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5 from 1 vote

Lemon Cooler Cookies

Homemade Lemon Cooler Cookies are bursting with lemon flavor inside and out. These tangy citrus cookies are a copycat recipe of a childhood favorite. Easy recipe!
Keyword: cookies, lemon, lemon cookies, lemon cooler cookies

Ingredients

For the cookie dough

  • 2/3 cup butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 teaspoons grated lemon zest
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon Taylor & Colledge Lemon Extract Paste (see note)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 3 cups cake flour (see note)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the lemon powdered sugar

  • `1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 teaspoons grated lemon zest

Instructions

For the cookie dough

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper.
  • Zest lemons (2 lemons and will need 6 teaspoons of zest) and juice lemon (need 2 tablespoons juice)
  • In small bowl, using a fork combine 2/3 cup granulated sugar with 3 teaspoons of zest. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour (see note), baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • In a bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, powdered sugar and lemon sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, vanilla, lemon extract paste and blend well. Then add in the lemon juice and mix again.
  • Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Do not overmix the dough. If the dough is too sticky, place bowl in refrigerator for 20 minutes before forming the cookie dough balls and baking.
  • I used a one tablespoon cookie scoop to measure out the dough for these lemon cooler cookies. Place on prepared baking sheet and flatten just slightly.
    Bake for 16 - 19 minutes or until the centers are puffy and the cookies are light golden brown on the bottom. Time will depend on your oven. Remove the cookie sheet to a wire rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes before coating them with powdered sugar.

For the lemon powdered sugar

  • In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar and 3 teaspoons of lemon zest. Pour the mixture in a resealable plastic bag. When the cookies have cooled for 5 minutes, add a few at a time in the powdered sugar and shake to coat.
    Store cookies in an airtight container.

Notes

This Lemon Cooler Cookie recipe is easy but it does take a few extra minutes to juice and zest the lemons. I like to juice and zest the lemons before I begin to mix the cookie dough.
Another tip for you, sometimes when you are using lemon zest in recipes, it can clump together in your batters. This isn't good. My suggestion is to mix the zest with sugar using a fork before adding it in with the butter. The lemon zest will now be perfectly distributed in the batter.
If you do not have cake flour (and I rarely do not), it's easy to make it at home. For every one cup of flour needed in a recipe calling for cake flour do this:
Measure out one cup of flour, then remove 2 tablespoons (put it back in your flour container). Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the measuring cup of flour. So for this recipe you will need 3 cups of flour, remove 6 tablespoons and then add 6 tablespoons of cornstarch to the remaining flour. Then, and this is important, sift the flour/cornstarch mix TWICE before measuring out the 3 cups you need to use in the recipe. Sifting the flour aerates it and gives it a little more volume. Actual cake flour is light and airy.
Important to mention is that the Lemon Extract Paste is intense so if your recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of lemon extract, you would use HALF that amount of the paste - but you can adjust to taste. I used 1/4 teaspoon of the Lemon Extract Paste. It was perfect addition to the fresh lemons.
Recipe adapted from Five Heart Home