These Lemon Meltaway Cookies truly melt in your mouth! A soft, delicate cookie with the most amazing subtle lemon flavor. Don’t miss my 50 Best Cookie Recipes if you want more ideas!

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Lemon Meltaways

Traditionally meltaway cookies are velvety, tender cookies that do not use eggs. It is quite soft and the flavor is produced through the extract added, whether it be vanilla, almond, or lemon in this case.

This a gentle reminder that a recipe is only as good as your ingredients.  So always make sure you are buying quality products when you bake. 

Tinted Lemon Glaze

Tips for Meltaway Cookies

  • This recipe is written for a stand mixer, but you can easily use a hand-held mixer.
  • Make sure your ingredients are room temperature.
  • A 1-tablespoon cookie scoop works best to achieve uniform cookies.
  • Be sure to press the cookies flat right out of the oven, when the cookies are still pliable.
  • Make sure cookies are cooled completely before adding glaze. The glaze will harden enough to stack cookies in about 12 hours, 24 hours is best.
Lemon Glaze

Real Lemon Juice vs. Lemon Extract

If you don’t have lemon extract, you can use fresh lemon juice. Here is a simple equivalency:

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice = 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon lemon zest = 1 teaspoon lemon extract

I have not tested these cookies with fresh lemon juice and zest.

Lemon Meltaway Cookies

How To Store Lemon Meltaway Cookies

Store Lemon Meltaway Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will last up to 5 days. Or, freeze the cookies for up to 3 months. For more tips, check out my Guide to Freezing, Baking, and Storing Cookies!

Lemon Meltaways
4.93 from 14 votes

Lemon Meltaway Cookies

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
These Lemon Meltaway Cookies truly melt-in-your-mouth!

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 1 cup (2 sticks / 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ¾ cup (96 g) cornstarch
  • ¾ cup (96 g) confectioners' sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 1 cup (128 g) all-purpose flour

Glaze

  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 3 -4 teaspoons whole milk,
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • yellow food color, optional

Instructions

Cookies

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand-held mixer, mix the butter and cornstarch until well combined and lighter in color.
  • With the mixer off, add confectioners' sugar.
  • With the mixer on low, and the lemon extract and mix until ingredients are fully incorporated.
  • Turn mixer off and add flour. With the mixer on low to medium-low, mix until the dough comes together (pulls away from sides of the bowl).
  • Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, (you can also use a tablespoon measuring spoon) remove about a tablespoon of dough. Place onto the lined cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart. (For a standard cookie sheet you can fit at least 8 cookies, a larger cookie sheet can hold about 14.)
  • Once the cookie sheet is full, gently roll each between your hands until it is a smooth ball.
  • Bake 8-10 minutes.
  • Right out of the oven take a glass with a flat bottom and gently press it into the cookie.
  • Allow cookies to cool for about 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack. Make sure cookies are completely cool before adding glaze.

Glaze

  • In a medium bowl add 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 3-4 teaspoons of milk, and 1 teaspoon of lemon extract. It's best to start with ½ teaspoon of the extract and sample as you go. (Some prefer less and some folks prefer a more intense flavor.) Stir until smooth.
  • Place in a piping bag and seal with a rubber band, or spoon onto the cookies.

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Tinted Lemon Meltaway Cookies

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Meet Amanda Rettke

Amanda Rettke is the creator of I Am Baker, and the bestselling author of Surprise Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion – With a Little Something Extra Inside.Over the course of her 15+ year blogging adventure, she has been featured in and collaborated with the Food Network, New York Times, LA Times, Country Living Magazine, People Magazine, Epicurious, Brides, Romantic Homes, life:beautiful, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail, Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, DailyCandy, YumSugar, The Knot, The Kitchn, and Parade, to name a few.

Reader Comments

  1. Apparently I’m stupid at this because I could not get it to become a dough without additional lemon juice. I followed the instructions exactly but it was powdery until I added more liquid. Very odd! They ended up delicious!

  2. Thank you for the conversion amounts of lemon juice/zest for the extract! It came in handy. I did have to add a couple more tablespoons of flour to make the dough come together. These are great and so velvety. I really appreciate this recipe. I had bought a bag of lemons and made the lemon sorbet recipe you listed and this one. Just one more lemon to use up!

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