These buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies are flavored with fresh lemon juice and zest and topped with a sweet strawberry glaze. These cookies are bursting with fresh fruit flavor, and will be your go-to dessert all spring and summer long!
I'm in love with the bright, vibrant flavors and color of these delicious cookies. The soft, crumbly texture of the shortbread cookie paired with the bright lemon flavor and fresh strawberry glaze is utter perfection! My family went crazy for these cookies and my husband is already asking for another batch.
One of my favorite things about shortbread cookies is the fact that they aren't overly sweet and won't give you a tummy ache if you eat more than one (or three - don't judge!). It's also a huge plus that these cookies are super easy to make and bake up in only a few minutes.
Ingredients You Need to Make This Recipe
- Unsalted butter. This recipe calls for ½ cup, or 8 tablespoons, of softened unsalted butter. Soften your butter by leaving it out at room temperature for at least an hour, or overnight if you will be baking the following morning.
- Powdered sugar. Powdered sugar, also referred to as confectioners sugar, is used to sweeten these cookies. This helps give the cookies their soft, crumbly texture and provides the perfect amount of sweetness.
- Lemon zest. Lemon zest is added to the cookie dough for a burst of fresh lemon flavor.
- Fresh lemon juice. Fresh lemon juice is added to the cookie dough for a bright, citrus flavor.
- All-purpose flour. The flour brings the dough together and provides structure to the cookies. I recommend using good-quality all-purpose flour such as Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur. I have not tested this recipe with any other type of flour.
- Salt. A small amount of salt is added to the cookie dough to bring out the flavors of the other ingredients.
Strawberry Glaze
- Powdered sugar
- Freeze-dried strawberries
- Vanilla extract
- Milk or half and half
How to Make This Recipe
- Preheat your oven to 450°F (232°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- To a medium mixing bowl, add the butter, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the ingredients until combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes
- Add the flour and salt to the bowl and beat into the butter mixture until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sandy and crumbly at first, then will start to come together more. Beat the dough for about 3-5 minutes, until you are able to press it into a ball with your hands.
- Using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough, pressing against the side of the bowl while scooping to level the scoops and pack the dough into the scoop. Scoop the dough ball into the palm of one hand and roll the cookie between both palms to form a round ball.
- Place the balls on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them about an inch and a half apart. Dip the back of a ½ cup measuring cup in flour and use it to press the cookies into flat discs about ¼ inch thick. The flour helps the cookies not stick to the measuring cup.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes, or until the tops are no longer glossy. Do not brown the cookies! My cookies were ready in 8 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies are cooling, make the strawberry glaze. Pulse the freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor until they are almost a fine powder. I like to leave some small chunks for texture and appearance. You should get about 2 tablespoons of strawberry powder.
- Transfer the strawberries to a small mixing bowl along with the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and one tablespoon of milk or half and half. Using a small whisk, mix the ingredients together until smooth.
- Add more milk if needed until the glaze can be drizzled with a spoon but is not thin enough to run off the sides of the cookies. If you accidentally add too much liquid, just add a small amount of powdered sugar and mix until desired consistency is reached.
- Spoon about ½ teaspoon of glaze onto the completely cooled cookies, one at a time, and smooth out into an even layer with the back of the spoon. Leave a small rim around the perimeter of each cookie.
- Top the glazed cookies with fresh lemon zest if desired. You can allow the glaze to set for a few minutes, or enjoy the cookies immediately!
Variations and Substitutions
The top question for these cookies will probably be "can fresh strawberries be used in the glaze instead of freeze-dried?", and the answer is sure! However, I have not tested the glaze with fresh strawberries so you would have to do some guessing on the exact measurements.
To use fresh strawberries, you would need to puree them in a blender before adding them to the powdered sugar. You would not need to add any milk to the glaze since the strawberries already contain liquid, and you may need more or less than ½ cup of powdered sugar.
If you wanted to boost the lemon flavor even more in these cookies, you could add about ⅛ teaspoon of lemon extract to the dough. You can also add a drop of yellow food coloring if you'd like to give these cookies a bright yellow color!
A Few Notes For Making These Cookies
- Be sure your butter is softened before beating it with the sugar. Soften your butter by leaving it out on the countertop for 1-2 hours. If you are in a time crunch, this is a great article explaining how to soften butter quickly.
- Measure your flour correctly. I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your flour for accurate measuring. If you do not have a kitchen scale, measure the flour by fluffing it with a fork then spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off with a knife. Too much or too little flour can ruin the texture of your cookies.
- Beat the dough long enough! It may seem like you have done something wrong and the dough isn't coming together at first, but be patient and keep beating. The dough will eventually become more cohesive and sturdy.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely before adding the glaze. if you add the glaze while the cookies are still warm, it will melt and slide off the cookies and we don't want that!
Make-Ahead and Storing Instructions
You can prepare the cookie dough a day or two in advance and store it in the refrigerator until ready to bake the cookies. Just form the dough into a ball with your hands, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator. When ready to bake, just scoop and shape your cookies as instructed.
You can also prepare the glaze a day or two in advance and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to glaze the cookies. Allow the glaze to sit out at room temperature for a little while so that it loosens up before glazing the cookies.
Leftover cookies can be stored in a zip-top bag or airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The cookies and cookie dough also freeze well!
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Lemon Shortbread Cookies with Strawberry Glaze
Ingredients
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Strawberry Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup freeze-dried strawberries packed and heaping
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract not vanilla flavoring
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or half and half
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450°F (232°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- To a medium mixing bowl, add the butter, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the ingredients until combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the flour and salt to the bowl and beat into the butter mixture until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sandy and crumbly at first, then will start to come together more. Beat the dough for about 3-5 minutes, until you are able to press it into a ball with your hands.
- Using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough, pressing against the side of the bowl while scooping to level the scoops and pack the dough into the scoop. Scoop the dough ball into the palm of one hand and roll the cookie between both palms to form a round ball.
- Place the balls on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them about an inch and a half apart. Dip the back of a ½ cup measuring cup in flour and use it to press the cookies into flat discs about ¼ inch thick. The flour helps the cookies not stick to the measuring cup.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes, or until the tops are no longer glossy. Do not brown the cookies! Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies are cooling, make the strawberry glaze. Pulse the freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor until they are almost a fine powder. You should get about 2 tablespooonsof powder. Transfer the strawberries to a small mixing bowl along with the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and one tablespoon of milk or half and half.
- Using a small whisk, mix the ingredients together until smooth. Add more milk if needed until the glaze can be drizzled with a spoon but is not thin enough to run off the sides of the cookies.
- Spoon about ½ teaspoon of glaze onto the completely cooled cookies, one at a time, and smooth out into an even layer with the back of the spoon. Leave a small rim around the perimeter of each cookie. Top the glazed cookies with fresh lemon zest if desired. You can allow the glaze to set for a few minutes, or enjoy the cookies immediately!
Notes
- Measure flour properly by weighing it with a kitchen scale or fluffing it with a fork, then spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off with a knife. Too much or too little flour can ruin the texture of the cookies.
- Leftover cookies can be stored in a zip-top bag or airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The cookies and cookie dough also freeze well!
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