These delicate and chewy lemon poppy seed cookies have the identical vibrant and buttery taste as their muffin counterparts! My recipe skips the extracts and synthetic flavors and will get its taste from 100% actual lemons as an alternative. Recipe features a how-to video!
What’s to Love about these Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Genuine taste. My recipe makes use of 100% REAL lemons to get a contemporary, tart, and actual lemon taste. That’s proper, no extract, no pudding mixes, no emulsions, simply the real-deal you could truly style.
- Fast & simple. The recipe is straightforward and easy with solely half-hour of chilling required.
- Make forward choices. The dough may be made as much as 3 days prematurely.
- Spectacular on any dessert desk. With their vibrant lemon-yellow coloration (which, ahem, I’ll point out once more is completely genuine and from the lemons — no meals coloring!) and delicate poppyseed freckles, they’re so fairly and ideal for spring or summer season!
There’s one thing delightfully distinctive in regards to the combo of vibrant lemon taste and crisp poppy seeds. When you’ve loved my lemon poppy seed muffins or scones, you’re in for a deal with! Lemon poppy seed cookies have the identical vibrant and sunny taste, however in delicate (actually, actually delicate!) and chewy cookie type.
It was essential to me that these cookies have an attractive lemon taste with out the necessity for extract or synthetic flavors. Additionally necessary that they NOT be cakey. When you’ve adopted my pumpkin cookie or banana cookie saga, you recognize that including moisture (there within the type of pumpkin or banana, right here within the type of lemon juice) can rapidly flip a delicate cookie right into a cakey one.
I took some very deliberate steps with at this time’s recipe to make sure it had all of the traits of a great, chewy cookie, beginning with the components.
What You Want
Since we aren’t utilizing any fancy flavors or extracts right here, you’ll possible have all of those components available already. Don’t you’re keen on when that occurs?!
- Softened butter. I exploit unsalted butter and add salt myself, however you possibly can simply use salted butter and skip the extra salt. I’ve a whole publish on why I exploit unsalted butter vs. salted butter, in case you’d like to know the reasoning behind that alternative.
- Lemons. We are going to use contemporary lemon zest and juice (contemporary lemon juice is crucial right here!) for optimum lemon taste. All the time zest your lemons earlier than juicing, and be sure to don’t zest up to now that you simply attain the bitter white pith–we solely need the skinny yellow pores and skin! I discover I sometimes want about two lemons for this recipe. Make certain they’re contemporary, not ones the place the pores and skin is skinny and drying from sitting in your counter too lengthy.
- Egg yolks. To cut back extra moisture within the dough, particularly since we’re including lemon juice, I made a decision to skip the egg whites and use solely egg yolks (which additionally felt like an applicable nod towards lemon curd, which solely makes use of egg yolks, too). This provides our cookies a beautiful yellow coloration as properly. It can save you your egg whites for meringue cookies, pavlova, or macarons.
- Poppy seeds. A necessary ingredient! Not solely do poppy seeds add a pleasant crunch to those cookies, they add enjoyable a visible ingredient too. Some folks prefer to soak their poppyseeds earlier than baking, however I don’t discover it vital. I discuss extra about this beneath.
Now what you don’t want: vanilla extract! The omission of vanilla extract from this recipe was completely intentional. Sadly, it strongly subdued the contemporary lemon taste, sarcastically making the cookies extra bland! Whereas I’m personally a vanilla fan, we’ll skip it right here.
SAM’S TIP: There are such a lot of methods to zest a lemon, however my favourite methodology for this recipe is to make use of a microplane. Right here’s a information on the best way to zest a lemon with a number of totally different instruments, in case you want a refresher!
Bear in mind, that is simply an summary of the components I used and why. For the total recipe please scroll all the way down to the underside of the publish!
Learn how to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Cookie Dough
We’ll begin by beating a wholesome quantity of lemon zest into butter and sugar. This step brings out the oils of the lemon zest and emulsifies each little bit of lemon taste into the dough, identical to in my lemon cookies. We’ll add a little bit of contemporary lemon juice too, only for good measure. And sure, it needs to be freshly squeezed!
- Beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest collectively till mild and fluffy.
- Stir within the egg yolks and lemon juice till properly mixed.
- Whisk collectively the dry components in a separate bowl.
- Regularly add the dry components to the moist components till mixed. Cowl the dough with plastic and let it chill within the fridge for no less than half-hour.
- Scoop and roll the chilled dough into 1.5 Tablespoon balls. Place 2″ aside on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 11-12 minutes at 350F.
- Let the cookies cool for no less than 10 minutes earlier than including the glaze.
Lemon Glaze
The cherry on high, this glaze is bursting with taste. Don’t skip it!
- Whisk collectively the powdered sugar and lemon juice, beginning with simply 1 ½ tablespoons of juice. Add extra if wanted till you attain the correct consistency; the ribbon of glaze that falls off your whisk ought to maintain its form for a number of seconds earlier than dissolving again into the remainder of the glaze.
- Drizzle glaze over the cookies and let agency up earlier than having fun with. When you’d prefer to sprinkle some extra poppy seeds over the glaze whereas it’s nonetheless moist, be at liberty!
SAM’S TIP: Cease baking your cookies when the perimeters are simply beginning to flip a light-weight golden brown for delicate and chewy outcomes. The facilities should still look just a little underdone, however they may proceed cooking on the baking sheet outdoors the oven.
Regularly Requested Questions
Sure! This dough may be lined and chilled as much as 3 days earlier than baking, which suggests these cookies are nice for making prematurely! When you’d prefer to freeze the cookie dough as an alternative, try my publish on the best way to freeze cookie dough.
Some folks do that to carry out the flavour of the poppy seeds or to melt them since they are often troublesome to digest, however I’ve by no means discovered it vital. The truth is, I just like the crunch they supply!
I rigorously designed this recipe to have a vibrant lemon taste with out the necessity for an extract or extra flavoring. You actually shouldn’t want so as to add any lemon extract right here, however in case you are decided to, you possibly can add as much as one teaspoon.
These cookies can be so enjoyable at a tea get together or spring child bathe!
Get pleasure from!
Let’s bake collectively! I’ll be strolling you thru all of the steps in my written recipe and video beneath! When you do that recipe, remember to tag me on Instagram, and you can even discover me on YouTube and Fb
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Servings: 30 cookies
Energy: 164kcal
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Directions
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Mix butter, sugar, and lemon zest in a big mixing bowl and use an electrical mixer to beat collectively till mild and fluffy.
1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar, 2 Tablespoons lemon zest
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Add egg yolks and lemon juice and stir till well-combined.
2 massive egg yolks, 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
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In a separate medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk collectively flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.
3 cups (375 g) all function flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 ½ teaspoons poppy seeds
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Regularly add dry components to moist and stir till utterly mixed.
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Cowl cookie dough bowl with plastic wrap and chill within the fridge for no less than half-hour and as much as 3 days.
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About quarter-hour earlier than the dough has completed chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
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As soon as dough has completed chilling, scoop by stage 1.5 Tablespoon-sized parts. Roll the dough between your palms so that you’ve a spherical ball, then place cookie dough no less than 2” aside on ready cookie sheet.
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Bake on 350F (175C) for 11-12 minutes or till edges are simply starting to show mild golden brown. Permit to chill for no less than ten minutes earlier than adorning with glaze.
Lemon Glaze
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Whisk collectively powdered sugar with 1 ½ Tablespoons of lemon juice. Add extra lemon juice as wanted till you may have a clean glaze that ribbons off of your whisk and holds its form for a number of seconds earlier than dissolving into the bowl.
1 ¼ cups (160 g) powdered sugar, 1 ½ – 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
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Drizzle glaze over cookies. Permit glaze to harden earlier than serving.
Notes
Lemons
When zesting lemons, make certain to not zest too deep! When you attain the papery white layer (the “pith”) cease zesting. The pith is bitter and doesn’t have the contemporary citrus taste we would like. All the time zest your lemons earlier than squeezing them.
Storing
As soon as glaze has hardened, retailer in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 5 days.
Diet
Serving: 1cookie | Energy: 164kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fats: 7g | Saturated Fats: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fats: 2g | Trans Fats: 0.2g | Ldl cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 69mg | Potassium: 22mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 207IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 1mg
Dietary data relies on third-party calculations and must be thought-about an estimate solely. Precise dietary content material will fluctuate based mostly upon manufacturers used, measuring strategies, cooking methodology, portion sizes, and extra.
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