Vegan lemon cookies with a deliciously tangy and fresh lemon flavor and a soft and buttery texture. Super easy recipe with perfect results.
I absolutely love all things lemon! So these vegan lemon cookies are right up my street.
There’s something about the tanginess and light and refreshing taste of lemon that just goes so well with sweet desserts (like our vegan lemon cupcakes, vegan lemon cake and vegan lemon pound cake, ooooh yes!).
And these cookies are soft and buttery with just enough lemon flavor to really pop!
How to make Vegan Lemon Cookies
This is a simple 8-ingredient recipe for the cookies and an even simpler 3-ingredient recipe for the glaze.
The glaze is totally optional, but recommended, it really makes that lemon flavor shine!
You start off by creaming together some vegan butter and sugar and then adding in some lemon extract.
Then you add some flour, baking soda and salt and mix in until very crumbly. Add in some lemon zest. Then you add some non-dairy milk and mix again.
TIP: We used soy milk but you can use any non-dairy milk.
At this point it will feel like this will never make a cookie dough, it will feel way too dry. But get in there with your hands and next thing you have a nice big ball of dough.
The dough is dry, but don’t worry the cookies are definitely not!
Break off pieces of dough and roll them into balls and then flatten them. You can flatten them with a fork, or by placing a square of parchment paper on top of the balls and then pressing down on it with the base of a glass.
I tried it both ways and the end result looked identical.
And then you bake them for 12 minutes!
When they come out of the oven they will be very lightly browned on top but still very soft in the middle. Let them cool on the tray and as they cool they will firm up.
The Lemon Glaze
When they’re completely cool, then drizzle on the delicious lemon glaze. It’s a simple mix of powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract.
And there you have it, delicious vegan lemon cookies with glaze!
So I hope you’ll love these vegan lemon cookies for all the reasons I do! They’re:
- Tangy
- Fresh
- Soft
- Buttery
- Deliciously lemony
- Super easy!
Keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days or in the fridge for up to a week.
More Vegan Cookies!
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
And heaps more!
So please let us know what you think of these vegan lemon cookies in the comments and please rate the recipe too!
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Vegan Lemon Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 20
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Vegan lemon cookies with a deliciously tangy and fresh lemon flavor and a soft and buttery texture. Super easy recipe with perfect results.
Ingredients
For the Lemon Cookies:
- 1/2 cup (112g) Vegan Butter
- 3/4 cups (150g) White Sugar
- 2 tsp Lemon Extract
- 2 cups (250g) All purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest*
- 2 Tbsp Soy Milk*
For the Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup (120g) Powdered Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice (Freshly Squeezed)
- 1/8 tsp Lemon Extract
Instructions
- Add the vegan butter and white sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and cream them together. Add in the lemon extract and mix in well.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt to a bowl and mix together. Then add the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients and mix in by hand (don’t use the electric mixer for this part). Mix until crumbly.
- Add in the lemon zest and mix in.
- Then add in the soy milk and mix in very well. It will seem like it is too dry to form a dough, but get in there with your hands until it does. Only add more soy milk if you absolutely have to.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Break off pieces of the big ball of dough and roll them into balls and place onto a parchment lined baking tray. Aim to get 20 balls.
- Then flatten the balls either with a fork or by placing a square of parchment paper over a ball and flattening with the base of a glass.
- Place into the oven to bake for 12 minutes.
- When they are done they will be lightly browned on top but still very soft in the middle. Allow to cool on the tray and they will firm up as they cool.
- Prepare your lemon glaze by adding the ingredients to a bowl and mixing in with a spoon.
- When the cookies are completely cool, use a teaspoon to drizzle the glaze over the cookies.
Notes
*1 Tbsp of lemon zest is roughly what you’d get from 1 lemon.
*You can substitute a different non-dairy milk such as almond milk if you prefer.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie (of 20)
- Calories: 133
- Sugar: 13.4g
- Sodium: 113mg
- Fat: 3.5g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3g
- Carbohydrates: 23.2g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 1.3g
Keywords: vegan lemon cookies
Just made it! I followed the recipe by the book except I used vegan margarine instead of vegan butter. It’s great! I think I may have used too much salt because it has a very present salty aftertaste, but I don’t dislike it. Big bonus: it’s the first time I make a perfect lemon glaze, so I’ll be able to use it with other recipes! Thank you very much! 🙂
★★★★★
So happy it worked out well! Thanks for sharing and the great review. 🙂
I have made these twice and they leave a bitter aftertaste. Is this the baking soda?
Oh no, sorry to hear that Amanda! I don’t think it’s the baking soda at all (unless you were using too much but I’m sure you’re not), I feel like it might be to do with your lemon zest. If you grate it down too far, to the white part, called the pith, then that can cause that. You can try omit the lemon zest altogether as well and see how you go with that. All the best! 🙂
Hi Alison, these are very easy to make and turned out soft and buttery and the glaze is definitely a must. Many thanks again. You’re a star.
★★★★★
So glad to hear that, thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
Just made these ! Doubled the recipe, used LIME for everything; extra lime zest to replace lime extract, and half the oil replaced by apple sauce. Used coconut oil instead of butter. My six and 3 year old approve! Will share with all tonight during bible study. Stoked. They’re beautiful and smell so, so good! Thank you.
★★★★★
Sounds delicious! Thanks so much for sharing and the awesome review! 🙂
Just made these, and they are awesome and everyone in my house devoured them. Thanks for the great recipe!
★★★★★
Fantastic! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. xo
Yummy Yummy Yummy 🙂 🙂
★★★★★
Hello!
I haven’t tried these yet but they look amazing – and so easy! I’m wondering if Limoncello liqueur would work as a replacement for the lemon juice. Thoughts?
★★★★★
Hi Teresa, it might! I’m not sure. So far I haven’t had the best success in baking with alcohol, it turns out more crumbly. But that was with a cake, maybe cookies would be different. If you try it let us know how it goes! All the best! 🙂
These are AMAZING!!! All of my non-vegan family members (even the ones who never eat anything that I make just because it’s ‘vegan’) loooooved them. These will be my new go-to cookies for events. 🙂
★★★★★
Awesome! So happy to hear that Emily, thanks for the awesome review. xo
This looks yummy! Will surely try out! It would be great if you could post the vegan butter recipe too! Thanks
Revathi
Hi! Our vegan butter recipe is here. 🙂
can you sub gluten free flour for regular?
I haven’t tried it! But if you do try it use an all purpose gluten-free flour blend. 🙂
THANKS! I will let you know!!!
I just made this cookies and they are great! I didn’t have any lemon extract, so i used fresh lemon juice instead of the milk and I reduced the sugar by 30 grams. They are perfect
★★★★★
Fantastic! 🙂
Can I substitute the white sugar to coconut sugar?
You probably can! That being said though substitutions can be risky when they haven’t been tested and I haven’t tested it like that. But in theory it’s also granulated sugar so should be fine. 🙂
Hello Allison,
I did make these last night and they are yummy. Thank you very much for your wonderful recipes!
Can I substitute vegan butter for half cacao butter + Half coconut oil ? 🙂
Coconut oil would likely be okay, I have no idea about cacao butter for this, but I would be hesitant to try. Others have substituted coconut oil for vegan butter in our cookie recipes and been successful so that should be fine. You could also try making a coconut oil based homemade vegan butter we have a recipe that works great for cookies!
You do not have mention bringing the vegan butter to room temperature first. is this a step that you recommend or find necessary? Thank you!!
Hi Patricia, I don’t do it, I am usually too impatient for that so just use it straight out the fridge, just cream it very well and that takes care of that. 🙂
Another great cookie recipe from you, really delicious and simple to make.
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks Jo! ?
Hi Alison,
Just curious. Is it possible to replace the lemon extract in the recipe with lemon juice and what would the proportion be? I am curious if you have tried this or have any experience doing it.
Thanks 🙂
Hi! I haven’t tried that, I think you would lose a little of the lemon flavor as the lemon extract is concentrated, but I definitely think it would still be delicious. You could try replacing the soy milk and the extract with lemon juice (same proportions), but like I say I haven’t tried this so can’t be 100% sure but I think that might work well too. All the best and let us know if you try it like that! 🙂
Can’t go wrong with LEMON! And these look award-winning to me! YUM!
Why thank you! 🙂 And yes you’re too right, can’t go wrong with lemon flavored desserts! 🙂
The lemon flavour adds a special flavour to these cookies!
★★★★★