I love anything lemon, and this melt-in-your-mouth lemon snowball cookie recipe is perfection. The combination of fresh lemon zest and an easy to make buttery cookie makes these the perfect bite. The contrast between the sweet powdered sugar coating and the citrusy cookie is wonderful and their appearance and name make them perfect for any occasion.
The Perfect Cookie for Lemon Lovers
If you have lemon lovers in your life, then you need to make this cookie for them even or make it for yourself. I went for maximum lemon flavor by adding 3 teaspoons of fresh lemon zest. The baked cookie has an abundance of lemon flavor - you can smell the cookies and the aroma and flavor linger after your last bite.
Here are some other reasons you'll love making this snowball cookie:
- Easy to Make: With just 6 ingredients and minimal prep time, these cookies are easy to make and perfect for busy bakers.
- Festive and Beautiful: The snowy appearance of these cookies adds a holiday touch to your cookie plate or cookie box.
- Perfect for Gifting: Are you planning to send cookies to friends and family? These lemon snowball cookies are ideal for sending to friends, family, or coworkers. As long as they're packed right (and don't get lost in the mail) they'll arrive nice and tender.
If you picked this recipe because you love lemon try my Lemon Shortbread. But if you came for Christmas cookies and love snowball cookies, try my Pecan Snowball Cookies or Peppermint Snowball Cookies (made with crushed candy canes).
Lemon Snowball Cookie Ingredients
Full ingredients, measurements, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to Make Lemon Snowball Cookies
This recipe is made using a food processor, but if you don’t have a food processor you can use an electric mixer. The recipe card contains instructions for both mixing methods.
You can also substitute the lemon zest with lime or orange zest. For orange zest, use half the amount of lemon zest, as fresh orange zest has a really powerful flavor.
Step 2: Place the butter, powdered sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor
Step 3: Process the ingredients until they are well combined and the mixture looks creamy
Step 4: Add the flour and the vanilla.
Step 5: Process until the dough starts to come together and form a ball.
Step 7: Roll the dough into 20 gram balls. Place the cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or board and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Baking Tip: At this point in the recipe, you can also freeze the cookies. Place the baking sheet in the freezer and let the cookies freeze for 24 hours. Next place the cookies in a freezer-safe bag. The cookies can be frozen up to 2 months.
When ready to bake the cookies, bake them straight from the freezer, no need to thaw them out first.
Step 8: Place the cookies on a prepared baking sheet. You may be tempted to add more cookies, but the cookies spread as they bake.
Step 9: Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottom edges.Remove the cookies from the oven. Roll them in powdered sugar while they’re still hot (but not too hot to handle) and place them on a wire rack to finish cooling.
Step 10: Remove the cookies from the oven. Roll them in powdered sugar while they’re still hot (but not too hot to handle) and place them on a wire rack to finish cooling.
Step 11: Once the cookies are cool roll them a second time in powdered sugar.
Pro Tips for Success
- Weigh the Ingredients. Use a kitchen scale to weigh the flour and sugar for the best results. Using too much flour will produce a dry crumbly cookie. Too little flour will result in a flat cookie.
- Use room-temperature butter. Room temperature butter is 65-68°F. If your butter is too soft when you start, it won’t form a sturdy base for your cookie dough. The cookies will over-spread.
- Coat the cookies with powdered sugar twice, once when warm and again when cool, because the first layer melts and makes the second coat stick.
If you make these incredible lemon snowball cookies please leave a rating and a comment below.
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Lemon Snowball Cookies with Fresh Lemon Zest
Equipment
- #60 Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3/4 cup (90 grams) powdered sugar sifted
- 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 teaspoons lemon zest about 3 or 4 lemons
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-1/4 cups (281 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
Coating
- 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- The cookie dough can be made in either a food processor or stand mixer.
Food Processor Method
- Place the powdered sugar, butter, and salt in the food processor fitted with the metal blade attachment. Zest the lemons directly into the food processor on top of the sugar and butter. Process the ingredients with the metal blade until it looks creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Add the vanilla and flour and process until the dough comes together and forms a large ball. This will only take a few seconds, so watch it carefully. There will be some dough on the bottom of the bowl.
Stand Mixer Method
- Place the powdered sugar, butter, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Zest the lemons directly into the bowl on top of the other ingredients. Mix the ingredients on medium speed with the paddle attachment until the dough is creamy, 2-3 minutes
- Add the vanilla and flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together and starts to form large clumps. This will take a few minutes.
- For Both Methods
- Scrape the dough into a large bowl and knead the dough together for about 20 seconds. With a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop (aka #60 cookie scoop) measure out the dough and use your hands to shape the dough into balls. Each ball should weigh about 20 grams.
- Place the balls on a parchment-lined board or a quarter-sized baking sheet (or other flat surface that will fit in your refrigerator) and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour. At this point, you can also freeze the cookies if you want to bake them later (see baking notes).
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a half baking sheet with parchment paper. You can use Silpat but the bottom of the cookies will spread more.
- Place 12 cookies on the baking sheet, evenly spaced apart. Bake the cookies for about 12-14 minutes until the bottom edges have barely turned a light golden brown (the bottoms should also be golden brown).
- While the cookies are baking sift the powdered sugar into a bowl.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 3 minutes. Roll them in powdered sugar while they’re still warm and place them on a wire rack to finish cooling. Allow them to cool to room temperature before coating them with the second coating of powdered sugar.
Store the Cookies
- Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Then store them in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Flash Freeze: Place the unbaked cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet in a single layer and freeze for 1-2 hours or until firm.
- Package in Airtight Container: Transfer the frozen dough to a freezer-safe container or a heavy-duty, zip-lock freezer bag.
- Label and Store: Label the container with the date to keep track of when you stored the cookies. Shortbread dough freezes well for up to 3 months.
- Bake from Frozen: Bake the cookies straight from the freezer, but allow an extra 2-5 minutes of baking time.
Anita Sibayan says
Loved them! So easy!
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Anita
Thank you! I'm so glad you liked them.