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.
Made these today and friends, none of whom are vegan, loved them, as did I. Easy, quick recipe too.
Awesome Sandy! Thanks for the great review!
Amazing recipe, thank you for sharing. I ended up with 24 biscuits and it was no where near enough, my family loved them. Really easy recipe to follow.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Trish!
Forgot the milk in the first batch. When it was added the recipe really works and I’ve had many that didn’t.
Thanks for the great review Susan!
These are the best lemon cookies I’ve ever made.
Thank you so much!
This is my go-to cookie recipe for vegans and non-vegans alike! Sooo lemony and tart, not too sweet, buttery, and simple. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!
Awesome to hear that Rachel, thank you so much!
I’ve been making these for years. Everyone loves them and they don’t last long before getting eaten up! I’ve always used lemon juice instead of extract and it always comes out great. Thanks for this recipe!
Awesome to hear that Natalie! Thanks so much for sharing!
Great tasting cookies. Believe what Alison says all the way through the cool down! Wonderful. Even my lemon cookie aficionado spouse loved them. ❤️ your website.
Thanks so much Joe! So happy they were a success!
I absolutely adore these cookies, I’ve made them so many times because my non-vegan family are obsessed with them, so they get requested heaps! They are so buttery and soft, I couldn’t more highly recommend!
Yay! Thank you so much Elle!
When freezing, can I freeze the batter, individually balled into cookies? Or can I only freeze them once baked? Thanks!
Hi Nicole, yes you can freeze the rolled cookie dough balls! Then you can thaw them and then bake or just bake from frozen, allow a couple of extra minutes baking time.
I tried a lemon cookie recipe before trying yours and it was awful! Your lemon cookie recipe is awesome. Didn’t change a thing. All of the ingredient ratios were spot on. Will put it in my regular cookie rotation for sure!
Yay! So glad it was a success Malinda, thanks so much!
I’ve made your Lemon cupcakes so many times I thought I’d try these lemon cookies instead and they are just as easy and just as delicious!! I halved the glaze and still had plenty to drizzle on 16 cookies (a lot of the batter got lost in my mouth before baking so I didn’t have as many cookies 😂🙈)
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the cookies as well! Thanks Elicia!
looks so yummy! would I be able to make the dough and let it chill overnight?
Hi Ann, yes you can definitely do that!
Any chance you’ve tried this with gluten-free flours? I’m thinking it might work if I have a good all-purpose GF flour to substitute?
Hi Ally, I haven’t tried this as GF yet myself, but an all purpose blend should work! 🙂
I would like to try the recipe.
Can I use the regular whole milk in place of soy milk/almond milk? If so, what’s the measurement? Thanks ????
Yes you can, it would be in the same quantity.
Hey Alison. I love the way you have written this whole page. I always get mad when people put the oven preheating first. I just love these. i think your awsome
Haha thanks Jenny! I think some of my recipes do have the oven preheating first, but I know what you mean. It does make sense to start it later on in the process if the oven is pretty quick to preheat. 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe….made these today. I used normal butter in this and added a tbspn of lemon juice to the dough…. and these tasted awesome…love from India.
Sangeeta
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Sangeeta!