Soft and chewy gluten-free lemon cookies with crisp edges and a pop of fresh lemon. These fan-favorite lemon sugar cookies are quick and easy with no chilling required!

Here we have a gluten-free lemon cookie recipe to mark the shifting of micro-seasons from Holiday Winter to New Year Winter (TM). It's a subtle change, one that you might only notice in the baked goods coming out of each, but one that I believe should be celebrated with plenty cookies (both before and after the seasonal shift). 

We've left behind the season of peppermint oreos and iced sugar cookies, and find ourselves firmly in the land of citrus.

I'm over here making back fence lemon deals with my neighbor. She leaves a bag of lemons hanging over the fence and I replace it with freshly baked gluten-free lemon cookies. I've got a lot of lemons right now. Consequently, it's time to bake more of these cookies!

The best Gluten-Free Lemon Cookies recipe

I've had a craving for a very specific kind of gluten-free lemon cookie. I'm not looking for soft cakey lemon cookies. I don't want snappy shortbread lemon cookies. Instead, I fancy moist chewy lemon cookies with crisp edges. Like a chewy sugar cookie with an intense lemon burst. 

That's exactly what these cookies advertise: sturdy crisp edges with a soft and fluffy, but intensely chewy center and a punch of lemon. Almost like a chocolate chip cookie with bright lemon notes in place of chocolate and molasses. 

How do you make soft and fluffy gluten-free cookies with crispy-edges?

The trio of flours with almond flour, sweet rice flour, and tapioca starch each play a role in giving the cookies this perfect texture. Rolling the dough in sugar before baking ensures the crisp crackly edges. 

• Almond Flour: Superfine blanched almond flour adds flour bulk without drying out the cookie. It imparts the cookie moisture and a subtle nutty sweetness. It has the added bonus of a neutral color that lets that light lemon yellow color to shine.
  • Substitution: See oat flour option below about a nut-free substitution. 
• Sweet Rice Flour: Also called mochiko or glutinous rice flour, sweet rice flour is distinctively different than white rice or brown rice flour. Sweet rice flour is the same flour used to make mochi, and as such, it contributes to the chewiness of the cookie center. 
  • Substitutions: While I haven't tried it, if you can't find sweet rice flour or want a grain-free verson, I would replace it by weight with additional tapioca flour. Your bake-time might vary a bit, so keep an eye on the cookies for clues that they're done!
• Tapioca Starch: Like sweet rice flour, tapioca flour offers chewiness, but it also is what helps create the fluffines and crisp edges. 
  • Substitution: Substitute by weight with arrowroot starch. 

However, if you're more on the soft pillowy cake-side of the lemon cookie camp, bake this exact recipe just 1-2 minutes longer and that's exactly what you'll get. 

How to make these gluten-free lemon butter cookies nut-free?

I also developed a nut-free version of this cookie using oat flour in case you can't tolerate nuts. Follow the same recipe instructions, but instead of the flour ratios in the recipe, use these:

• 115g (1 cup + 1 tablespoon) gluten-free oat flour
• 70g (¼ cup + 3 tablespoons) sweet rice flour
• 74g (½ cup + 2.5 tablespoons) tapioca flour

Due to the oat flour, this cookie version will be slightly less yellow and more natural tan-colored than the almond flour variation. 

Do you have to chill gluten-free lemon sugar cookie dough?

This gluten-free lemon sugar cookie dough does not need to be chilled to keep them from spreading. Woohoo - you're this much closer to freshly baked lemon cookies!

The dough is soft, but if you find the dough too soft that it's difficult for you to roll it into a ball and toss in sugar, pop the dough into the fridge for 20 minutes before rolling to make it a bit easier. 

Can I freeze lemon cookies?

You can absolutely freeze this gluten-free lemon cookie dough if you aren't going to eat them all at once, or you can keep the cookie dough balls in the fridge for up to a week before baking. 

When you're ready to bake, bake them straight from the freezer, adding about 2 minutes to the baking time. Note: the longer that you freeze this cookie dough, the thicker/fluffier the cookies will bake up, as they won't spread quite as much straight from the freezer.

If you prefer they spread thinner as pictured here, just bring the dough to room temperature before baking. 

Tips for perfect cookies

Whenever I bake cookies - even if I'm using a time-tested recipe - I always start by baking off one tester cookie. That way I know if my parent-brain made any mistakes, or if I need to tweak the recipe. Here are some of my tried and true gluten-free cookie tips!

How to get perfectly even and round cookies?

The first tip for perfectly even and round cookies is to use a cookie scoop to make sure all of your cookies are the same size. For most cookies, including these, I use a medium-sized cookie scoop (that holds 2 tablespoons of dough). 

In addition to measuring the dough evenly, you can also use this tip to keep your cookies perfectly round. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, place a large round biscuit cutter or a large glass or mug over each cookie and gently swirl it on all sides to round out the cookie edges.

How to tell when these lemon cookies are done baking?

These cookies are best with slightly underbaked centers for an ultimate chew. First, the cookies will evenly puff up in the oven. At some point between 10-12 minutes, the edges will set. When the cookies are ready, the outer edges will look set and thinner while just the center is puffy, but still a bit under-baked. As soon as the cookies show this appearance, pull them from the oven as they'll continue cooking for a few minutes on the baking sheet as they cool. 

Troubleshooting Gluten-Free Cookies

Why don’t my cookies spread enough?

If your cookies don't spread enough there could be a few culprits:

• Flour brand. Did you use the brands of flours recommended in this recipe? Using different brands of flour that have different coarseness of grain could lead to different results. In particular, I find tapioca flour to be one of the most crucial flours to stick with using Bob's Red Mill. 
• Too much flour. Did you measure by weight? With gluten-free flours that use just a bit of each kind, it's easy to accidentally use too much flour depending on your method of scooping. I recommend using weight measurements when baking gluten-free recipes. To measure by volume, I lightly scoop the measuring cup into the flour, then scrape the top flat with a knife.
• Chilling. As noted above, if you baked the cookies straight from the freezer or after a long chill, they won't spread quite as much. If you want more spread, bring the cookies to room temperature before baking. 

Why do my cookies spread too much?

On the other hand, if your cookies spread too much, here are some troubleshooting tips:

• Butter too soft. If your butter was much too soft when you mixed it with the sugar, your dough will be more soft and more prone to spreading. 
• Flour brand or not enough flour. This is the same tip as above. Did you use the recommended brand of flours and measure by weight?
• Baking sheet too warm. Be sure that you're always placing your cookie dough on a room temperature or cool baking sheet, never a warm one!

If you find your cookies are spreading too much, freeze the cookie dough balls for 30 minutes before baking. 

What if my dough is too sticky to handle?

If your butter was too soft (maybe it's really hot where you live!) your dough will be soft and you may find it difficult to handle. Pop the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm it up a bit to make it easier for you to roll into balls and toss in sugar. 

What to do with lots of lemons?

When life gives you lemons (or your neighbors, in my case), make several batches of these chewy gluten-free lemon cookies to share with all your neighbors. Serve them up with these favorite lemon recipes:

• Gluten-Free Lemon Cupcakes
• Lemon Meringue S'mores with Shortbread Cookies
• Lemon Cream Pavlova
• Sparkling Ginger Lemonade Mocktail
• Hibiscus Lemonade Popsicles
• Roasted Cauliflower Kale Salad with Lemon Brown Butter Dressing
• Roasted Lemon Mint Pesto