Vegan Lemon Cookies are a quick way to enjoy the refreshing, tangy flavour of fresh lemons. Loaded with lemon zest and Lemon juice, these cookies are chewy and soft.
After you guys tried my previous vegan lemon cake recipe, I received a bundle of requests to do a lemon cookie that is vegan. I jumped on to make them, and after a few trials, I have the perfect recipe for you.
It’s simple, sweet and packed with lemony flavour. The best part is both lemon zest and juice it used to give the maximum lemon flavour naturally.
Butter cookies are the BEST version of classic cookies. Everyone loves them. These cookies, too, are super soft and buttery and give you the melt-in-the-mouth-like experience. Since the cookies are rolled in castor and icing sugar, the outer layer has a crunchy texture in contrast to the soft centre.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe?
Let’s break down a few reasons why this recipe will work for you!
- Refreshing: who doesn’t love the pleasant lemon aroma and its tangy flavour?! I love the citrusy taste as it brings a nice contrast to the sweet flavour. These cookies do the exact same thing! It’s a beautiful combination of butter, sugar and citrus and gives a great-tasting experience.
- Natural Lemon Flavour: Why use any lemon essence when you can get much real and genuine flavour from the lemon zest and juice?! Yes, nothing can match the natural flavours; that is how you get a pleasant fragrance and taste from the cookies.
- Vegan: with vegan butter and soy milk, you will still get a delicious cookie in your hand, so much so that you will not stop at one. With the presence of lemon flavour, you won’t get the taste of soy milk at all.
Important Ingredients Used In The Recipe
- Vegan Butter: This cookie is a form of butter cookie, so I would recommend using butter only. You can use any market-bought vegan butter or make one at home. Both will work for this recipe.
- Soy Milk: Soy milk work great for the recipe. It provides the richness and moisture it needs. You can also use almond milk in the same quantity.
- Lemon zest and juice: Very important ingredients needed are these two. Since we are adding all naturally derived flavours to the cookies, we must use the best juicy lemons out there.
- Castor Sugar: It’s used not only for the sweetness of the cookie but also for the outer texture of the cookie. We will be rolling the cookies into castor sugar before baking. Hence they will provide a unique crunchy exterior.
How To Make Vegan Lemon Cookies
Preparation: Begin by collecting all ingredients required for the recipe. Preheat the oven to 180C (OTG mode: upper rod + lower rod + fan). Line a baking tray with a silicon mat or butter paper.
Mix Sugar and Lemon Zest: Take castor sugar and lemon zest in a bowl. Rub the zest with the sugar. This step is important as the sugar will absorb zest’s flavour, and when mixed into the batter, it will provide a much better and evenly distributed flavour.
Add Butter and Vanilla Essence: Next, add melted and cooled butter along with vanilla essence to the sugar-zest mixture. Mix this as well.
Add Soy Milk and Lemon Juice: add the remaining wet ingredient, ie. Soy milk followed by lemon juice. Combine the mixture well.
Add Yellow Color: Add a drop of yellow gel color to give the cookies a nice color.
Add Dry Ingredients: Sift flour, salt, and baking powder and mix them into the above mixture. Mix to make a smooth dough. The dough will be sticky at the moment.
Freeze: You will need to freeze the dough until it becomes less sticky and workable. This can take up to 20-30 minutes.
Shaping: Once the dough becomes easy to handle, take 20g of the dough and make a ball. Coat the ball with castor and icing sugar. Place it on the lined baking tray. Repeat the same for the rest of the dough. Coating them in sugar will give a nice snowy crinkle effect to the cookies.
Bake: Put the cookies for baking at 180C (OTG mode: upper rod + lower rod + fan) for 12-15 minutes.
Cool and Serve: Once baked, let the cookies cool down to room temperature before serving. Enjoy your freshly baked vegan lemon cookies!
Chef’s Tips For The Recipe
Lemon Zest
While grating the zest from the lemon, ensure to grate only the top yellow part. Below the yellow layer, there is a white skin layer as well, which we do not want in our cookies as they are bitter in taste.
Do not over-mix the dough
The dough will already be sticky one. Do not mix for a long duration, as it will only make the dough more sticky and wet.
How To Store Vegan Lemon Cookies
The cookies can be stored in an airtight box at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Cookie Dough can be stored in the freezer for up to two months.
More Easy Recipes
Try out other delicious vegan recipes-
Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Frequently Asked Questions
I would prefer for you to use natural flavours rather than artificial ones wherever you can. If you want a more lemony flavour, you can increase the zest quantity.
The recommended time for the recipe is 12-15 minutes. For most ovens, this time frame should be ok. You need to look for cooked edges. The Centre will be soft. If you bake for too long, the cookies will have a burnt bottom.
Although my first choice would be soy milk, if you want, you can use almond milk as well. However, using coconut milk will give you a profound taste of coconut in the cookies and suppress the lemon one. So avoid using coconut milk.
