These Almond Flour Lemon Cookies are soft and chewy vegan gluten-free lemon cookies easy to make with only a few wholesome ingredients. Bonus, these lemon cookies are also refined-sugar-free and paleo-approved!
I love lemon baking recipes! You might have tried my Blueberry Lemon Blondies, 3-Ingredient Lemon Donuts, or 4-Ingredient Lemon Cake. There’s something about lemon that screams summer. So I make lemon recipes in summer because it’s the right time. I make lemon recipes in winter because I want to feel like summer. And of course also in spring and fall, because, why not?
Ingredients and Substitutions
To make these soft and chewy meltaway lemon cookies with almond flour, you need:
- Ultra-Fine Almond Flour – I don’t recommend baking with almond meal. It has a coarse texture and darker color and gives a gritty texture to almond flour cookies.
- Freshly-Squeezed Lemon Juice – or bottled juice.
- Lemon Zest – Make sure you are using untreated lemon to avoid pesticide residues.
- Baking Powder or half baking soda, so 1/8 teaspoon.
- Maple Syrup – or any other liquid sweetener like agave syrup.
- Coconut Oil – it must be coconut oil, no vegetable oil, or the cookie won’t firm up properly.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
- Lemon Extract – optional but delicious to enhance the lemon flavor of these cookies.
How To Make Lemon Shortbread Cookies
These are soft shortbread cookies entirely made of almond flour and vegan lemon cookies!
- First, bring all the dry ingredients together into a large bowl and stir to combine. Then, add fresh lemon juice, melted coconut oil, lemon zest, and maple syrup and stir to form a sticky cookie dough.
- Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough from the bowl and roll the dough ball between your hands.
- Then place the cookie dough ball on the baking tray and gently press it down with the palm of your hands.
- You want the cookie to stay a bit thick in the center to be moist and soft.
- Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 14 to 18 minutes or until slightly golden-brown on the sides.
- Remove from the oven and cool down on the baking tray for 10 minutes.
- Then, slide a spatula under each cookie and cool them on a cooling rack before decorating.
- To decorate your lemon cookies, combine powdered sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle the glazing on top of the cookies and add a dust of lemon zest to decorate.
- Then, place the cookies in the fridge to slightly harden the glaze.
Add-Ons
You can add up to 1/3 cup of poppy seeds to these dairy-free cookies.
Add the seeds at the beginning of the recipe, along with the dry ingredients.
Cookie Taste
These are entirely made of almond flour, so they definitely have an almond flour flavor.
But almond perfectly blends with the tangy lemon flavor. They are soft, chewy cookies, way less sweet or buttery than a classic lemon crinkle cookie.
Frequently Asked Questions
These gluten-free lemon cookies with almond flour are low in sugar. The cookies are not very sweet on their own. To increase sweetness, add one of the options below:
The suggested lemon glazing
– One extra tablespoon of maple syrup in the batter.
– Lemon stevia drops in the batter.
– Roll the uncooked cookie dough balls in powdered sugar before pressing them into a cookie shape. This method is similar to the one used in a classic lemon crinkle cookie recipe, and it will make the cookie look similar.
No, you can’t replace almond flour with coconut flour in any baking recipe. Coconut flour is 4 times more liquid absorbent, and the ratio of flour will be very different.
You can make a vegan keto lemon cookie with this recipe if you replace the maple syrup with monk fruit-based syrup.
The texture of the cookie will be slightly drier since keto syrup contains lots of fiber.
Storage Instructions
These almond flour lemon cookies store very well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The texture becomes sticky with time as almond flour soaks up some moisture from the air.
You can also freeze your cookies in zip-lock bags and thaw them the day before at room temperature on a cooling rack.
More Almond Flour Cookie Recipes
I love to bake with almond flour because it’s full of plant-based protein, and it tastes delicious in cookies. Below I listed my favorite vegan, gluten-free almond flour cookie recipes for you to try. All are paleo-friendly and dairy-free
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Almond Flour Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups Almond Flour
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 3 tablespoons Melted Coconut Oil
- 3 tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Zest
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Extract
Lemon glaze
- ½ cup Powdered Sweetener
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
Optional – to roll the cookie balls
- ¼ cup Powdered Sweetener
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients: almond flour, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, baking soda, salt, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and lemon extract.
- Stir with a spatula to form the cookie dough batter. It should be soft and sticky but easy to roll into a cookie ball, not wet or runny – see the picture above in my post. If it is too wet, add more almond flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
- To shape the cookies, first, rub your hands with coconut oil, then scoop out 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and roll between your hands to form a ball.
- Place each cookie dough ball on the prepared baking tray or roll each ball into powdered sugar to boost their sweetness and create a lemon crinkle look. You can skip this step if you prefer adding lemon glazing. Leave a 1-thumb space between each. They don't expand in the oven, but you need space to flatten the cookies without touching each other.
- Press each lemon cookie ball gently to flatten slightly, the sides of the cookie may crack slightly, and that's ok.
- Bake for 14-18 minutes or until the sides of the cookies are slightly golden brown. They will be soft when you take them out of the oven, and that's fine.
- Cool 10 minutes on the cookie sheet, then slide a spatula under each cookie to transfer onto a cooling rack.
Glaze
- These cookies are not very sweet, and the glazing makes all the difference!
- Combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- When your cookies are cold, drizzle 2 teaspoons of glazing on each cookie. Place the cookies in the fridge for 2 hours to set the glazing.
Storage
- Store in a dry place in a sealed box for up to 4 days. They can get sticky if stored in a humid place or in the fridge.
mine came out flat but they were still delicious!
If the dough is thick and easy to roll into balls before baking, not soft and sticky, it shouldn’t spread. If so, add more almond flour next time, it seems to be n issue in your ratio of wet/dry.
Help why did my cookies come out like flat pancakes?
This happens if you have too much wet/dry ingredients. Make sure you measure ingredients with precision, or add a bit more almond flour next time.
Can these cookies be frozen? Would like to make ahead.
Thanks
Absolutely. Freeze in airtight zip bags up to 1 month.
This might be written in some recipe but just wanted to ask again. When the recipe calls for 1/3 cup melted coconut oil, is that solid form and then melt it? Or measured to 1/3 cup after it’s melted? I’ve made these cookies numerous times and are amazing. Altho they’ve turned out different each time I’ve made them. regardless how they look they are delicious! And they don’t raise my blood sugar!!!
It’s a very good question, thanks for asking. I like to place my glass of coconut oil jar in a warm water bath so the oil melt. Then, I measure 1/3 cup melted coconut oil. Enjoy the cookies
I made these with half almond flour, half coconut flour, butter instead of coconut oil (because I wanted them buttery) allulose and double amount of lemon juice. And allulose in glaze instead of powered regular sugar. They’re awesome. Thank you!
This worked exactly as written, thanks!
Thank you!
Wow, really good and easy to make. They are dense but not heavy, meaning if I eat 1 or two, I feel satisfied, unlike many other cookies. This is also good because this recipe didn’t make as many cookies as some other recipes — I was thinking I’d have to double the recipe next time — but since they are each individually satisfying, they lasted a long time (relatively) in my house. I made the glaze as well and it made the perfect amount for all the cookies.
I will say that the amount of coconut oil used created a very strong coconut smell and taste; I actually thought it was stronger than the lemon taste. I was ok with it but my husband doesn’t like coconut.
Definitely recommend.
Thank you so much for the lovely feedback! if you don’t like the flavor of coconut oil, try refined coconut oil, compared to unrefined coconut oil, it has zero coconut flavor, but work as well in the recipe.
Hi….what could I use to take the place of coconut oil, no butter for me either. Any natural things as I suffer with pancreatitis? Thank you.
I didn’t try something else, the coconut oil firm up the cookies so I am unsure.
This worked exactly as written, thanks!
Thank you!!
Love these cookies and have made them many times! I sub in 2T of (unsweetened) applesauce for some of the coconut oil and you cannot tell the difference at all. SO delish, thanks!
Great idea! Thanks for the review!