Bright and citrusy lemon meltaway cookies will truly melt in your mouth! My recipe is simple yet so flavorful. Just seven ingredients! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Classic & Simple Lemon Meltaways
This is a super simple shortbread recipe made with just seven ingredients (including the icing!). Don’t let its simplicity fool you though; these lemon meltaway cookies are bursting with flavor and taste so good, especially considering how few ingredients are needed. Plus, there’s no chilling required!
Fresh lemons are a must here. The lemon flavor is bright and perfectly balanced; it’s present in the cookie but really pops in the lemon icing (which is just two ingredients!).
This recipe is very similar to my whipped shortbread cookies, which is another simple, yet so flavorful cookie recipe (and requires no chilling as well). So many of you loved that recipe, so I have a feeling you will love this one too 💛
What You Need
We’ll use just seven ingredients for these lemon meltaway cookies (for both the cookies and the icing!).
- Flour. As with all of my recipes, it is very important to measure your flour properly. It can be very easy to over-measure your flour, which can cause your cookie dough to be dry and crumbly.
- Butter. When making recipes with so few ingredients, it’s helpful to use good quality ingredients. While not mandatory, a pricier, European butter works especially well with this recipe to elevate the flavor even further. If you only have salted butter available to you, you can use that and skip the salt (note that this doesn’t work for all recipes; read my post on salted vs. unsalted butter to learn more).
- Lemons. Fresh lemons are essential here! We’ll be using both the zest and the juice from our lemons. Make sure to zest your lemons before juicing them; I typically need two lemons here, but this will vary depending on the exact size of yours.
- Sugar. We’ll use regular granulated sugar in the cookies themselves and powdered sugar in the lemon icing.
- Cornstarch. This is key to the melt-in-your-mouth texture that is characteristic to lemon meltaway cookies (and also in my snowball cookies)!
SAM’S TIP: Do not add vanilla extract! Vanilla doesn’t always pair well with fresh fruit flavor (which is why I also don’t use it in my orange cranberry cookies or lemon muffins) and can in fact bully the fresh flavor, so I leave it out here.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Lemon Meltaway Cookies
Make the Cookie Dough
- Cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together with an electric mixer.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients until completely combined.
- Scoop and roll into balls between your palms. I keep these cookies small, bite or two-bite sized. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake.
- Gently flatten the cookies with the bottom of a measuring cup or glass immediately after baking. This will give you a flat surface for adding the icing, and slightly compressing the cookie like this makes for a super soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Lemon Icing
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Check for the proper consistency: the icing should ribbon off the whisk and hold its shape in the bowl for several seconds before dissolving.
- Spread the icing over the cooled cookies and garnish with lemon zest. Once the glaze has set, enjoy!
SAM’S TIP: Add more sugar if your icing is too thin or add more juice if the icing is too thick. It’s impossible to mess it up!
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure! You can skip the lemon zest in the dough and use a splash of vanilla instead (same with the icing too!). Peppermint would be a fun flavor (maybe sprinkle some crushed peppermint candies on top of the icing?) and almond would be tasty too. I’d love to hear what you come up with!
Yes you can! I would freeze the cookies before adding the icing, though, to help keep it from becoming sticky as it thaws. They should keep for several months in an airtight container in the freezer.
These cookies are called lemon meltaways because they truly melt in your mouth! They are incredibly tender and light, so the name is very fitting.
If you love lemon, consider trying my lemon tart or lemon meringue pie next!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find all of my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
Lemon Meltaway Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon zest
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
Lemon Icing
- 1 ¾ cups (220 g) powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- Lemon zest for garnish optional
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, and lemon zest and use an electric mixer to cream until light and fluffy.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar, 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon zest
- In a separate, medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt.2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, ½ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until completely combined.
- Scoop dough into 1 Tablespoon-sized balls, rolling gently between your palms to create a smooth ball. Place on baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2 inches apart.
- Transfer to center rack of 350F (175C) oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- When cookies are finished baking, immediately use a clean, flat surface to lightly flatten the surface of each cookie (a measuring cup or glass works well). Allow cookies to cool completely before adding lemon icing.
Lemon Icing
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice until completely combined and smooth. Mixture should be slightly thick and, when the whisk is lifted, should ribbon back into the bowl and hold its shape for several seconds before dissolving back into the bowl. If your icing is too thick, add more lemon juice. If it’s too thin, add more sugar.1 ¾ cups (220 g) powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- Spoon a small amount of glaze onto the completely cooled cookie, and use the back of the spoon to spread evenly over the top. If desired, garnish with lemon zest.Lemon zest for garnish
- Allow cookies to sit until glaze is firm before enjoying.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Emilia
Do you think I could use orange zest instead of lemon zest for orange meltaway cookies?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Emilia! It’s worth a try, but oranges are sweeter than lemons, and we typically find you need more juice/zest from the orange than you would from the lemon in order to get the same flavor to shine through. Also, orange zest is much wetter than lemon so sometimes it can negatively affect the texture of the cookie. We do have an orange cookie recipe 😊
Emilia
These were SOOOOO GOOD! Thanks so much for the recipe Sam
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Emilia! 🙂
Tara
Do you think it’s okay to make these into larger cookies, think the size of a NYC or Levain cookie. I know I would need more baking time but I was wondering if I may be cooked them in rings?
Sam
Hi Tara! I honestly don’t know how they would turn out. They could turn out dry on the edges and underdone in the middle. If you do try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Gina
This simple recipe packs a flavorful punch! It’s amazing how good they are, considering how easy they are to make. Lemon Meltaway Cookies truly melt in your mouth. This recipe will be my go-to for a quick treat. Thanks, Sam!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Gina! 🙂
sara
Made these today and they’re perfect. Melty, citrusy and so satisfying! Love ’em!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Sara! 🙂
Christine
Can these be frozen?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Christine! We actually address this in the FAQ section of the post ☺️
Jer
Just to note the recipe is incorrect as written. You have: 2 cups (250g) of flour, well unfortunately for me 1 cup=250g. Therefore your recipe should read: 2 cups (500g) of flour. Likely why the other person in the comments had greasy cookies like I did. Sad waste of ingredients.
Sam
I’m not sure how you are measuring your flour but a cup of flour is only 125g. You will see variations from flour package to flour package, but usually only a few grams. I’ve seen anywhere from 120-130 generally. I do have a post on how to measure flour so you can see how I get to the 125g if that is helpful. Please do not double the flour in this recipe. You will have a bad time
Granddad
Sam, loved the lemon-blueberry cake, loved the lemon bars and now off to make the lemon cookies for my daughter. Sam is the BEST!
Sam
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! I hope the cookies are just as much of a hit! 🙂
Pia
I am not sure where I went wrong. My cookies came out soft and greasy. I followed the recipe as written so I was a little bit disappointed when the cookies turned out as they did. Hate to throw stuff away.
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this happened! I just want to double check that you didn’t make any substitutions or alterations to the recipe? If not, your butter could have potentially been too soft, or you may have just needed a touch more flour. 🙁
Pia
No, I didn’t do any substitutions but looking back, like you said, my butter was probably too soft. Thank you for replying.
Courtney H.
I tried this recipe today, completely gluten free and dairy-free. I used Country Crock plant based butter, King Arthur Measure For Measure flour and followed the rest of the recipe as listed above. Gluten free cookies are often a little crunchier no matter what, and I probably overcooked these a tiny bit… BUT, somehow they still melted in my mouth… Outside was lightly crunchy and the texture was soft and chewy inside with a light perfect hint of lemon in the cookie itself. The lemon icing was a flavorful finish! I will tweak my cook time next time. I went past the suggested time looking for them to get slightly brown and will follow the recipe more closely in the future. I am learning that GF doesn’t brown the same! I will definitely be making these again. I wish I could post a photo!!! Thank you for this recipe
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Courtney! Thank you for the feedback making them gluten free. It’s helpful for others to see. 🙂