Easy Lemony Shortbread Cookies
The citrus in the dough and glaze of these lemony shortbread cookies really makes the flavor pop.
By Yankee Magazine|Oct 21 2025|
Easy Lemony Shortbread Cookies
Photo Credit: Adam DeTour/styling by Sheila JarnesWe love a pretty glazed cookie, but sometimes find sugar cookies a bit too sweet for an added glaze of powdered sugar and milk. Shortbread, on the other hand, has just enough salt to achieve a perfect balance. And a little lemon in the dough and in the glaze really makes these lemony shortbread cookies pop.
This Easy Lemony Shortbread Cookies recipe was originally published in “Smart Cookies” by Amy Traverso and Sarah Hearn Morrison in the November/December 2025 issue of Yankee.
Yield:
About 2 dozen cookies.
For the shortbread
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar
2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Zest of 1 small lemon
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F and set two racks in the center of the oven, with some space in between. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, using a handheld or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until combined. Add the flour, salt, and lemon zest and stir on low speed just until most of the flour is incorporated (scrape down the sides halfway through). Knead the dough in the bowl a few times to bring it all together, then turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface.
Sprinkle the top of the dough lightly with flour and roll to an even ⅜-inch thickness. Use round cookie cutters to cut out circles. Transfer to the prepared cookie sheets. Gather and reroll dough as needed.
Bake until the cookies are just golden brown on the sides, 18 to 20 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
For the glaze
Ingredients
2 cups (240 grams) powdered sugar
3–4 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Food colorings of your choice
Instructions
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and the lemon juice. Take 1/3 of this glaze and transfer to a second, smaller bowl. Choose your food colorings, one for each bowl, and add enough to reach your desired hues. (If the mixture seems too thick, add another tablespoon of milk.) Put the icing from the smaller bowl into a pastry bag and cut the tip so you have a very small opening, about 3 millimeters.
Working one at a time, dip the top of a cooled cookie in the larger bowl of glaze, just enough to coat. While the icing is still wet, pipe a series of horizontal stripes across the glaze, then drag a toothpick vertically through the lines in two directions to create a Florentine pattern. (For the finished effect, see photo on p. 42—which also shows a variation using an optional third color of icing). Repeat with the remaining cookies, arranging them on wire racks to set.
