lemon butter biscuits

Lemon butter biscuits, delicious melt in the mouth lemon shortbread cookies fragrant with lemon. A simple bake, that’s ready in minutes, making them a perfect afternoon tea treat.

Lemon butter biscuits are one of my favourite quick and simple bakes. This easy biscuit recipe is so easy to follow and the biscuit bakes in no time, making it ideal for a mid afternoon treat, along with a cup of tea.

These lemon shortbread biscuits are one of those recipes we should all have in our repertiore. A simple bake that takes minutes to prepare but packs a real punch of zesty lemon flavour.

When it comes to baking these lemon shortbread cookies are a must and a bake everyone should try.

Why you’ll love this recipe:

• The perfect balance of sweet and sour flavours make these lemon shortbread cookies a delicious afternoon treat.
• Make the dough ahead of time and leave in the fridge until you are ready to bake fresh when you have friend round.
• Little hands on preparation and only 10 minutes to bake the longest part of this recipe is the time to chill the dough.
• A simple recipe that is ideal for kids who enjoy baking.

How to make lemon cookies:

• This is a quick bake so look out all your ingredients, ready to start.
• Take the butter out of the fridge an hour before you start so it has time to soften.

• Start by placing the sugar, butter and lemon zest in a bowl and cream together.

• Add the flour and mix to form a stiff cookie dough.

• Form the dough into an oblong roll roughly 5cm in diameter.
• Use the baking parchment to help you as the dough will be a little sticky.
• Now place the roll of cookie dough into the fridge for 1-2 hours to firm up.

• Once properly chilled the dough will feel firm.
• When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge and remove the baking paper.
• Work quickly so that the dough doesn’t soften.

• Slice the dough and place onto a lined baking sheet.
• Place the sheet into the hot oven and bake the biscuits for 10 minutes until lightly golden.
• Once baked place the biscuits on a wire rack to cool.

Why do you need to chill cookie dough?

Do not be tempted to bake lemon shortbread biscuits without first chilling the dough. Chilling the cookie dough means these biscuits don’t melt too quickly once in the hot oven and they keep their shape.

Recipe ingredients & substitutions:

• Caster Sugar is a fine sugar which creams really well with the butter to give a lemon shortbread biscuit.
• Unsalted Butter is creamed with the sugar to form the base of the cookie. Use butter that’s at room temperature to make it easier to cream with the sugar. You can also use salted butter, but don’t be tempted to use margarine or butter substitutes as the cookie dough simply won’t set.
• Lemon Zest is finely grated and added the the dough to add that burst of fresh lemon flavour to these lemon cookies.
• Large Egg is added to the cookie dough to help it mind together.
• Plain Flour (All-purpose) is used in these cookies as you don’t want the cookies to rise in the oven.

What can I do with leftover lemon juice?

This recipe requires the zest of 3 lemons. Once the zest has been removed from the lemons they can dry out.

I hate to see anything go to waste, so instead juice the lemons and pour the lemon juice into an ice-cube tray and pop in the freezer.

Once frozen, remove from the trays, pop the lemon ice cubes into a bag, label and return to the freezer. One cube is roughly the juice of 1/2 a lemon. I use these frozen lemon cubes in cooking, for marinades, or in a cheeky G&T!

Different flavour combinations:

There is no complexity to this biscuit, using this easy butter biscuit recipe as a base, you can mix up the flavours to swap the flavours as you see fit. Here are some ideas:

• Citrus – the lemon can be easily substituted with other citrus flavours. Orange, grapefruit or lime zest are great alternatives.
• Chocolate – replace the zest and instead add chocolate chips or a tablespoon of cocoa powder, for a chocolate butter biscuit.
• Nuts – add great crunch, try adding some chopped hazelnuts or almonds.
• Sandwich – take 2 biscuits and sandwich them together with some butter cream flavoured with lemon zest.
• Dip – once baked and cooled, how about dipping these lemon butter biscuits in some melted chocolate? Then set aside and allow the chocolate to set. Dark, milk or white chocolate would work a treat.

Can you prepare lemon butter biscuits ahead of time?

These biscuits are great to make up in advance. Prepare the dough, roll it into a log, wrap it in baking parchment and place it in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to bake, simply remove them from the fridge, cut and bake as per the recipe card.

Once baked, these biscuits can be stored in an airtight container on the counter top for up to 5 days.

Can you freeze lemon cookies?

Once baked, the biscuits can be placed in a container and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just make sure you put a layer of baking paper between the biscuits to stop them from sticking together. Then remove from the freezer and defrost the next time you fancy a sweet treat.

Freeze the cookie dough:

The dough also freezes really well so I very often make a double batch of dough. One to enjoy now, one to put away and enjoy at a later date.

Once you have made the dough, roll and shape into an oblong then pop into the fridge for an hour to set. Once it is set, you can easily cut the dough into 1cm slices.

Place the slices of dough in a single layer in a suitable lidded box, ready for freezing. If freezing multiple layers, place a sheet of baking parchment between each layer of lemon biscuit. This will stop them sticking together and will make baking far easier at a later date.

Bake from frozen:

When ready to bake simply remove from the freezer and cook directly from frozen. Simply increase the cooking time by 2-4 minutes when cooking from frozen.

Serving suggestions:

These lemon shortbread biscuits are the perfect sweet treat with your afternoon cuppa.

We also like to pair these lemon shortbread cookies with our Lemon Posset, a simple but refreshing dessert. The sweet lemon biscuit adds crunch and works well with the slightly sour posset. This dessert is ideal for warm Summer evenings.

Recipe hints and tips:

1. Once the cookie dough comes out of the fridge work quickly to cut into shape and get the biscuits into the oven. The colder the dough, the less risk there is of the cookies spreading in the oven.
2. Double the recipe and use one half of the dough to bake biscuits to enjoy now and freeze the second half of the dough to enjoy later.
3. Allergy advice: soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions:

For other simple biscuit bakes try some these recipes:

• Orange Butter Biscuits
• Ginger & Chilli Biscuits
• Custard Creams
• Chocolate & Hazelnut Cookies
• No-bake Mars Bar Slice
• No-bake Chocolate Tiffin

These delicious biscuits are all simple to make, and a great place to start of you are baking with kids. If you enjoyed this bake have a look at our Ultimate Guide to Baking with Kids, full of great recipe suggestions, hints and tips for baking with children.