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!

The vegan lemon cookies are stacked on top of each other with more cookies behind it and a lemon.

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!

Key Ingredients

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.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:

  • Vegan butter
  • Sugar
  • Ground flaxseeds
  • Cornstarch
  • Lemon juice
  • Unsweetened almond milk
  • Lemon extract
  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking powder
  • Salt

How to Make Vegan Lemon Cookies

It’s easy to make vegan lemon cookies:

  1. Heat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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. 
  5. 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.
  6. 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.

Batter in a mixing bowl with a green spatula.

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.

The wet ingredients are on one side of the bowl and the flour is on the other side of the bowl.

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.

Cookie dough balls on a cookie dough pan.

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.

Why These Lemon Cookies Work!

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

A lemon cookie is dipped in bright yellow frosting.

A stack of vegan lemon cookies sit in front of a lemon with other cookies around it.

Vegan Lemon Cookies

This simple vegan lemon cookie recipe boasts a melt-in-your-mouth cookie, infused with lemon flavor and topped with a swirl of lemon glaze. Make a double batch and freeze some to have on hand for guests or for sweet treats!
5 from 3 votes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Resting Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 13 minutes
Servings: 32 cookies
Calories: 91kcal

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
  • 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

(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)

Calories: 91kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 88mg | Potassium: 17mg | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 200IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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.

2 Responses to Vegan Lemon Cookies with Glaze

  1. Avatar thumbnail image for Marlyreggie Reply

    what temperature did you set the oven to?
    would love to try these.
    thx.

    • Avatar thumbnail image for MarlyMarly

      5 stars
      Thanks, Reggie! The recipe is fixed now to say Preheat the oven to 350F. Hope you love these lemon cookies!

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