Lemon Shortbread Cookies with Lemon Buttercream (7 ingredients)
Looking for a buttery lemon cookie that practically melts in your mouth? These Lemon Shortbread Cookies are made with simple pantry ingredients, flavored with fresh lemon zest, and topped with a sweet lemon buttercream frosting. The perfect lemon cookie for holidays, spring gatherings, and year-round baking!
Servings 45 cookies
Calories 96kcal
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large lemon zest
Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup butter room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice plus more as needed
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, add butter and cream slightly with a hand mixer. Add powdered sugar and mix into the butter until fluffy. Add vanilla and whip everything together.
- Add flour and salt to the top of the butter mixture. Add the cornstarch and lemon zest to the top of the flour and whisk together a little before mixing into the butter. Stir everything together with a wooden spoon until just mixed in.
- Refrigerate the dough: Place the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, press down into a thick disc, and refrigerate for about an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Roll out your dough to about a ¼ - ½ “ thick and cut your cookies with a cookie cutter shape of your choice. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, and then move them to a wire rack.
- While the cookies are cooling, make the buttercream. In a small bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, lemon zest, and a pinch of salt, and mix until combined. Add the lemon juice a little at a time until spreadable — about 1 tablespoon. For a looser, pourable glaze, add up to 1 more tablespoon of lemon juice.Note: If the buttercream ever looks curdled, keep beating for another minute or add a tablespoon of powdered sugar until it smooths out.
- Spread buttercream over each cookie and sprinkle a little extra lemon zest on top if you like. If your glaze is looser, place cookies on a wire rack, pour glaze over the top, and add a little lemon zest if you like.
Notes
- Be prepared in advance: Gather all your ingredients at once and prepare equipment ahead of time. Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature.
- Keep em’ cold: Make sure your shortbread cookie dough is nice and cold, it will keep the cookie from spreading when baking. If your cookies sit on the cookie sheet for too long, consider putting the sheet in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes to re-chill.
- Use room temperature (but not melted) butter. Soft butter creams into a fluffy base; melted butter makes the cookies spread and lose their shape.
- Don't skip the cornstarch. It's the secret to thick, soft, melt-in-your-mouth cut-out cookies that don't spread.
- Chill the dough for the full hour. If your kitchen is warm and the dough softens while you're cutting shapes, pop the cut cookies back in the fridge for 10 minutes before baking.
- Zest before you juice. If you're making the glaze or lemon curd version, zest the lemon first — it's nearly impossible to zest a squeezed lemon.
- Low and Slow: Bake your shortbread at a lower temperature for longer for best results. This prevents your cookies from spreading because of their high butter content.
- Keep them pale. Overbaked shortbread turns dry and crisp. Pull the cookies when the edges are just barely golden.
- “Tip” for success: Use a larger-sized round piping tip with your piping bag to get the best “dollop” of frosting on your cookie.
- Optional: Lemon Curd. A little dollop of lemon curd top (or sandwiched between two cookies) takes these from lovely to absolutely irresistible. If you've made my lemon thumbprint cookies, you already know how magical the buttery-shortbread-plus-lemon-curd combination is.
Storage and Make-Ahead Tips
- Unfrosted cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- Frosted cookies are best stored in a single layer (or with parchment between layers) in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4–5 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
- Make-ahead dough: The wrapped dough disc keeps in the fridge for 2–3 days, or freeze it for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before rolling.
- Freezing baked cookies: Freeze unfrosted cookies for up to 2 months and frost after thawing.
Nutrition
Calories: 96kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 62mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 189IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 0.2mg