Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

These Lemon Poppyseed Cookies are delicious cookies that are soft, buttery, and bursting with a fresh lemon flavor! The poppyseeds add a nice crunch, and the sweet lemon glaze really takes them over the top. These cookies are perfect for lemon lovers, in the spring, summer, or anytime you're craving something fresh and citrusy!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Lemon, lemon cookie, lemon poppy seed, poppy seed

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 10

Total Time: 25

Servings: cookies

Calories: 159kcal

Ingredients

For the Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies:

1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
3 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 TBS fresh lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
3 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled, or weighed for accuracy)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBS poppy seeds

For the Lemon Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
poppy seeds (optional, for topping)
fresh lemon juice (optional, for topping)

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Instructions

For the Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies:

Cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl for about two minutes until light and fluffy. 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 1 cup unsalted butter
Add in the eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and stir together until combined. (Add in the food coloring if using). 1 large egg, 3 TBS fresh lemon juice, 1 TBS fresh lemon zest, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3-4 drops yellow food coloring
Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir till You have a nice soft dough. 3 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt
Stir in the poppy seeds. 1 TBS poppy seeds
Place the cookie dough in the fridge to chill while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, about 15 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop the dough into 1 1/2 TBS sized scoops and roll into balls. ( I measure them out to be between 32 and 35g of cookie dough each).
Place the cookies at least 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven for 9-11 minutes, or until the cookie tops are crackly and no longer shiny. They may look a little under done.
Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to continue cooling.

For the Lemon Icing:

Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until combined in a small bowl. Add in more powdered sugar, or more lemon juice as needed to get a drizzle-able consistency. 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
Drizzle the icing over the top of the cooled cookies with a spoon.
Sprinkle with extra poppy seeds or lemon zest if desired.

Notes

Don't Zest too Deep: You want to zest the yellow part of the lemon peel, but once you reach the white layer (called the pith) you want to stop zesting. The pith will be bitter and will not have the flavor we want.

Zest then Juice: Zest your fresh lemon to get as much of the lemon zest as you can, then cut it in half and juice.

Food Coloring: For a brighter yellow color, add about 3 to 4 drops of a liquid yellow food coloring to the dough if desired.

Don't Overbake: Bake the cookies until the tops are just set, and barely no longer shiny. They may still look underbaked, but they will keep baking on the pan for a few minutes outside of the oven.

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