Buttery and tender lemon cookies rolled in powdered sugar. These Lemon Snowball Cookies are so easy to make, incredibly delicious, and don’t require any dough chilling!
Have you ever made snowball cookies? If you haven’t, imagine a rich and buttery cookie coated in powdered sugar that literally melts in your mouth. And yes, they’re just as delicious as they sound.
I actually got the idea for these lemon snowball cookies after I posted the recipe for these pecan snowball cookies last year. So many of you loved the recipe that I decided to switch it up and make a lemon version for spring.
And if you’ve never made snowball cookies, I can promise they’re probably one of the easiest cookies you’ll ever make. You just need a few simple ingredients and you don’t even have to chill the cookie dough!
To make these cookies, you’ll start by creaming together some unsalted butter and powdered sugar until they’re well combined. Why powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar? Unlike granulated sugar, powdered sugar prevents cookies from spreading very much. Powdered sugar is typically used in snowball cookies so they bake up thicker and rounder.
Along with the butter and powdered sugar, you’ll be using some fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. I did test these cookies with just lemon juice but found that the cookies spread too much and were too crumbly.
So, I opted to use some lemon extract because it’s much stronger and you don’t need as much to get that delicious lemon flavor. If you don’t have any lemon extract, I suggest buying a small container of it to keep on hand. It’s perfect to use in other desserts and for glazes and frostings instead of fresh lemon juice.
Lastly, you’ll be mixing in some all-purpose flour and a little bit of salt. When measuring your flour, be sure to spoon and level it versus scooping it from the container. If you scoop the flour from the container, it can become packed inside your measuring cup and you can end up with too much flour. You want the right amount of the flour in these cookies so they’re soft and tender, not crumbly.
If you want to add a little pop of yellow to these cookies, you can add a few drops of yellow food coloring or a little bit of gel food color. This step is completely optional, but I love to add 3-4 drops of food coloring so it’s more obvious that these cookies are lemon flavored.
The cookies may crack slightly in the oven as they’re baking, this is okay. You’ll be covering them with powdered sugar so you won’t even be able to tell once they’re finished.
Once the cookies have cooled for 5-10 minutes, roll them in some powdered sugar while they’re still warm. The first coating of powdered sugar won’t completely cover the cookies, but you’ll be rolling them a second time to coat them better.
Baking Tips for Lemon Snowball Cookies
- When measuring your flour, don’t scoop it out of the container with the measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour around, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level it off with the back of a knife.
- Make sure to measure the cookies correctly. You’ll only need about 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie. A tablespoon cookie scoop or measuring spoon works great!
- You can add 3-4 drops of yellow food coloring or food gel to make the cookies a little more yellow like the pictures. This step is completely optional!
Lemon Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180 grams) powdered sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Optional: 3-4 drops of yellow food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and ½ cup (60 grams) of powdered sugar (set the remaining 1 cup aside to roll the cookies in) for 1-2 minutes or until well combined. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract and mix until fully combined. Mix in the flour and salt until fully combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. If using food coloring, mix in a few drops until just combined.
- Using a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop (or measuring tablespoon) scoop out the cookie dough, roll into balls, and place on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake in separate batches at 350°F for 14-15 minutes or until the cookies are set.
- Allow cookies to cool slightly for about 5-10 minutes, then roll each cookie in the remaining 1 cup (120 grams) of powdered sugar while they're still warm. Allow to cool completely and roll all of the cookies one more time in the powdered sugar.
Notes
Hi – What brand of lemon extract did you use?
Thanks !
I used Nielsen-Massey pure lemon extract in these cookies. I’ve also used Watkins pure lemon extract in the past, it works great too!
I baked this recipe yesterday using pecan chips, marvelous results. I added coconut shreds to a few. Can’t wait to try lemon. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you liked the cookies, Ramona! The coconut shreds sound like a fantastic addition!
Just tried this recipe because I can’t find a good lemon cookie in stores anymore. The flavor is great. The only problem I had was that my cookies were crumbly when I bit into them. I’m sure it is something I did wrong. Any suggestions??
Hi, Michelle! These are more like shortbread cookies, so they’re not soft like you would find with a chocolate chip cookie. I do have a soft lemon cookie recipe here though, that may be more of what you’re looking for.
I just baked these amazing Lemon Snowball cookies this afternoon, they indeed are tender & buttery with just the right amount of lemon. I really like the fact that the dough was so easy to work with. Thank you for this keeper recipe; my husband said he can’t wait to get home from work to try them out 🙂
So glad you liked the cookies, Darlene! I think they’re one of my favorite cookie recipes so far 🙂 Hope your husband enjoys the cookies too!
Absolutely fantastic! Light, lemony, buttery like a whipped shortbread cookie. Thank you for sharing!
So glad you liked the cookies, Lina!
My cookies came out flat. I halved the recipe but I don’t think that should have affected the dimensions. If you were to halve the recipe, would you still use the 1/2 cup powdered sugar in the mix or reduce it to 1/4? This is the only thing I can think of that may have affected the shape, since the recipe says the confectioners sugar is supposed to keep the cookies compact. Otherwise the batter tasted fine pre-baking. (I ask because this is my first time making lemon snowball cookies and I’d like to transform this into a learning experience so as to not have mishaps like this in future.)
If you cut the recipe in half, you would also want to cut the powdered sugar in the cookies in half to 1/4 cup. Did you make sure to cut the lemon juice and extract in half? Were the cookies super flat or just flatter than the pictures?
Do you need baking powder or baking soda?
Not for this recipe 🙂
These are so good! Thank you for the recipe!
I don’t know what I did wrong but they came out flat… please help
So sorry to hear that, Heather. Did you make any adjustments to the recipe and did you make sure to measure out the lemon juice and extract?
These were incredible!! I added poppyseeds to the batter and they were perfect. A huge hit at my moms birthday. Cookie wasn’t too sweet, most of the sweetness coming from the powdered sugar on the outside. Had a nice crunch to the outside but inside was super tender and buttery.
These were delicious and very simple to make. My family and my husband’s co-workers all loved them. I will definitely make these again and again. Thank you!
Hi Danielle,
These looks scrumptious!!!! I’m going to add this to my list! Can I ask…I don’t like sweets too sweet, would it affect the cookie if I cut down the icing sugar? And would it still taste good if I leave the lemon extract out? Thank-you.
You can certainly use less icing sugar to coat the cookies, but I would leave the amount of icing sugar in the cookie dough the same. You can leave out the lemon extract too, they’ll still taste fine but won’t be quite as lemony.
Hi, really want to make these today. Haven’t been able to find lemon extract in my local supermarket. Would it be OK to substitute it with lemon juice? I know it would require about 3 tbsp of lemon juice for the 1.5 tsp of lemon extract.
I wouldn’t add that much lemon juice because it will likely cause the cookies to spread too much. You could add more lemon zest to the cookies and just omit the extract.
Boyajian lemon extract is the best. Find it on line
Tried this and the cookies came out really dry and not very lemony. I used the spoon and level method for the flour so not sure where I went wrong.
If they were dry, it could be that they were a little overbaked. Have you checked your oven temperature? If so, reducing the oven temperature by a couple of minutes may help next time.
Hi… these lemon snowball cookies are so good! My only regret is that I didn’t get out of the house to buy the lemon extract. I can’t wait to make the next batch with the lemon extract.
So glad you liked the cookies!
Great hit! Thanks for the recipe added 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric for coloring and was great.
Love this! Made a few batches. I’d recommend putting the food coloring in when you put the lemon extract and lemon juice in vs later. Easier to mix it before the flour goes in.
Very yummy!
Just made them. They taste fine but I can barely touch them without them crumbling into crumbs. I don’t know if they are suppose to be like that or if I did something wrong
Hi, Elizabeth! These are shortbread cookies, so they’re not soft like a chocolate chip cookie. That being said, they definitely shouldn’t crumble if you just pick them up. If they’re too crumbly it could be that there was a bit too much flour in the cookie dough or they were a little overbaked. If you measured the flour correctly with this batch and make them again, you could try reducing the baking time by 2-3 minutes and see if that helps.
Is this the kind of dough you make the night before and refrigerate overnight or does it matter?
This cookie dough doesn’t spread much, so it’s not necessary to chill it overnight.
These were HEAVEN. They came out perfect. Light, melt in your mouth. I have been craving lemon so I added more lemon zest and a scotche more lemon extract. So Impressed. L O V E THEM!!
These are amazing!
If I were to double to recipe, would that mean I would put 1cup of powdered sugar into butter/cream step, leaving 2 cups of powdered sugar aside to roll the balls in once removed from the oven?
Yes, that’s correct!
Thank you! 🙂
Hi, I would really like to make these and I was wondering what shaping technique you use? Like should I roll them into balls before baking or leave them in the shape of the tablespoon? The recipe looks great and I can’t wait to try them.
I prefer to roll them into balls before I bake them.
Fantastic. Recipe! I had been craving lemon cookies for about a year when I finally found this recipe and made them. I also found a product called True Lemon—fine lemon crystals, made from real lemon. I add this to the powder sugar for rolling. Divine!!
Hi! I wanted to 1/2 this recipe. Could you give me what the recipe would be? This would really be appreciated! Let me know, thank you!
It would be:
1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (90 grams) powdered sugar, divided (1/4 cup for the dough and 1/2 cup to roll)
1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
3/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1 and 1/8 cups (140 grams) all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
1/8 teaspoon salt
I’m not too sure where I went wrong . Maybe not enough flour . But mine came out doughy in the center and didn’t spread at all . So I flattened them a little with a spoon . I guess we will see.once they are room temperature if the center is the same .
These are snowball cookies so they’re actually not meant to spread very much. If they were doughy in the center, they may have just needed to bake a bit longer. I hope you still enjoyed them though!
Yummy! I’m adding this to my Christmas cookie rotation.
I halved the recipe & it worked out, but next time I’ll bake a whole batch because I don’t think these will last long.
Hi! I would love to try this recipe myself but I have two questions. I don’t really like lemon zest in something. I don’t like the texture. Could I leave those out, or would that ruin the cookie? and my second question; My oven is very small so I can’t really put that many cookies in there in one go, so would I need to change the temp / baking time because of that? Let’s say, I can make half (Maybe even less) the cookies in one go as you would. Thanks in advance!
You can leave out the lemon zest, but they won’t have quite as much lemon flavor. You could add a little extra lemon extract to make up for it though. I believe the baking time will be pretty similar if you bake less at one time too.
Ah alright. Thanks so much for replying so quickly! <3 Going to try them out soon!