Almond Flour Lemon Cookies

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.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword almond flour lemon cookies, almond lemon cookies, gluten free lemon cookies, gluten free lemon cookies with almond flour, lemon cookies with almond flour

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 18

Total Time 48

Servings cookies

Calories 42kcal

Author Maria Doss

Equipment

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

Bake until golden brown: Let the cookies bake until they turn a deep golden brown—this gives them a sturdier crisp texture.

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.

Nutrition