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
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
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 adding vegan butter and sugar to your stand mixer and creaming them together. Then you add lemon extract and mix it in.
Add all purpose flour, baking soda and salt to a separate bowl and mix together.
Then add the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix in until very crumbly. Add the lemon zest.
Now add the 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 the next thing you know 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 the dough and roll them into balls.
And then flatten the balls. 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 after baking looked identical.
Bake them at 350°F 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!
Storing and Freezing
Keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
For the Lemon Cookies:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- ¾ cups White Granulated Sugar (150g)
- 2 tsp Lemon Extract
- 2 cups All purpose Flour (250g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
- 2 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
For the Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar (120g)
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice scant*
- ⅛ 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
- Lemon zest. 1 Tbsp of lemon zest is roughly what you’d get from 1 small to medium lemon.
- Lemon glaze. When you’re making the glaze the tablespoons should be filled to just before the top, not all the way to the top. If you glaze your first cookie and realize that the glaze is just running off the cookie completely, then your glaze is too thin. Add a bit more powdered sugar.
- Storing. Keep your cookies stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Lanetra says
Just made these, and they are awesome and everyone in my house devoured them. Thanks for the great recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Fantastic! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. xo
Michelle says
Yummy Yummy Yummy 🙂 🙂
Teresa says
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?
Alison Andrews says
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! 🙂
Emily says
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. 🙂
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! So happy to hear that Emily, thanks for the awesome review. xo
Revathi says
This looks yummy! Will surely try out! It would be great if you could post the vegan butter recipe too! Thanks
Revathi
Alison Andrews says
Hi! Our vegan butter recipe is here. 🙂
Cynthia Dunning-Lazaroff says
can you sub gluten free flour for regular?
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t tried it! But if you do try it use an all purpose gluten-free flour blend. 🙂
Cynthia Dunning-Lazaroff says
THANKS! I will let you know!!!
Naya123 says
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
Alison Andrews says
Fantastic! 🙂
Pat says
Can I substitute the white sugar to coconut sugar?
Alison Andrews says
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. 🙂
Sue says
Hello Allison,
I did make these last night and they are yummy. Thank you very much for your wonderful recipes!
Selene says
Can I substitute vegan butter for half cacao butter + Half coconut oil ? 🙂
Alison Andrews says
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!
Patricia Campbell says
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!!
Alison Andrews says
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. 🙂
Jo Hall says
Another great cookie recipe from you, really delicious and simple to make.
Alison Andrews says
Yay! Thanks Jo! ?
Shantan says
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 🙂
Alison Andrews says
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! 🙂
Jennifer says
Can’t go wrong with LEMON! And these look award-winning to me! YUM!
Alison Andrews says
Why thank you! 🙂 And yes you’re too right, can’t go wrong with lemon flavored desserts! 🙂
Anna Andrews says
The lemon flavour adds a special flavour to these cookies!