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A small wooden plate filled with lemon meltaway cookies

Lemon Meltaways – a delicious little cookie

5 from 151 votes

Light and buttery, these bite-sized lemon cookies are a real treat!

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Easy Lemon Meltaways – the perfect little bite of lemon!

A wooden bowl of lemon meltaway cookies with icing on top

 

Lemon Meltaways ~ Light and buttery, these lemon bite-sized cookies are a real treat!

Do you think if I post bright lemony recipes like these Lemon Meltaways, spring will come early? Probably not but it’s nice to dream.

The forecast is calling for -4 degrees tomorrow night, we have about 7 inches of snow on the ground and a cold front coming in. I’m really not complaining  because we’ve all wished for a good snow this year.

Now that we’ve had our snow – I’m ready for blooming dogwood trees, tiny tomato plants in the garden, asparagus peaking out from the frozen ground and I can’t wait to go camping and kayaking again!

It seems like it has been a long, long winter. But who wants to talk about the cold when there are delicious, lemony, melt-in-your-mouth cookies to share?!?

a bowl of lemons and lemon zest on a cutting board

Zest only the yellow outer skin of the lemon, and no white pith.

If you get carried away with your zesting, you may end up with a bitter taste instead of the bright lemon sunshine flavor you’re looking for.

I always use organic lemons and oranges when planning to include the zest in a recipe. Call me crazy but I can still taste the pesticides. Organic or not, you should always wash your citrus with a vinegar solution or soap and water. Be sure to rinse and dry the lemons before zesting and only remove the outer layer.

Each lemon is different. Some are thick skinned while other are not. Different growing regions produce varied sizes of lemons, as well. I prefer the smaller, thin skinned lemons for zesting. The flavor seems better to me but I have no scientific proof to back that up.

A red bowl of cookie dough with dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

Lemon Meltaways are easy to make with just a few pantry ingredients.

These truly do melt in your mouth and are similar in texture to a buttery shortbread cookie.  The lemon brightens the cookie and gives it an irresistible freshness.

Simple to make with just a few pantry ingredients they come together in no time.  Roll the dough into balls or flatten into discs and bake until barely browned around the edges.

lemon meltaway cookie dough pressed to flatten with the bottom of a small glass

These lemon meltaways can be presented several ways.

The warm, baked cookies can be tossed immediately in powdered sugar like a Russian Tea Cake or Mexican Wedding Cookie. If planning to serve this way, there’s no need to flatten the cookie before baking. You can leave them in a ball shape.

Lemon meltaway cookies on a cooling rack being drizzled with lemon icing

My favorite way to serve these cookies is with a lemon drizzle.

The lemon icing really adds a lot of lemon flavor to the meltaway cookies. The icing is easy to make and drizzle or spread on the baked, cooled cookies. The glaze can be spread on thick or drizzled on a little thinner – it’s all up to you! Either way, you’ll have a memorable lemon experience!

A wooden bowl of lemon meltaway cookies with icing on top

Lemon Meltaways are bite-sized treats that freeze beautifully!

Rolling the cookies into a small single-bite size treat makes it super easy to pop them in your mouth. Not overly sweet, these cookies are the perfect light ending to any meal.

A wooden bowl of lemon meltaway cookies with icing on top

Can you substitute other kinds of citrus for the lemon?

Feel free to substitute lime, key lime or orange for the lemon in these cookies. We’ve made Coconut Key Lime Meltaways with great success and enjoy Peppermint Meltaways during the holiday seasons too. I hope you’ll give these cookies a try. Enjoy!

Thanks for PINNING!

A wooden plate filled with iced lemon cookies

Lemon Meltaways

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 13 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 33 minutes
Yield: 36
Course: Cookies, Dessert
Author: Tricia
Pin RecipePrint RecipeRate Recipe
5 from 151 votes
Light and buttery, these bite-sized lemon cookies are a real treat!

Ingredients

For the cookie dough:

  • 14 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
  • ½ cup powdered sugar (57g)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest packed - about 2 lemons (no white pith)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice about 1 lemon
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (196g)
  • ¼ cup cornstarch (4 tablespoons)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

For the lemon glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar (115g)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice plus more if needed for desired consistency
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest for garnish, if desired

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add ½ cup of powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Gently blend on low until incorporated, scrapping down sides with a spatula as needed.
  • In a small mixing bowl combine the flour, cornstarch and salt. Whisk together.
  • Add the flour in four batches to the creamed butter and lemon mixture. Blend on medium low until each is incorporated.
  • Place the cookie dough in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • To bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Scoop a level spoonful of dough using a 1-inch cookie scoop. Roll each into a tight ball and place two inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheet.
  • If you want to make cookie discs, press each dough ball to the desired thickness using the bottom of a flat glass covered with a small piece of wax paper.
  • Bake for 11-13 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Slide the parchment paper and baked cookies onto a wire rack to cool.
  • Repeat with a new piece of parchment paper placed on a cooled cookie sheet. Cool cookies completely if using a glaze. If covering in confectioners' sugar, allow the hot cookies to cool for a minute then toss in 1 cup of powdered sugar to coat. Cool completely on the wire rack.
  • To make the glaze, mix together 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice. Add more lemon juice or sugar as needed to reach desired consistency. Spread on each cookie and garnish with lemon zest if desired.
  • Allow the glaze to fully set then store cookies in a cool place or refrigerator.

Recipe Notes

  • Cookies can be frozen before adding the lemon glaze. They'll keep for up to two months well sealed.
  • Recipe adapted from Southern Living
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition

Calories: 81kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 17mg | Potassium: 9mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 136IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg

 

Here are a few more of our favorite Meltaway Cookie recipes you might also enjoy:

A stack of peanut butter chocolate meltaway cookies with chopped peanuts on top

Peanut Butter Chocolate Meltaway Cookies – for the chocolate and peanut butter lover in your life! These light little bite-sized cookies are not too sweet and get a nice salty bite from the crushed roasted peanuts. Click HERE for the Peanut Butter Chocolate Meltaway Cookie Recipe.

 

A plate full of Coconut Key Lime Meltaway Cookies with flaked coconut and lime zest on top

Coconut Key Lime Meltaways – a light and buttery bite-sized cookie with a big tropical flavor. Click HERE for the Coconut Key Lime Meltaway recipe.

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240 Comments

  1. Sandra S.

    To all that wondered why the cookies turned out a bit bitter:

    I made some just now, and they turned out a tad bitter. I decided to taste my powdered sugar, which was from a plastic bag, that was used before, and I had tied the top with a clip. It was a tad bitter, I thought.

    So I made a new batch with a brand new bag of powdered sugar, never been opened before. And Voila! My second batch of cookies were not bitter at all!

    So I think it has to do with the freshness of the powdered sugar.

    I’m keeping all my unused powdered sugar in a tight sealed jar from now on!!!!

    FYI!

    Reply

      • Tricia Buice

        Hi Priya – If you’re looking for the printable recipe, it’s at the bottom of the post, shaded in beige just above the area where you left a comment. Let me know if you can’t find it there!

      • PRIYA

        Thanks..i found it and made cookies …14 gms each ..baked at 350 F for 12 mins..rolled in powdered sugar…lovely cookies…excellent recipe…

      • Sonja

        Can you tell me how many ml has your cup ? I’m from Austria and we are using here different cup sizes. Thank you

      • Tricia Buice

        Hi Sonja – I’m not an expert on ml but in looking it up online, I found a converter via Google. 1 cup is 236.588ml according to one formula. Hope that helps!

      • Sonja

        I was just yet baking this cooking and i can only say so much delicous. Best cookies ever, it melt in mouth !!

      • Lori

        I made these tonight for the first time. I thought I followed the recipe correctly. However after letting them cool for one minute then when I went to put them into the powdered sugar they fell apart. Any idea what I could have done wrong?

      • Tricia Buice

        Maybe let them rest for two minutes or three. They only fall apart when not cooled enough. Be careful when placing them in the powdered sugar. I usually just drizzle with icing which has additional lemon flavor. I have another lemon cookie that does well in powdered sugar. Try these LEMON COOLERS sometime – I bet you’ll love them.

  2. Zella Overstreet

    I made these cookies and they were delicious, melt in your mouth. I used the glaze. I will keep a batch in the freezer. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Sorry Donna. When you zest a lemon, be sure you don’t get to much of the white pith. Also, cornstarch gives a little different mouth feel, but not usually an aftertaste. Sorry you didn’t like these – we love them.

      Reply

  6. Marie

    These were so easy to make, and the texture is awesome! I made the dough the day before and let it sit in the fridge till the next day because I ran out of time. The cookies have a great lemon flavor, but they are bitter. Could this be because I let it sit to long? I made sure not to get the white of the lemon while zesting. I’d like to try making these again if they aren’t bitter.

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Thank you so much for the feedback Marie. I’m not sure why they would be bitter, especially if you made sure you didn’t zest the pith. Perhaps you can try using less zest next time. Fruit and citrus flavors can vary from season to season. Perhaps you got a bad lemon somehow. The lemon flavor in these cookies is usually pretty mild. Hope you’ll try again! I don’t think it has anything to do with the dough being refrigerated for a longer period of time. Good luck and hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

      Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Yes Carolyn – even as long as overnight would be fine. It may need to warm up at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before rolling into balls. It’s a very forgiving cookie dough. Enjoy!

      Reply

  11. Kathleen

    They were a little dry, what would you recommend to make them a little more chewy? Delicious taste. And still a very good cookie. I just prefer a chewier cookie.

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Hi Kathleen – since these cookies are eggless, I don’t think they’ll ever be chewy. If they were dry, I would cut a few minutes off the baking time. Meltaways have a very different texture due to the corn starch. They truly melt in your mouth and are typically not real chewy. Thanks for trying them!

      Reply

  12. Alane

    The looked and sounded lovely. I attempted them yesterday for Motger’s day. They melted down flat, and when I tried to remove them from the parchment paper they crumbled. Where did I go wrong? I was surprised there was no egg for a binder. Thanks for any tips-would love to try again.

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Hi Alane – so sorry you had trouble with this recipe. I’m not sure what went wrong but here are my thoughts. These cookies should not “melt down” and stay pretty much in the same form as when raw. As you see in the photos, the cookie dough balls are pressed to flatten because they really should not spread. No eggs are needed, as the cornstarch helps act as a binder. It almost sounds like something was omitted by mistake, or too much butter was added. I use Land-O-Lakes unsalted butter for all my baking. I’ve found the moisture content in butter products varies greatly. Again, so sorry you had trouble, especially when baking for an event like Mother’s Day. Good luck!

      Reply

  14. Missy

    These look delicious! I am wondering if they can be frozen as I have an upcoming wedding I’d like to make them for. Any insight is appreciated?

    Reply

  15. Kathryn

    I only have a hand mixer not a stand mixer with a paddle…how would that change the blending/mixing instructions? Or doesn’t it matter?

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Great question Kathryn – it really doesn’t matter. Just mix by hand. I have both a hand mixer and a stand mixer and sometimes I just use the hand mixer anyway. It will work fine – no worries. Thanks!

      Reply

  17. Karen Bass

    Delicious! Made these for a holiday party and they were a hit. There is always so much chocolate these were a welcome light edition. Thanks!

    Reply

  18. Randi

    I made these this morning after chilling overnight. The texture is chalky. Maybe the dough shouldn’t have been left in the fridge overnight?

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Hi Randi – I have never chilled the dough that long, so perhaps. But these do have cornstarch in them which adds a little different texture in some cookies. I don’t remember these being chalky, only buttery and tender with a nice bite of lemon. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and maybe you can try these again without the long chill time.

      Reply

  19. Ann Meintjes

    Hi, I have made this recipe three times and the cookies are everything you said they would be.
    However my batter/dough is very soft and sticky, i certainly could not roll it into balls like you have or use a cooking press. Please advise..
    with sincere thanks
    Ann Meintjes

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Hi Ann – try refrigerating the dough longer, and maybe add 2 tablespoons of flour when mixing. Humidity levels are different all year, also the moisture in butter varies by brand. I always use Land-o-Lakes unsalted butter. Good luck!

      Reply

  20. Karly

    Seriously, these are like little bites of sunshine on a plate. They look so delicious and are perfection for spring and summer! I must try them ASAP!

    Reply