A bright, frosted lemon sugar cookie can lift anyone’s mood. These lemon sugar cookies with lemon cream cheese frosting are crisp around the edges and tender inside, with a lively burst of fresh lemon. They’re ideal for Easter, Mother’s Day, baby showers, bridal showers, or any time you want a cheerful homemade treat to share.
These drop-style powdered sugar cookies use both oil and butter for a fine, delicate texture and subtle lemon flavor. They don’t require rolling, so they’re quick and easy to make and lovely to serve.
Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
The finished cookies have a texture that sits between soft and crisp. If you’ve had Swig sugar cookies, these will feel familiar: tender, slightly crisp at the edges, and full of lemony brightness.
Assemble ingredients and equipment
You’ll need the following equipment to make these lemon sugar cookies:
- Stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer
- Large mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Cookie sheets (one or two)
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
- 2-tablespoon cookie scoop
- Cooling rack
One of the best baking habits is gathering all ingredients and tools before you start. It saves time and prevents last-minute trips to the pantry. This recipe calls for softened unsalted butter, but salted butter can be substituted (see notes).
Preheat the oven to 375°F and line cookie sheets with parchment or silicone mats. If you have just one sheet, bake the cookies in two batches.
Mix the wet ingredients and sugar
Begin the dough by creaming together softened butter, vegetable oil, sugar, and powdered sugar. Use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle or a hand-held mixer in a large bowl. Once those are combined, add the egg and vanilla and lemon flavorings, and mix until smooth.
Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Bakery emulsions vs. extract
The recipe uses butter vanilla and lemon bakery emulsions, which are flavoring concentrates based on water and an emulsifier rather than alcohol. Emulsions can give a more pronounced, stable flavor in both frostings and baked goods because the flavor won’t evaporate as quickly at higher temperatures. If you don’t have emulsions, standard vanilla and lemon extracts work fine.
Combine the dry ingredients
In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Properly combining dry ingredients before adding them to the wet mixture ensures an even dough texture.
Measure flour correctly
Accurate flour measurement matters for the dough’s consistency. The best approach is to weigh flour—one cup is approximately 125 grams. If you don’t have a scale, spoon flour into the measuring cup and level it off with a flat edge to avoid compacting.
Blend the batter
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Stir just until combined; avoid overmixing. The dough may feel slightly softer than other cookie recipes—that’s expected. If it’s too stiff, the cookies won’t spread properly during baking.
Scoop and bake the cookies
Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake at 375°F for 8–12 minutes, or until the bottoms and edges begin to brown lightly—around 10 minutes is typical. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Make the lemon cream cheese frosting
Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
For the frosting, beat room-temperature butter and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add powdered sugar in stages—start with one cup, then another—and beat until combined. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and lemon flavorings, and salt. Continue adding powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until the frosting reaches a thick but spreadable consistency. The recipe typically requires 6–8 cups of powdered sugar, depending on how stiff you want the frosting. If the frosting seems too thick, thin it with a little extra lemon juice, whole milk, or cream. Optionally, add up to 1 tablespoon cornstarch to thicken without adding more sugar; don’t exceed that amount or the flavor may be affected.
Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Frost cookies and garnish
Pipe the frosting onto each cooled cookie in a swirl using a round or star tip, starting at the outside and working toward the center. You can also spread the frosting with an offset spatula, knife, or spoon. Immediately after frosting, add sprinkles, candy pearls, or sparkling sugar for a festive finish—this is optional but makes the cookies extra pretty.
Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
These cookies are great for sharing with family and friends. If you try the recipe, consider leaving a review to let others know how it turned out.
Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Marsha Maxwell
Pin Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick, 110g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (60g) powdered sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp butter vanilla emulsion or vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon emulsion or lemon extract
- 2 tsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
- 2 1/2 cups (315g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the frosting:
- 1 stick (1/2 cup, 113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 oz (250g) cream cheese, softened
- 2 tbsp (30ml) lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp butter vanilla emulsion or vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon emulsion or lemon extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6–8 cups (600–729g) confectioners’ sugar, to taste
- 1 tbsp cornstarch (optional)
For the garnish:
- Sprinkles, candy pearls, or sparkling sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
Make the cookie dough:
- Beat butter, oil, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar until well blended. Add the egg and flavorings and continue mixing.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a separate bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture one cup at a time, mixing after each addition until just combined.
- Using a 2-tablespoon scoop, place cookie dough balls onto the prepared sheet (about 12 per sheet).
- Bake 8–12 minutes, until bottoms and edges are lightly browned. Cool on the sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat for remaining dough.
Make the frosting:
- Beat butter and cream cheese on medium until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add powdered sugar in stages, beating after each addition. After two cups, add lemon juice, zest, emulsions, and salt.
- Continue adding powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until the frosting reaches the desired thickness (6–8 cups total). Optionally add up to 1 tbsp cornstarch to thicken without more sugar.
- Beat for 2–3 minutes until frosting is smooth, thick, and fluffy.
Frost and decorate:
- Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled cookies. If piping, work from the outer edge to the center in a swirl.
- Immediately add sprinkles or other decorations if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosures: The author was not compensated for this post. The article may contain affiliate links; purchases made through those links help support publishing these recipes.