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These are the best lemon cookies ever! If you’re a fan of lemon you will go crazy over these lemon cream cheese cookies. They’re soft lemon cookies that practically melt in your mouth!

Lovely Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

You KNOW it’s spring when ALL of the lemon desserts start popping up on your social media feeds, right!? Did you see my lemon-glazed mini donuts on Instagram the other day? Maybe it has something to do with the bag of lemons I bought from Costco, but no matter the reason, I am LOVING lemon.

When Kendra from Joy In Our Home asked me to take part in her spring blog hop, I just knew I had to do something lemon! I created this lovely lemon cake for last year’s blog hop, and it was a hit! I hope you guys like these lovely lemon cream cheese cookies just as much. I mean, it’s cream cheese. IN cookies. How can you not!?

Be sure to check out Noting Grace’s page next to see her stunning low-carb parfait! It sounds amazing! And at the bottom of this recipe, I’ve listed all of the links to the other posts from the hop. There’s something for every interest!

Lovely Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

What’s in lemon cream cheese cookies?

I actually made these cookies a couple of weeks ago, and since the recipe makes around 25 cookies I ended up giving most of them away to Oscar’s preschool class! There were only 2 left when I picked him up, so I’m assuming they were well liked 😉

These soft lemon cookies are made with:

(you got it) cream cheese
butter, and;
powdered sugar.

There’s also the zest of 2 whole lemons in the batch, so they’re very lemony!

I highly recommend using full-fat cream cheese for these. It’ll ensure they come out super soft and delicious!

Do you have to chill the dough?

As much as we all hate waiting for dough to chill, it’s a must with these. I would give them at least 2 hours in the fridge before baking. It’ll ensure the cookies come out as nice fluffy little mounds instead of flat blobs. We want mounds people, not blobs. The texture of the dough is actually very similar to my pumpkin cake cookies!

Soft and cakey!

Lovely Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

What kind of icing is on these lemon cream cheese cookies?

If you thought I would put anything but cream cheese icing on these cookies, you’d be sorely mistaken. Of COURSE I’m going to put cream cheese icing on my cream cheese cookies! I also add a little lemon extract. So much lemon, you guys! But so good!

If you’re looking to bake up some spring inspiration this weekend, these cookies are a great choice. And don’t forget to hop on over to Noting Grace after this!

Hip, hip hoorah – it’s the week-END!

lovely lemon cream cheese cookies

Ok, cookies! I like them too. Here’s a few others I think you’ll love:

Lovely Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 9 reviews

Author: Katherine
Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Yield: 2 dozen cookies 1x

Print Recipe

Description

Soft, creamy, LOVELY lemon cookies that practically melt in your mouth. Topped off with a lemony cream cheese icing, these cookies will make your spring even brighter!!

Ingredients

Scale

Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese (1 package)*, softened
1 egg, room temperature.
2 lemons (zest of 2, juice of 1)
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Icing

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 package), softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1–2 tsp heavy cream
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tbsp lemon zest
sprinkles (optional)

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Instructions

Prepare the cookie dough. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, powdered sugar and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a handheld mixer, combine the cream cheese with the butter on high speed for about 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy. Add the egg, lemon juice, lemon and vanilla extract and mix until combined. With the mixer running on low, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Cover the dough and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.
Bake the cookies. Preheat the oven to 325 F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the cookie dough from the fridge. If it’s been chilling for more than a few hours, allow it to come to room temperature for about 20 minutes first. Using a medium cookie scoop (1.5 tbsp) place the cookie dough balls a few inches apart. Press down lightly with the back of a spoon to flatten the balls a bit. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. When you remove the cookies from the oven, they will look puffy and slightly undercooked. Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Prepare the icing. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a handheld mixer, combine the cream cheese and butter. Mix on high speed for about 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar and the cream, followed by the lemon extract and lemon zest. The icing should be fairly thick but spreadable. Add either more powdered sugar or cream to reach the desired consistency. Spread about 2 tsp icing on each cookie, followed by sprinkles!

Cookies will keep at room temperature, in an airtight container, for 2-3 days, or up to 1 week in the refrigerator. You can also freeze un-iced cookies for up to 2 months.