Lemon Poppy Cookies
Sugar cookies packed with zesty lemon and bitter poppy seeds. These classically combo’d soft lemon poppy cookies are great use of citrus season and the perfect afternoon snack!
About This Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Cookie Recipe
Cue citrus season! What better way to celebrate than with these super easy lemon poppy seed cookies! Poppy seeds always go well with lemon due to the bitterness of the poppy seeds and the sourness of the lemon. Add in the sweetness of the cookie and you have a perfectly balanced sweet treat. This lemon poppy cookies recipe uses lemon extract and lemon zest to give these cookies an extra zing to go with the sweetness of the cookie. They’re also an awesome quick recipe for when you’re looking for something last minute.
The Origin of Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies have been a common staple in the kitchen since 7th century Persia. The sugar cookies we have come to love today came from the Protestan settlers in Pennsylvania during the 17th century. These cookies were orignally called the Nazareth cookies due to the settlers being in the Nazareth colony and were baked into the shape of a keystone, the state symbol. Source.
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies Ingredients
- Lemon zest: Just the zest of regular lemons! Meyer lemon zest will also work. It’s important to rub the zest into the sugar to better extract the flavor.
- Lemon extract: If you do not have lemon extract then substitute with lemon juice. I will use twice the amount and reduce by half to intensify the flavor.
- Poppy seeds: Nothing special here! Just plain ol’ poppy seeds.
Major Allergens Present: Gluten, dairy (butter), eggs
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies Equipment
- Hand or stand mixer: Used to make the cookie dough. This lemon poppy seed cookies recipe uses the creaming method which needs a mixer to make the process a lot easier and yields better results. You will use the beaters for a hand mixer and paddle for a stand mixer.
How to Make Lemon Poppy Cookies:
What are Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies Made Out Of?
This soft lemon poppy cookie recipe is a basic sugar cookie recipe with the addition of lemon and poppy seeds. That means it has your usual sugar, butter, eggs, flour, and leavener ingredients. The lemon flavors come from the zest and the lemon extract while the poppy seeds come from well poppy seeds! The lemon zest must be rubbed into the sugar before creaming with the butter to better extract the lemon flavors in the rind. Utilizing fresh citrus make this easy lemon poppy seed cookies recipe perfect for winter baking!
Make the Lemon Poppy Cookie Dough:
These easy lemon poppy cookies use a basic creaming method. A creaming method is creaming together the butter and sugar until fluffy. This adds air into the dough formed by the sugar crystals slicing through the butter. Second, you add the eggs and extracts, and finally adding the dry ingredients and liquids (if any) alternately. Many cakes and cookies use this method and is a foundation for baking, so know this method well. The key is to continuously scrape the bowl and attachment(s) before and after each addition of ingredients. This ensures all the ingredients are playing together cohesively.
The key part of the method of preparation is rubbing the sugar with the lemon zest. The sugar crystals grind on the zest further extracting and intensifying the lemon flavor. This method works very well with any recipe that uses zest. Complete this step before adding the butter and creaming.
Chill, Scoop, and Bake Lemon Poppy Cookies:
We need to chill this cookie dough to harden up the butter for at least an hour. If the butter is too soft from mixing then these cookies will spread tremendously. Believe me; I learned the hard way. Make sure that if you need to do a second round of scooping and baking that you are putting the dough back in the fridge until you are ready to scoop and bake. Alternatively, you can scoop, refrigerate for an hour, then bake if preferred.
They also need to be slightly smooshed with the palm of your hand. If you do not, you’ll have a lump in the middle of the cookie. Bake them half way then rotate so there is even baking and coloring. When they’re done baking, you can make them perfect circles by immediately rolling a round cookie cutter around the edge of the cookies. Works like a charm. These soft lemon poppy cookies also make a great addition to a Christmas cookie box!
Help Making Lemon Poppy Cookies
How to Make Rounder Cookies:
- When you scoop the cookie, roll into a ball in your hand before placing on the tray. Slight smoosh down evenly using the center of your palm.
- Immediately after taking the lemon poppy cookies out of the oven, use a circular ring like a ring cutter, small bowl, or wide glass and ring around the cookie. Work quickly!
How to Prevent Your Cookies From Over Spreading:
- Chill the dough for at least 1 hour. If you have to do multiple rounds of baking, be sure to keep the dough in the fridge.
- When creaming the sugar and the butter, make sure the butter is fully creamed and that you do not have any chunks of butter. Those chunks will melt first, and your cookie will awkwardly super spread in that area!
- Don’t spend too much time scooping and rolling. If you do, the dough warms too much before spreading, and all that time spent in the fridge will be lost. If you know you’re a slow scooper, perhaps scoop first then refrigerate.
- Space your cookies at least 2 inches apart and at least 1 inch from the edge of the pan. Whenever you are baking cookies for the first time, do a test run to see how much they will spread. This quick test can save you a headache for the rest of the dough!
Enhancing This Lemon Poppy Cookies Recipe:
- Toss half a cup of lightly chopped frozen blueberries or raspberries in flour and loosely fold in at the end of mixing.
- Fold in some white chocolate chips for those with an extra sweet tooth!
- Make a glaze with lemon juice and powdered sugar and drizzle on top for some extra zest.
How to Store and Freeze Lemon Poppy Cookies:
- Freeze the dough (scooped or unscooped) for up to 6 months. Move dough from the freezer to fridge at least 24 hours before you plan on baking.
- Store the cookies at room temperature for up to two weeks.
- Refrigerate the dough (scooped or unscooped) for up to 1 month.
Troubleshooting Lemon Poppy Cookies:
- The cookies spread awkwardly in the oven! You did not mix the other ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar well enough. Those sploodges are the melted butter chunks that were not evenly homogenized into your dough, so next time, remember to scrape down the utensils, and bowl often!
- My cookies spread way too much! The dough wasn’t chilled enough. If you chilled for 2 hours then scooped you may be scooping in a too warm of an environment or took a while to do so. Try scooping then refrigerating, scooping in a cooler spot, or going faster to scoop.
- My cookies elephant trunked out of the center! You didn’t smoosh down the cookie. We don’t want to flatten them, but we don’t want them to be perfect balls either.
Something else going wrong? Reach out and we will troubleshoot together!
Lemon Poppy Cookies
Equipment
- Stand or hand mixer
Ingredients
- 2 ea Lemon zest
- 113 g Butter, unsalted or 1 stick
- 148 g Granulated sugar
- 1 ea Whole eggs
- 1 Tbs Lemon extract Can substitute with lemon juice
- 170 g All purpose four
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
- 2 pinches Kosher salt
- 2 Tbs Poppy seeds
Instructions
- Combine the zest and sugar in the bowl of your mixer. Using your hands, rub the zest into the sugar.
- Add in the butter and, using the paddle for a stand mixer or beaters for a hand mixer, cream together on medium speed until light fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and attachment.
- Lower speed to medium-low, and add in the egg with the lemon extract. Mix until combined then scrape down the sides of the bowl and attachment.
- Add in the dry ingredients including the poppy seeds and mix on low speed until a dough comes together.
- Chill the dough covered for 1-2 hours. With 30 mins left, preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a sheet pan with parchment or just sprayed with pan spray.
- Scoop cookies about 1.5" wide balls, and place on your prepared sheet pan about 2" apart. Smoosh down slightly.
- Bake for 111-13 minutes rotating half-way through until the edges turn lightly brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Super easy and super zesty!
Thank you so much!
These came out amazing and the recipe was so easy to follow. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for making them!
I love lemon poppy and these were perfect!
I’m glad you loved them!!
Meant to give 5 stars. I’m not a baker but these came out great! Clear, easy instructions made these a success!
Happy to hear they came out so great!
Loved these wonder lemon cookies.
Easy to make even for an amateur.
Thank you for your kind words!
You can never go wrong with a good lemon poppy cookie! These had a great balance of flavor, weren’t too sweet, and were super airy. Can’t wait to make these again!
You are too kind!