Say hello to these healthy lemon cookies! This cookie recipe has a moist, pillowy soft base, and it’s topped with a sweet (yet sugar-free) lemon glaze! These cookies are made with almond flour making them a paleo and gluten-free option. They’re also sweetened with honey and glazed with powdered monk fruit sweetener, making them free of refined sugar too!
For my lemon lovers, check out this lemon bread recipe, too!
ingredients for these healthy lemon cookies:
Almond Flour: Almond flour is my personal favorite paleo baking flour. Which is why you see it in SO many of my recipes. The almond flour in this recipe makes these cookies fluffy and pillowy soft.
Tapioca Flour: The tapioca flour is to make the cookies bind properly and give them a bit of denseness.
Baking Soda: only 1/8 teaspoon.
Unsalted Butter: For this recipe, it’s important to use melted butter. You can also use melted ghee or coconut oil instead.
Egg: For binding. A vegan egg (chia, flax) will work as well.
Honey: For natural sweetness.
Fresh Lemon Juice: It’s important to use fresh lemon juice instead of the bottled concentrate. Fresh lemon juice will give it that vibrant flavor.
Lemon Zest: The lemon zest or “grated peel” is what gives it that true lemon taste.
Almond Extract: Optional, but almond extract is one of my favorite flavors and it combines perfectly with the lemon flavor.
Powdered Monk Fruit Sweetener: a powdered sugar substitute made with the zero-calorie monk fruit sweetener. This truthfully tastes as close to powdered sugar as you can get without being the real thing. If you don’t have this, just use powdered sugar!
important notes:
Chill your dough: For this recipe, chill your dough for 30-45 minutes.
Use fresh lemon juice: I find that fresh lemon juice straight from the lemon gives a much better flavor than preserved lemon juice.
Use baking/parchment paper: To ensure your cookies do not stick to the pan.
Don’t over bake: Check your cookies at about the 5/6 minute mark to ensure you do not over bake them. Cookies will continue to bake on the hot pan as they sit out to cool. My rule of thumb is to always pull them from the oven when they’re almost golden brown. Everyone’s oven temperature varies, but mine were perfect at about 8.5 minutes!
Lemon Cookies (gluten-free, paleo, low-sugar)
Equipment
- Sheet Pan
- Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons melted butter or melted ghee or coconut oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest thinly shaved
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Glaze Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup powdered monk fruit sweetener or powdered sugar
- 1Β½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice more if needed
- 1 tablespoons lemon zest for topping
Instructions
- Start by zesting your lemon using a lemon zester or a grater. Carefully shred off the yellow skin of the lemon. If you hit the fruit part of the lemon, you've zested too far.
- In a large mixing bowl, gently whisk together melted butter, egg, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, and almond extract. Next, add in the almond flour, tapioca flour, and baking soda.
- Once the dough is combined, chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- After the dough is chilled and set, roll into uniform 1-inch balls and add to a parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten each ball with your palm.
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remember they will continue to bake on the hot pan as they cool!
- As your cookies cool, make your glaze. Mix together powdered monk fruit sweetener and lemon juice. Drizzle over cookies and sprinkle a little bit more zest on top. Enjoy!