Almond Flour Lemon Sugar Cookies

This is my kind of cookie: sweet, flavorful, and soft with a little sugar crunch. These Almond Flour Lemon Sugar Cookies are perfect for a light summer treat. They also happen to be gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free. The recipe makes approximately 10 cookies and comes together quickly, perfect for a week-night bake. My toddler can’t get enough of them!

The base ingredients of this cookie are inspired by Vegan Richa’s Almond Flour Ginger Cookies, a personal favorite. The soft, chewiness of those cookies is so great that I wanted to see what other flavors would pair well with that texture. 

When testing the cookie recipe, I increased the amount of honey to see if I could pull out more of the honey flavor. The resulting cookie was incredibly delicious but too soft for me to confidently call it a cookie. I’m thinking of playing around with the flavor and making a no-bake lemon cookie option or something to go along with ice cream. 

A few tips when making this recipe:

• I highly encourage weighing versus scooping the almond flour. I’ve used both Simple Truth and Bob’s Red Mill almond flour with success. 
• If you have a coconut allergy or don’t have coconut oil, an alternative oil should suffice. One of my test batches used avocado oil, and it worked as well. Let me know your outcome if you use a substitute so that I can add it to the recipe notes.
• The dough is very soft upon first combining; however, it should be scoopable after the quick chill.
• If you prefer cookies to be thick and not spread out as much, ensure the coconut oil is at least partially cooled or increase the chilling time. 
• Don’t be tempted to overbake, as the cookies will still be soft and harden as they cool. If the top feels like a cookie and not raw dough, it is likely done even if it feels like it would collapse.

Almond Flour Lemon Sugar Cookies

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 11 mins

Course Dessert

Servings 10 cookies

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup almond flour (120g)
• 3 tbsp cornstarch (24g)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp granulated cane sugar (25g)
• zest of one medium-large lemon
• 1 tbsp solid coconut oil (14g)
• 3 tbsp maple syrup (60ml)
• 1 1/2 tbsp honey (30ml)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp granulated cane sugar for rolling

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 330º F. I like to melt the coconut oil in the oven as it preheats. Just be sure to use an oven-safe container (such as a glass measuring cup) . Alternatively, quickly heat the oil in the microwave with a paper towel on top to prevent splatter.
• In a bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients (almond flour-sugar). Once combined, add the lemon zest and stir until no lumps remain.
• In a separate bowl, add the wet ingredients (melted coconut oil-vanilla extract) and mix well.
• Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until a very soft dough forms.
• Once fully combined, place the dough in the fridge to chill for 5-10 minutes. If the coconut oil was still very warm, aim for 10 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the fridge and add the rolling sugar to a small bowl. Scoop the dough and form it into balls. Roll the balls in sugar and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I use a standard 4 tsp scoop to make 10 cookies.
• Bake for 11-13 minutes. For 10 cookes, I find that 11 minutes is perfect. If the cookies are larger, adjust the time until the top of the cookies have just set. Don’t be tempted to overbake, as the cookies will still be soft and harden as they cool.
• Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack.

Notes

• If you have a coconut allergy or don’t have coconut oil, an alternative oil should suffice. One of my test batches used avocado oil, and it worked well.