These soft lemon olive oil cookies are made with almond flour and topped with a tart lemon icing for a gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, flavor-packed cookie everyone will love!
They’re seriously the softest lemon cookies, ever.
It’s Day 4 of Cookie Week and I can’t wait to share these lemony cookies with you. They’re so soft, they’re borderline mini lemon tea cakes masquerading as cookies.
If you’re a lemon lover, you need these super soft citrusy cookies in your life!
the softest cookies
I seriously can’t get over the texture of these cookies! They’re unlike any cookie I’ve made before. The batter is thin and sticky, almost like cake or muffin batter.
Once baked, they hold their shape as a cookie but literally just melt into your mouth as you bite into them. They’re so, so tender.
Then topped with a lemon-loaded icing, there’s a little crackle of sweet-tart sugary goodness in every bite.
working with almond flour
I’ve found almond flour to be such a simple grain-free/gluten-free flour to work with.
It makes tender, buttery cookies with a tiny hint of texture that I just love.
Be sure you’re buying blanched almond flour, NOT almond meal, as they perform very differently in recipes.
Imagine using cornmeal in place of corn flour in tortillas: they’d be so crumbly and just fall apart! Same situation with almond flour and almond meal. Almond flour is finely ground and the almond skins have been removed so there are no flecks of brown in it. Almond meal is just ground up whole almonds, and is quite chunky and brown in color.
Almond flour is definitely more expensive than most other flours, but we’re only using a small amount here. A 1lb bag is more than enough for this recipe!
making lemon cookies
These cookies are made in 1 bowl with tons of lemon flavor! We’re using the zest of a whole lemon in both the cookies and the icing. i.e. you’ll need two whole lemons for this recipe.
To make the cookie dough, we’re stirring together: olive oil, sugar, egg, lemon juice and zest, almond flour. Plus baking powder to help them rise and a little salt to balance out the sweetness from the sugar!
That’s it! Literally a handful of ingredients + a quick trip in the oven, and you have a dozen soft lemon olive oil cookies, waiting to be iced!
And that icing? Just a little powdered sugar + lemon zest + lemon juice. SO simple, and so perfect.
Use up the rest of that bag of almond flour! Try my Fluffy Blueberry Pancakes , Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies, Double Chocolate Banana Muffins , and Salted Chocolate Peanut Butter Shortbread Bars (all made with almond flour!!)
If you make this recipe, be sure to let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your lemon cookies and share it with me on Instagram so I can see!
See you back here tomorrow with another cookie recipe!
Soft Lemon Olive Oil Cookies with Lemon Icing (gluten free!)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 large egg
- zest from 1 lemon
- 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour NOT almond meal
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
icing
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- zest from 1 lemon
- 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Place oil, sugar, egg, lemon zest and lemon juice in to a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add almond flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir to fully combine. Dough will be wet and sticky.
- Scoop the dough into 12 2-Tablespoon sized balls. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden and centers are set.
- Let cookies cool for 15 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack. Set the rack on top of the parchment-lined baking sheet your cookies just came off of (this will catch all the mess from icing them!).
- Stir together all icing ingredients, adding more lemon juice a few drops at a time, if needed, to get a thin, pourable consistency. Use a spoon to scoop about a teaspoon of icing onto each cookie, letting it naturally drip down the sides. Add any remaining icing to any cookies that look like they need it!
- Let sit until icing hardens (about 15 minutes) before eating. Store any leftovers in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 3 days.