Lemonhead Cookies | Easy Lemon Cookies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to gooey cookies? ›

If you enjoy your cookies soft and chewy, chances are likely the recipe contains a common ingredient that serves a very specific purpose. No, it's not granulated sugar, nor the butter. It's not the egg, all-purpose flour, or even the vanilla extract. The simple, yet oh-so-necessary component is cornstarch.

Beat together sugar, butter, and lemon zest in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Whisk together eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl until combined. Beat into butter mixture slowly on low speed. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

To keep cookies from spreading as much, resulting in a thicker, chewier cookie, chill the dough before baking. This is a good technique to use on butter cookie dough recipes when you're looking for a thicker, gooier, but not necessarily cakey cookie. Baking a cookie for longer will also result in a crispier cookie.

Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They'll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven's hot air. Ever so slightly underbaking your cookies will give you softer results than cooking them the full amount the recipe says.

Lemon juice carries the same flavor as lemon zest, but it's more acidic, so you might want to add a pinch of sugar to balance out the tartness. That said, the lemon flavor is not as concentrated as lemon zest, so you'll want to keep this formula handy: 1 teaspoon of lemon zest = 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Savannah Smiles was another popular variety of lemon cookies that Little Brownie Bakers produced. These cookies were lemony wedges coated with powdered sugar and were available from 2011 to 2019. The precursor to Savannah Smiles was the Lemon Coolers, a reduced-fat bite-sized cookie that lasted from 2003 to 2006.

Apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, and rice vinegar can all be substituted at a ½:1 ratio. If your recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, then, sub 1 tablespoon vinegar and replace the rest with water if needed. Usually you won't need to add any extra liquid but it depends on the recipe.

The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.

Chill the cookie dough.

Chilling cookie dough helps prevent spreading. The colder the dough, the less the cookies will over-spread into greasy puddles. You'll have thicker, sturdier, and more solid cookies. Whenever I make cookies, I plan ahead and chill the cookie dough overnight.

Use Bleached Flour (Instead of Unbleached)

Bleached flour absorbs more moisture than unbleached flour, making for THICK Cookies. If you struggle with your cookies spreading out more than you want, try using bleached flour.

What does adding cornstarch to cookies do? ›

As Levy Beranbaum writes in The Baking Bible, replacing a little bit of the flour in the dough with cornstarch results in “a more delicate cookie that is also easier to pipe or push through a cookie press.” Adding cornstarch helps tenderize tough gluten, contributing to a softer cookie dough with a finer crumb after ...