Vegan Lemon Cookies with Glaze
These simple vegan lemon cookies are melt-in-your-mouth, bite-sized cookies, infused with lemon, and topped with a swirl of lemon frosting. You’ll love the balance between sweet and tart these vegan cookies deliver!
I love a melt-in-your-mouth lemon cookie. How about you? I can’t tell you how many batches of cookies I went through to get these just right.
Shawn has been eating the failed batches that were stuffed in a bag in the freezer. He calls them lemon cookie crumbles. Hey, they taste good, they just weren’t perfect enough to post for you!
What You Need
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
- Lemon — We’ll use both the zest and the juice of the lemon.
- Oats — I used rolled oats for this recipe, but you can substitute instant oats.
- Chia — We’ll add some ground chia seeds to create a thicker texture. You can use whole chia seeds; I just prefer ground because it creates a smoother finished texture.
- Syrup — I used maple syrup, but you can substitute agave nectar.
- Milk — We’ll use almond milk for the best overnight oats! Substitute your favorite plant-based milk.
- Yogurt — I love adding some plant-based yogurt (plain, unsweetened) for an even more tangy flavor.
- Protein Powder — I add some vanilla protein powder for increased flavor and nutrients. If your protein powder is not sweetened, you may want to add an extra teaspoon or two of sweetener.
- Cornstarch — We’ll use cornstarch to thicken the lemon curd topping.
- Turmeric — A pinch of turmeric makes that lemon curd sunny yellow.
- Vegan butter
- Sugar
- Ground flaxseeds
- Cornstarch
- Lemon juice
- Unsweetened almond milk
- Lemon extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
It’s easy to make vegan lemon cookies:
- Heat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the vegan butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add flax, cornstarch, lemon juice, milk, and extract. Beat for another minute to combine. Scoot the ingredients to one side of the bowl.
- On the other side of the bowl add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Use a mixer to incorporate butter mixture into the flour mixture. Beat until combined.
- Use a small cookie dough dispenser to make bite-size balls of dough. Roll the dough balls between your hands to make smooth balls. Place balls ½” apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Use the back of a glass to lightly flatten each cookie dough ball. Bake for 8 minutes until cookies are slightly golden around the edges. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the lemon frosting, combine powdered sugar and coconut oil in a bowl. Stir to combine. Add turmeric and lemon extract and stir again. Finally, add plant-based milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Top each cooled cookie with a swirl of frosting.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, in the fridge for up to 10 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Here are the step-by-step instructions:
Start by combining the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and mix until light and fluffy. I used a stand mixer, but a hand-held mixer works fine too. Be sure and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Mixing the vegan butter together with the sugar helps the sugar dissolve and creates a light and fluffy base for the cookies.
Next, add the ground flaxseeds, cornstarch, lemon juice, almond milk, and extract. Stir to combine.
I love one-bowl recipes because it makes cleanup so easy. Just scoot the wet ingredients to one side of the bowl and combine the dry ingredients in the other half of the bowl. Then slowly combine them all together.
Roll the dough into 32 small balls and place them on a pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat like I used below.
You can place these cookies fairly close together because there’s minimal spreading.
Bake the cookies for around 8 minutes. I like them a little soft in the middle and so removing them at 8 minutes worked perfectly. They will firm up as they cool.
These vegan lemon cookies taste just fine on their own. Seriously! But they’re made even more colorful and tasty thanks to that lemon icing.
You can create that delicious, lemon icing by combining powdered sugar, melted coconut oil, turmeric (for color), lemon extract, and lemon juice in a bowl. Stir to combine.
Why turmeric? It adds a pop of natural yellow color.
Once the cookies are cool enough to handle, dip each one in the icing and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. I had some leftover icing so I double dipped them once the first layer of icing dried.
That’s right. Vegan Lemon Cookies are the only time it’s cool to double dip.
Do you love vegan lemon recipes? Check out my Vegan Lemon Bars! They’re just like the lemon bars you’ve always loved…but vegan! And there’s my Lemon Blueberry Avocado Cake which is so colorful and tasty! Did you think your days of lemon meringue pie went away with your vegan diet? Guess again! Check out my Vegan Lemon Meringue Pie recipe today!
More Lemon Recipes
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Ingredients
- ¾ cup vegan butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Lemon Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil , melted
- ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the vegan butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add flax, cornstarch, lemon juice, milk, and extract. Beat for another minute to combine. Scoot the ingredients to one side of the bowl.
- In the other side of the bowl add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Use a mixer to incorporate butter mixture into the flour mixture. Beat until combined.
- Use a small cookie dough dispenser to make bite-size balls of dough. Roll the dough balls between your hands to make smooth balls. Place balls ½" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Use the back of a glass to lightly flatten each cookie dough ball. Bake for 8 minutes until cookies are slightly golden around the edges. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the lemon glaze, combine powdered sugar and coconut oil in a bowl. Stir to combine. Add turmeric and lemon extract and stir again. Finally, add plant-based milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Top each cooled cookie with a swirl of frosting.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, in the fridge for up to 10 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Recommended Equipment
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The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2019 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.
what temperature did you set the oven to?
would love to try these.
thx.
Thanks, Reggie! The recipe is fixed now to say Preheat the oven to 350F. Hope you love these lemon cookies!