots. The strength and flavor were great and I’d definitely recommend it as another great option!

Both lemon oils are cold pressed, and are roughly the same price most of the time. The Boyajian has a larger size that’s a better value per ounce if you can catch it at the right time! I’ll link both lemon oils below.

Lemon Extract

Moving on now to lemon extract. Lemon extract typically consists of lemon oil diluted with alcohol. Good quality extracts are easy to add to recipes without having to adjust the ratios since they don’t add much liquid.

But here’s the deal. I have yet to taste a lemon extract that tastes as authentic as lemon oil. I will admit I haven’t tasted every lemon extract option available, but in my opinion, the flavor just isn’t the same.

Lemon extract IS however much easier to find at a local grocery store, and costs less than a lemon oil. It’s less potent than lemon oil, but offers stronger flavor than straight up lemon juice.

Lemon Emulsions and Lemon Powder

Two other options I’ll briefly touch on are lemon emulsions and lemon powder. Lemon emulsions are typically made up of water, natural lemon flavor, thickeners, and sometimes preservatives and other ingredients. I tried a lemon emulsion and didn’t care for the flavor. It gave off more of a Country Time Lemonade vibe vs fresh lemon.

Lemon Powder is actually something I’ve yet to experiment with, but I wanted to include it considering it’s a popular option. While not typically something you’ll find in grocery stores, lemon powder is a moisture free way to add bright lemon flavor to your baked goods. Make sure to adjust the dry ingredients in the ratio to compensate for the lemon powder.

Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookie Process

Let’s walk through the steps to make these lemon cut out sugar cookies together!

Lemon Zest and Lemon Juice Prep

The only ingredients you really need to “prep” for this recipe are the lemon zest and the lemon juice. When zesting the lemons, do your best to only remove the yellow outer layer, and not the white pith. If the zest and the pith combine it can create a bitter flavor which is less than ideal.

Make sure to use fresh squeezed lemon juice, not bottled. It really makes a difference in authentic fresh flavor!

Rubbing the Lemon Zest into the Sugar

Next, combine the lemon zest and the sugar into a small bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar using your hands for about 1-2 minutes to combine them and release the lemon oils. This is a tried and true trick for many bakers to enhance lemon flavor and give the sugar time to absorb more of the lemon oil before adding it in to the recipe!

If you don’t mind the extra dishes, you can also run the sugar and zest together in a small food processor if you’d like it to be more hands off.

Set the lemon sugar aside and let it do it’s thing while you complete the next few steps.

Whisk Together the Dry Ingredients

In a medium sized bowl, whisk your flour, salt, and cornstarch together and set aside. 

Make sure to measure your dry ingredients carefully. Too much flour or cornstarch can cause the dough to be too dry and crumbly, and will effect the overall texture. For the best and most accurate results, use a kitchen scale.

If you don’t have a scale and are using measuring cups, fluff the flour in it’s container and then spoon it into the measuring cup and level it by scraping across the top so it’s not packed down and dense.

Beat the Butter, Cream Cheese, and Lemon Sugar

One of the key parts of this recipe being easy to work with if you choose to not chill the dough, is making sure your ingredients aren’t too warm. Warm dough equals softer dough, AND can lead to more spread in the oven.

You’ll want your butter to be just a bit softer than fridge temp. If you press your finger in to it, you want it to give a little but still be fairly firm. A quick way to reach this consistency is to take your chilled butter from the fridge and pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds.

Mix your (just barely softened) butter in the bowl of an electric mixer just until it begins to evenly spread around the sides as shown in the photo below. This is where you’ll need to add your cold cream cheese, and then beat until combined. Don’t go overboard on this, but do make sure they’ve fully incorporated by scraping down the bowl and beater as needed along the way.

Next, add in the lemon sugar and beat until incorporated. Once again, we’re not looking to add a ton of air by beating for long periods of time. Excess air in a dough can also lead to spreading.

Add in the Lemon Flavorings and the Egg

Add in the egg and yolk, along with the lemon juice, lemon oil, and vanilla extracts. Mix until just combined.

Something I’d like to note is the amount of lemon oil. I chose to do a “scant” 1/2 tsp, meaning it should be just a little less than a 1/2 tsp. 1/2 tsp was just several drops too many in my opinion when it came to the bitter aftertaste.

Tip: Scraping down your bowl frequently will help ingredients evenly incorporate more quickly, lessening your chances of overworking your dough! I really like this stiffer silicone spatula for making cookie dough that I’ll link below.

Add in the Dry Ingredients

With your mixer on low, slowly add in the flour mixture. Keep an eye on it so you can turn it off when you see there are no more dry ingredient streaks remaining. Give the bowl and beater a thorough scrape to ensure there are no wet ingredients remaining. Evenly mixed dough increases the consistency of your cookies from the first one you roll out, to the last!

Chilled Dough Vs No Chill Option

This sugar cookie dough can work when chilled or not chilled. I personally prefer how incredibly EASY it is to work with when chilled for about two hours! It’s 100% worth it in my opinion. However, if you prefer to get straight to rolling, you may just need a bit more flour on your rolling surface and rolling pin. That, and you’ll need to preheat your oven before you prep the dough.

The spread on these lemon cut out sugar cookies is minimal to none. They hold their shape beautifully! You may get just a pinch more spread using the no chill method, but it really is pretty minimal.

To learn more about chilling vs not chilling, head over to my Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies Recipe!

Chill Dough for 2 Hours

Divide the dough in half, and wrap in plastic wrap pressing in to a 1 inch slab. Chill for 2 hours or more for sugar cookie dough that is super easy to roll out and cut shapes with!

Rolling Out Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies

When it comes to rolling out sugar cookies, I can’t recommend a rolling pin with guide rings enough. This bad boy makes quick and consistent work of rolling out any kind of dough. I prefer to roll sugar cookies out at 3/8 of an inch so they stay thick and chewy.

The exact one I have is no longer available, but I’ll throw a link down below to the closest one I could find.

When rolling out your dough, your goal should be to handle it the least amount possible. The more you work your dough, the more it is likely to spread. Cut as many shapes as you can out of each roll out! Something I like to do is take the scraps from my first roll out, and then wrap them back up and pop them back in the fridge while I roll out the second disc of dough. Then, I combine the scraps of the first and second roll out to complete the third roll out and go from there until all the dough has been used.

I also would recommend picking your dough up every several rolls and swiping over the counter and backside of the dough to make sure you have an adequate amount of flour to reduce sticking! If you roll your dough out all at once, you might get to the end and realize your dough is stuck to your counter making your shapes a bit more difficult to remove.

Baking Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Now that you have your dough rolled and cut, you may be asking, what is the best surface to bake sugar cookies on? I will pass along a recommendation to use either parchment paper or silicone mats. Avoid anything greased or non stick, because that can lead to extra spreading. With how well this recipe holds it’s shape, you can really pack a lot onto one tray (just don’t go any close than 1″ apart)!

P.S. I was a parchment paper girl for years but now days I almost exclusively use a silicone mat! Here’s a link one of my favorite high quality silicone mats.

Bake your cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes, or until cookies are no longer shiny on top. I look for the sheen to go from shiny, to an even eggshell finish. Making sure you don’t over-bake your cookies is a key step in having a moist result that isn’t dried out! I shoot to have little to no brown edges/bottoms on my cookies. Practice to find the sweet spot RIGHT before they start to get golden brown around the bottoms.

Summary of Recipe Tips for Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies

• Avoid getting the white lemon pith when zesting the lemons
• Rub the sugar and lemon zest together to enhance lemon flavor
• Use fresh squeezed lemon juice, not bottled
• Use cold ingredients to make the dough (with the exception of the slightly softened butter)
• Avoid over mixing
• Scrape down the bowl often
• Chill dough for two hours to achieve the best workability and the least amount of spreading
• Handle dough/re-roll as few times as possible
• Use a rolling pin with guide rings for consistent dough thickness
• Dip cookie cutter in flour as you go to help the dough release more easily
• Bake cookies on a silicone mat or parchment paper
• Bake cookies for 10-15 minutes, until the sheen of the tops has changed from shiny, to an even eggshell/matte finish. Avoid over baking and shoot for little to no brown edges/bottoms. Rotate your baking sheet halfway through the bake time.
• Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting or decorating them

For additional Cut Out Sugar Cookie Tips, Troubleshooting, and Frequently Asked Questions, head over to my Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookie Recipe

Storing and Prepping in Advance

Always store baked cookies (or unbaked dough) in an airtight container to maintain freshness! Here’s a guide to how long the cookies will last in each setting.

Baked Unfrosted Cookies

Room Temp: Several Days (Best eaten within 3 days)

Freezer: Up to 3 months

Cookie Dough

Fridge: 4-6 Days

Freezer: Up to 3 months for best quality

Buttercream Recipe to Frost Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies

One of the best parts about sugar cookies is FROSTING and decorating! I’m currently working on a lemon buttercream recipe that will pair to share here on the blog, so keep an eye out!

In the meantime, I recommend topping them with my Easy Buttercream Frosting for Sugar Cookie Decorating! This vanilla almond buttercream is a quick to whip up, tastes delicious (not too sweet), and is a dream to decorate with whether you’re a beginner doing a simple spread or a floral piping pro.

Looking for more Sugar Cookie Recipes and Tutorials? Check these out!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and step by step guide to making these scrumptious Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies! I’d love to hear what you think if you give them a try. Feel free to leave a review in the comments or tag me on social media at The White Whisk to share your creations!