These lemon almond flour cookies are a little crispy on the bottom and soft and chewy in the middle. They are grain-free, dairy-free and gluten-free and mix up in one bowl with no mixer.
More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes
Be sure to check out my full list of gluten-free cookie recipes, including my vegan, gluten-free coconut macaroons, sugar-free gluten-free medjool date filled cookies, and my marbled tahini cookies with a vanilla and chocolate swirl.
One Bowl, No Mixer Cookies
I’m a fan of recipes with super easy clean-up. So this recipe uses just one bowl with no electricity needed. You’ll zest the lemon into a bowl. Add the vegan butter and sugar and cream with a silicone spatula (literally my favorite kitchen tool). Mix in the egg, vanilla and lemon juice and stir it all up. Add the almond flour, baking soda and salt and mix. Use a cookie scoop for round, uniform cookies. This 1 oz #40 cookie scoop works well and gives you 30 cookies.
Ingredients
Almond flour, also know as super fine, blanched almond meal is what works in this recipe. “Blanched” means that the brown skin from whole almonds is removed so that the result is a creamy white flour. I do not recommend using almond meal. This is a good gluten-free certified, peanut-free almond flour
Lemon zest (see my post How to Zest a Lemon if you’re not sure what that is) and fresh lemon juice make these cookies a sweet and tart treat. Zest the lemon using a microplane and the zest will disappear into the cookie dough and flavor it perfectly.
Vegan butter is my preference for these cookies and it makes them dairy-free. Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks (unsalted if you can find it) or Miyoko’s Cultured Vegan Butter both work well. If you can’t find the unsalted version, simply omit the salt called for in the recipe. Melted coconut oil can be used in place of the vegan butter if you prefer.
The rest of the ingredients are just the basics – egg, baking soda, vanilla and sugar. That’s it!
Soft and Chewy or Crunchy Cookies?
If you like soft and chewy cookies with a little crunch on the edge and bottom, bake these cookies for 20 minutes. If they are baked for less than that they get soggy and breakable later on. If you want to up the chewiness, chill the portioned cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. Do you like a super crunchy cookie? No problem, bake these cookies until they are dark golden brown on top.
Lemon Icing
Make these cookies photo-worthy and even more lemony with a super easy lemon cookie icing. Add a little yellow food coloring – Color Kitchen Foods has natural plant-based powdered colors that are perfect for the icing because it won’t make it too runny.
Lemon Almond Flour Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 6 Tbsp vegan butter room temperature (Earth Balance Unsalted, recommended)
- 1 c sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 c almond flour lightly packed in the measuring cup*
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt omit if your vegan butter is salted
Lemon Icing
- 1 1/2 c powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp corn syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350Β°R and line baking sheet(s) with parchment
- Using a microplane, zest the lemon into a large mixing bowl. Here is my quick video on How to Zest a Lemon. Cut the lemon in half and save for step 3 and the lemon Icing.
- Add the vegan butter and sugar to the lemon zest and cream using a silicone spatula (best), wood spoon or fork.
- Add the egg, 2 tbsp. lemon juice and vanilla and mix until smooth.
- Add the almond flour, baking soda and salt and mix until the dough is uniform.
- Drop or scoop 2 Tbsp of dough onto the baking sheet. This 1 oz #40 cookie scoop is the perfect size. These cookies do spread a little so give them about 2" in between.
- If you want to up the chewiness of these cookies, chill the portioned cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking.
- Bake 20 minutes or until the cookies are brown on the edges. This will make cookies that are crispy on the edge and softer in the middle. If you prefer crunchy cookies, bake until they are dark golden brown on top.
- Cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Lemon Icing (make immediately before using)
- Sift the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl.
- Add the lemon juice and corn syrup and stir until smooth. This should be a thick icing. If it is not spreading, add a tiny bit of water – less than 1/4 tsp. A little makes a huge difference.
- Place in a squeeze bottle or piping bag with a small round tip and drizzle over cooled cookies.
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