Food

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies Recipe: DIY Lemon Cookies

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Apr 4, 2022 • 2 min read

Lemon cream cheese cookies are sugar cookies that include a lemon flavoring and cream cheese in their dough, giving them a lemony taste and a pillowy texture.

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What Are Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies?

Lemon cream cheese cookies rely on a mixture of butter and cream cheese as their base and fresh lemon juice or lemon extract for their lemon flavor. The cookie dough resembles that of sugar cookies, but the addition of cream cheese gives cream cheese cookies an overall taste that is similar to cheesecake.

Lemon cream cheese cookies can be thick and chewy or thin and crispy. For a chewy, soft cookie, beat the butter and cream together until they become light and fluffy—the air you create during this step will combine with the lift of the baking powder to result in a pillowy cookie. For a crispier cookie, add cornstarch to the flour mixture. Additionally, you can add white chocolate chips to the cookie dough if you want more texture.

3 Tips for Making Cream Cheese Cookies

Consider the following tips to ease the baking process for cream cheese cookies:

  1. 1. Bring the ingredients to room temperature. Make sure the dough and the unsalted butter are both soft and at room temperature to achieve the creamiest cookie consistency.
  2. 2. Use the right flour. All-purpose flour will work, but cake flour is best to achieve the softest texture. To make the cookies gluten-free, use finely ground almond flour or coconut flour.
  3. 3. Avoid overbaking the cookies. Cream cheese cookies can easily dry out if you overbake them, so watch for any signs of browning around the edges and remove them from the oven immediately. Golden brown cookies will be too tough.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies Recipe

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makes

24 cookies

prep time

10 min

total time

25 min

cook time

15 min

Ingredients

  1. 1

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

  2. 2

    Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone liner.

  3. 3

    In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

  4. 4

    In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.

  5. 5

    Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

  6. 6

    Add the vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

  7. 7

    With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients.

  8. 8

    With a cookie scoop, spoon 12 dough balls onto each cookie sheet.

  9. 9

    Bake the cookies in the oven for 12–15 minutes.

  10. 10

    In a medium bowl, mix the lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar. Set the glaze aside.

  11. 11

    Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.

  12. 12

    Drizzle the glaze over the warm cookies.

  13. 13

    Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

  14. 14

    Place the cookies in a resealable plastic bag or another airtight container and store them at room temperature.

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