These lemon shortbread cookies are tender, buttery, and filled with bright lemon flavor. They're easy to make in one bowl with 7 simple ingredients!
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These lemon shortbread cookies have a buttery, zesty lemon flavor and delicious melt-in-your-mouth texture. Just like my classic shortbread cookies, they have a simple dough made from flour, butter, sugar, and salt. Fresh lemon juice and zest give them a lovely citrusy pop.
I love how easy this recipe is. These lemon shortbread cookies come together in one bowl, and most of the time, chilling the dough isn’t necessary.
If you like, you can make a quick lemon glaze to give the cookies an extra burst of lemon flavor, but they’re also perfect plain—tender, bright, and lightly sweet. I hope you love them as much as I do!
Lemon Shortbread Cookies Ingredients
When I was testing this recipe, I made a ton of lemon shortbread cookies. I tried vegan and gluten-free shortbread cookie recipes with different oils and flours, all sorts of things. During the process, I was stressing out. Some cookies were dry, some were burned, and some flattened out like pancakes (not the good kind). I’m just lucky that Jack, being the kind taste tester that he is, made sure not a crumb went to waste.
So what did I end up with? A straightforward, delightful lemon shortbread cookie recipe. Here’s what’s in it:
- All-purpose flour – Sometimes complicated problems demand simple solutions. I tried all sorts of flours in this recipe, but good old all-purpose yielded the best results every time. Spoon and level it to avoid packing too much into your measuring cup.
- Butter – It gives these lemon shortbread cookies a delicious buttery flavor and melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Sugar – For sweetness. I typically use natural cane sugar, but regular granulated sugar works well too.
- Fresh lemon juice and zest – They fill these cookies with bright lemon flavor. I especially love these cookies with Meyer lemon juice and zest, which add a sweeter, almost floral note to the dough.
- Fresh thyme – My twist. 🙂 I adore the combination of lemon and thyme in these cookies. It’s so surprising and refreshing. I think you’re going to love it too, but you can also skip the thyme if you prefer a classic lemon shortbread.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Lemon Shortbread Cookies
The recipe is simple and straightforward. Here’s how it goes:
First, make the dough. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, followed by the fresh lemon zest, lemon juice, and thyme. Mix again. Then, add the dry ingredients—the flour and salt—and mix until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and flatten it into a 1″ disk. If it’s sticky, wrap it up and chill it for 15 to 30 minutes, or until it’s firm, but still pliable.
Next, roll out the dough and cut out the cookies. My favorite part! Aim for the dough to be about 1/4″ thick. Then, use cookie cutters to cut out any shapes you like. Like in my cut-out Christmas sugar cookie recipe, I recommend starting at the edges of the dough and working inwards, puzzling together the cutters to cut out as many cookies as you can. Transfer the cut-outs to parchment-lined baking sheets, and re-roll the scraps to make more cookies.
Then, bake! Transfer the cookies to a 350°F preheated oven, and bake until the edges are starting to turn light brown. Transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Soften the butter at room temperature. Creaming the butter gives these cookies a perfect light texture, and it makes it possible to roll out the dough to make cut-outs. In order to cream the butter, it needs to be soft, but not melted. To soften your butter, you’ll need to plan ahead. Remove it from the fridge, set it on the counter, and let it sit for an hour while it comes to room temperature. I don’t recommend softening it in the microwave—it’s easy to accidentally go too far and partially melt it in the process.
- Bake one sheet at a time. Temperatures vary throughout an oven, so baking one sheet at a time is the best way to ensure that your cookies bake evenly. You don’t want ones on the bottom rack to burn before the top rack starts to brown! Pop any cut-outs that don’t make it onto the first sheet in the fridge until you’re ready to bake them.
- Add a lemon glaze, if you like. To give these cookies an extra pop of citrus flavor, top them with my quick lemon glaze once they cool. It’s easy to make with 2 ingredients—lemon juice and powdered sugar. You could even sprinkle a little extra lemon zest on top.
- Use a different citrus. I love the lemon flavor in these shortbread cookies, but they work just as nicely with other citrus too! Try using orange zest and juice (see these orange shortbread cookies) or lime zest and juice instead.
How to Store Lemon Shortbread Cookies
The lemon shortbread cookies keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
They also freeze well. Allow them to cool completely, then seal them in an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months. They thaw in around 30 minutes at room temp!
More Cookie Recipes to Try
If you love these lemon shortbread cookies, try one of these cookies next:
- Easy Sugar Cookies
- Chewy Molasses Cookies
- Mexican Wedding Cookies
- Oatmeal Cookies
- Or any of these 17 Easy Cookie Recipes!
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup cane sugar
- Zest of 1 medium lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped (optional)
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Next, add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and thyme, if using, and mix again. Finally, add the flour and salt and mix until just combined. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and flatten into a 1” disk. If the dough is sticky, wrap and chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm but still pliable.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about ¼“ thick. If desired, you can roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Use 2” cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake for 10 to 14 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Keep any extra cut-out cookies in the fridge until ready to bake.
- Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. Store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Yum. I actually used my lemon thyme for these. I LOVE ANYTHING LEMON. These were great with a cup of tea.
I love using lemon thyme in them as well :). I’m so glad you enjoyed these!
I have made these cookies several times, So Delicious
Today I used Freeze Dried Strawberries with a little lemon
They came out Delicious
ooh, that sounds super delicious, thanks for the idea!
Have you tried using dried herbs instead of fresh? I have so much dried stuff and would rather use that than have to buy fresh.
Just saw the comment above. Will try with that and see how it goes. 🙂
WAS DELICIOUS!!!! omg dried works great!!! will 100% make this again! 😀
I was fresh out of thyme, but made these using lavender instead (and with coconut sugar and an additional 1/2 tsp. of lemon juice). Shortbread is usually not my cookie of choice, but I love lemon, and these cookies did not disappoint! Looking forward to exploring more recipes from here!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I think lemon and lavender are such a wonderful pairing 🙂
A beautifully light, buttery and fragrant shortbread. I absolutely love this recipe!
Shortbreads are my favorite cookies and I’m always on the look out for new ways to make them, these sound so delicious, will bake a batch this weekend!
Hello, Is there anything that can be used in place of the butter to make this recipe vegan? Allergy to dairy..unfortunately. Thank you, Kathy
Hi Kathy, I couldn’t get this recipe to work without butter (both vegan butter and coconut butter made them spread too much, not holding their cutout shape). I have lots of other delicious vegan cookies in the vegan desserts section, I hope you find something you love here: https://slim-balance.today/recipes/vegan-recipes/dessert-recipes/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class=reply>
Thank you – I now make these annually for a cookie swap – I cut them in triangles and claim that they are “trees.” I’ve done thyme and rosemary and love them. What is your experience with baking in advance and freezing them? Thank you again! Michelle
10/10, delicious!
This is such an easy recipe – I had a cooking vibe going on this morning and I am so glad I found this. The cookies are flaky, buttery, and perfectly lemony. The thyme adds an amazing kick. They taste great with tea & milk as they’re crunchy on the edges, soft in the middle, and so flaky throughout.
Our thyme plant is going crazy so it was a great chance to use the trimmings in something sweeter, and lemons are abundant around us right now! Definitely a recipe to keep somewhere easy to reach.
Hi Jill, I’m so glad you loved the cookies! And I’m so jealous that you have so much thyme growing, I can’t wait for spring 🙂
These were delicious 🙂 I didn’t have cane sugar so had to settle with caster sugar. Needed to cook mine for round 13 minutes. Lovely lemon taste. Thank you!
Just made this, slathered on some plum jam…it may have been the best bite I’ve ever had. Now I have to wait till desert tomorrow to have more.
Delish! Easy to make. I used a tea spoon of dried thyme instead of fresh and it worked out just right!
so glad you loved them! thanks for the tip about the dried thyme!
I just made them and they’re fabulous! Very easy, not too sweet, just lemon-y enough. I ended up baking them about 16 minutes and they crisped up nicely. Great with a cup of coffee. Thanks!
Hi Julia – I’m so glad you liked the cookies!
Can you freeze the dough? Or how long do you think it could last in the fridge before baking? I wanted to make these ahead of time. Thank you!
Hi Samantha, the dough was really difficult to work with if refrigerated for more than an hour or so. These are best made and baked on the same day.
Thank you! I found other recipes for shortbread cookies that say you can freeze them after baking…. will try with small batch. Can’t wait to try your recipe!
Good evening…I just made these cookies from.your recipe. They turned out incredibly lovely. Thank you so much for being generous in sharing this absolutely Devine shortbread cookie recipe.
Hi Wendy, thank you so much for coming back to let me know! I’m glad you enjoyed them 🙂
These are great! Very lemony with a lovely bit of thyme. I think rosemary would also work well in these.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Yes, I think rosemary would be lovely 🙂
These are excellent! I added lime instead of lemon and added a bit of coconut. Great consistency!
I made these yesterday with fresh thyme from my garden. They were very good, but we couldn’t taste the thyme (which is the reason I tried these cookies). I may try them one more time and reduce the lemon zest and increase the thyme. Also, I am lazy, so instead of rolling the shortbread out and using a cutter, I rolled it into a log, stuck it in the frig and just sliced off as many cookies as I wanted to bake.
Excellent cookies and simple to make. I made them cat shaped as a thank you for our vet who has gone above and beyond in the care of our 20 year old diabetic tuxedo cat. Thanks for a great recipe! 5 stars (can’t get the star thingy to work)
aww, those sound so cute – wishing your cat all the best! I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
This can work for beginners (of baking), thanks for sharing some simple recipes like this one.