These Almond Flour Lemon Cookies are tender, butter crisp, and soften after icing. Naturally gluten-free and low carb, they’re topped with a bright lemon icing that’s easy to decorate but looks beautifully impressive.
👉 This almond flour lemon cookies recipe has been a reader favorite since I first shared the recipe in 2021. It was updated with new photos, short video and step-by-step instructions in May 2025. I made one small tweak by using a simple decorating method that makes the cookies incredibly easy to finish.
Table of contents
👩🍳 Why our recipe?
- Texture: Crisp and tender on their own, these cookies turn soft and melt-in-your-mouth once iced.
- Easy yet impressive: The icing is easy to work with but looks beautifully elegant—just like fresh lemon in cookie form.
- Make ahead: The baked cookies (without icing) freeze beautifully.
- Delicious: Enjoy them plain for a simple, buttery almond flour cookie—or dress them up with icing for a more festive, elegant treat.
- Taste: Bursting with bright lemon flavor, thanks to fresh lemon juice and zest in both the cookies and the icing.
- Dietery needs: Naturally gluten free, low carb, flourless and eggless.
Short video
Ingredients you'll need
- Almond Flour - It can be easily found in all major grocery stores or Amazon. Make sure you use “Super Fine” as in all almond flour recipes.
- Butter - Room temperature unsalted butter.
- Sugar - Regular white granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar for icing.
- Lemon - We will use both lemon zest and juice as in the lemon ricotta cookies recipe.
- Food color - Gel lemon food color.
How to make almond flour lemon cookies?
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How to make lemon icing for almond flour cookies?
What is flooding consistency?
There are two main types of icing consistency: flooding and piping! Flooding consistency is thinner and used to fill in the surface of cookies, while piping consistency is thicker and great for outlining or adding details like lines and shapes.
For these almond flour lemon cookies, you only need a simple flooding consistency. Just mix the lemon icing ingredients until it’s thick enough that, when you drizzle it from a spoon, it falls slowly and forms ribbons that briefly hold their shape in the bowl. (I like this detailed article on icing consistency by thesimple-sweetlife.com)
Recipe Tips 🍋
Adjust the icing consistency: Want it thinner? Add a bit more lemon juice. Too runny? Stir in extra confectioners’ sugar until it’s just right.
Bake until golden: Let the cookies bake until the edges turn a deep golden brown—this gives them a sturdier texture that holds up beautifully.
Lemon gel food color: For the most natural “lemony” look, go for lemon gel food coloring instead of plain yellow. You can find it at Michaels, Joann, or on Amazon.
No piping tips needed: I used a piping bag with no tip, but a quart-size zip-top bag (sturdier than sandwich bags!) works great in a pinch.
No special cookie cutters needed: No fancy shapes here! Just use a 3-inch round cookie cutter, then slice each circle in half to create those cute lemon wedges.
Storage: You can store the plain (uniced) cookies in an airtight container at room temp for up to a week—or pop them in the freezer for up to 2 months. Once decorated, they’ll stay fresh at room temperature for about 4 to 5 days.
How long to bake the cookies?
Bake these gluten-free lemon cookies at 325°F until the edges turn a deep golden brown—that's the secret to that crisp, crumbly shortbread texture we all love. If you take them out too early (like in the photo above), they’ll be softer and won’t have that perfect tender crunch.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can use liquid lemon yellow food coloring instead of gel—just keep in mind that it’s thinner, so you may need a little less lemon juice in your icing to get the right consistency.
You can also use regular yellow food coloring, but lemon yellow gives the cookies a more natural, citrusy look that really fits the flavor.
When icing the cookies, don’t cover the whole surface completely—leave a few little gaps here and there. As the icing settles, it will spread slightly and naturally create that pretty lemon-slice effect.
If you notice more gaps than you’d like, just gently nudge the icing with a toothpick before it sets to fill them in.
More almond flour cookies
Almond Flour Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups + 2 tablespoons almond flour super fine
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- Zest of one lemon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Lemon icing
- 3 cups confections sugar
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice or as needed
- lemon gel food color as needed
Instructions
Make cookie dough
- Beat sugar and butter with a hand held electric beater for 1 to 2 minutes (until creamy and fluffy).
- Add almond flour, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt, continue beating for about 30 seconds or until it looks crumbly.
- Once the dough comes together, remove the beater and use your hands to gently knead it into a smooth, even ball. The warmth from your hands will help bring everything together nicely. Flatten the ball to form a disc, which helps it roll easily.
- Place the dough disc between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it out to about ¼ inch thick. Then just slide the whole thing—parchment and all—onto a baking sheet and pop it in the fridge for at least 2 hours (or for up to overnight).
Bake cookies
- When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles, then slice each one in half with a sharp knife. Gently transfer the cookies to the baking sheets, leaving about ½-inch between each.
- Gather and reroll the scraps to cut more. If the dough gets too soft while you’re working, just chill the baking sheet in the fridge for about 30 minutes before baking—this helps the cookies hold their shape and not spread too much.
- Bake one baking sheet at a time for 14 to 17 minutes or until the cookies get a deep golden brown color. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and cool completely.
Decorate
- In a bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and a tiny dab of lemon gel food coloring until smooth.Check the consistency: when you drizzle the icing from a spoon, it should fall slowly and form ribbons in the bowl. If it’s too thick, add a few more drops of lemon juice. Too thin? Just mix in a little more powdered sugar.🍋 As for the food coloring—gel is super concentrated, so start with just a small dab using a toothpick. You can always add more, but you can’t take it out once it’s in!
- Transfer the icing to a piping bag or a quart-size zipper bag and close to seal.
- Snip the tip off your piping bag and start covering the top of each cookie with the yellow icing. No need to be perfect—leave a few small random gaps as you go. As the icing settles, those gaps will create that pretty, natural “lemon slice” effect. If anything looks uneven, just use a toothpick to gently fix it up. Easy and fun!
- Let cookies sit for a few hours for the icing to firm up.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information, based on third-party calculations, should be seen as estimates, not guarantees, as various factors like product types, brands, processing methods, and more can alter the nutritional content in recipes.
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