Gluten-Free Soft Almond Flour Lemon Cookies
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!
How To Make Lemon Shortbread Cookies
These are soft shortbread cookies entirely made of almond flour and vegan lemon cookies!
Ingredients
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 squeeze lemon juice.
- Lemon zest – make sure you are using untreated lemon to avoid pesticide residues.
- Baking powder or half baking soda, so 1/8 teaspoon.
- Salt
- 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
- Lemon extract – optional but delicious to enhance the lemon flavor of these cookies.
Combine Ingredients
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.
Shaping The Cookies
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper with coconut oil. Slightly grease your hand with coconut oil to prevent the batter from sticking to your hands.
Now, 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 and cool down
Bake the cookies in preheated oven to 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.
Gluten-Free Lemon Glazing
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, you can 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
Can I Increase The Sweetness?
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.
Can I Use Coconut Flour?
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.
Can I Use Sugar-Free Maple Syrup?
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
Have you made this lemon cookie recipe? Share a review or comment below. I love to hear your feedback on my recipes.
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, 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.
Fabulous recipe. I did not have lemon extract so I used fresh lemon juice instead. The cookies were nicely chewy and tart just the way I like them:) Thanks for the recipe!
Hi,
Please any substitute for almond flour?
thank you
I didn’t try something else but usually, oat flour works as a 1:1 substitute to almond flour.
These are delicious and delicate and just right when you’re craving not too sweet. Very comforting.
These look great, but how is one cookie 228 calories?!
Almond Flour, whilst being a very healthy alternative, does contain quite a bit of fat. Each gram of fat brings 9 calories.
This recipe was delicious 🙂 I added a dollop of whipped ricotta (if you have some leftover from making lasagna!)… just hand whip the ricotta and voila! Thank you for this.
I love your cookie recipe! I confess though, I added one egg yolk and a a tiny smidge of butter into the frosting.
Can i freeze them once baked?
Absolutely
Is there any other sweetener you’d suggest for the glaze? I’m not a fan of how alternative sweeteners taste and I’m trying to keep the recipe refined sugar free. Or is there another way to serve the cookies without the glaze?
You can use icing sugar or sugar-free powdered allulose (its natural). Or just spread my date caramel on top it’s made of date and water.
is it ok to use butter or olive oil ??? thanx
I didn’t use any of these options, some reader reported success with olive oil feel free to try!
Coconut sugar?
You need a liquid sweetener in this cookie recipe or it won’t hold together.
So fast. So easy. So failure-proof. Thank you for this new and easy crowd pleaser! I added dehydrated raspberries into the blender with sugar that I was powdering- they were super yummy. For the second batch i didn’t have lemon zest so I used raspberry powder- so good! Next time lavender sugar… thanks so much for this recipe!
Can honey be used as a substitute for the maple syrup?
Sure, but honey is not vegan that’s why I didn’t use it but it will work
Wow!!! What an amazing cookie!!! They were a hit with my whole family!!
So delicious. And CHEWY! I dipped them in powdered sugar only on the tops and they turned out great and definitely sweet enough.
These are amazing!!! Took a chance and made these and they did NOT disappoint… the perfect amount of sweetness (I rolled my cookies in sugar and did the glaze). 10/10–thank you for your recipe!
WOW. I’ve gotten compliments and requests for the recipe since I made these the first time 4 days ago. They are out of this world. I’ve made them for two parties and people all said the cookies explode with flavor unlike anything they’ve tasted before. It’s the frosting- OMG! I’m making these again all summer long! They are such a hit. Thank you!!!
Just amazing. Soft, fluffy, delicious, and amazing. I did the lemon glaze. My husband was amazed that these are vegan.
Think it’s possible to substitute the maple syrup with stevia of erythritol to make them keto friendly?
You can use sugar-free monk fruit syrup from brands like Lakanto or Choc Zero but not a crystal sweetener
These are a huge hit in my house! Thank you for sharing the recipe! Do you think it would be okay to double and maybe even triple the batch?
Absolutely! enjoy
I just made these and my sis and I are in HEAVEN. soooo amazing. the texture is incredible and the lemon flavour is perfection.
Thank you!
How much almond flour?!! Etc.! Why no measurements? Some is to taste, obviously.
Scroll up before this comment section to see the recipe card with the full recipe measurement! Enjoy!
When you say “powdered sugar” do you mean regular powdered sugar? I’m a bit confused as to what I should use. Thank you
Powdered sugar in baking recipe always refer to the light white version using for icing also called icing sugar. When a recipe using regular sugar it mention Sugar or Caster Sugar or White sugar, this one has a crystal texture not powder
Yup! This one’s a keeper! Super simple and versatile. I just used the leftover lemon I had from juicing + lemon juice in the bottle. Deeeelish! 🙂
I baked these 4 times already. They are absolutely addictive!
A new favourite! So easy to make and absolutely delicious
You guys just keep hitting it out of the park!
Thank you for sharing your passion
Delicious and very easy to make! The quantities are precise and the instructions are unambiguous.
Go for it!!