Description
These Lemon Cranberry Cookies are soft, buttery, and bursting with bright citrus flavor. Made with fresh lemon zest, tart dried cranberries, and finished with a sweet lemon glaze, they’re perfect for holidays, cookie exchanges, or any day you want something special!
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (about one lemon’s worth)
- ½ cup (113.5 g) butter, softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1½ cups (210 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup dried cranberries, chopped
For the Glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
Put both sugars and the lemon zest in your bowl. Now stick your hands in there and rub everything between your fingers for a good 2-3 minutes. Your hands will smell amazing and get kinda sticky. The sugar starts looking damp and yellow. That’s all those lemon oils coming out. This is legit the most important thing for actual lemon taste instead of just vaguely citrus vibes.
Drop your butter in and beat it with the lemon sugar for 3 full minutes. Set a timer because you’ll think it’s done way before it actually is. You want it pale and fluffy like cake frosting. My grandma used to say this is how you get air in there so they’re soft instead of dense. She was totally right.
Crack in the egg, dump in vanilla and lemon juice. Beat until smooth. Should smell really lemony and good.
Add salt, baking soda, flour. Mix on low until you can barely see white streaks. I stop when there’s still a little flour showing because it finishes mixing with the cranberries. Mix too much and you get tough cookies. Made that mistake sophomore year during finals week stress baking.
Chop cranberries first – I go for like half their original size. Fold them in with a spatula. Don’t turn the mixer back on.
Scoop big balls with your 3-tablespoon scoop. Put them on a plate, cover with plastic, stick in the fridge minimum 2 hours. I KNOW you don’t wanna wait. I never wanna wait either. But if you skip this they spread into one giant blob and it’s not salvageable. I’ve tried. Usually I make dough after dinner and bake next day.
Crank oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Don’t skip parchment – cleanup is a million times easier.
Six dough balls per sheet. Space them out. Bake 11-13 minutes till edges are barely golden. Middles look underdone but they’re not. They keep cooking on the hot pan. Wait till they look done and they’ll be dry and sad. Just trust me. Let them cool totally on the pan.
Whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl till smooth. Should be thick but pourable – like Elmer’s glue. Too thick add more juice. Too thin add more sugar.
Wait till cookies are completely cool or glaze just melts off everywhere. Brush it on or dip the tops. I brush because I like thin coats but my sister dips hers. Both work. Let sit 10 minutes so glaze sets hard.
Notes
Pull them out looking slightly underdone. They finish on the pan. Wait till they look done and they’ll be overdone and crunchy when cool. Hardest thing for me to learn because my brain says longer = better.
Check your baking soda date. Mine was from 2020 once and I couldn’t figure out why cookies weren’t rising. Test it – drop a pinch in vinegar and it should fizz like crazy. No fizz = dead = buy new.
Chop cranberries smaller than makes sense. Big chunks look pretty but aren’t fun to eat.
Soft butter = you can poke it and leave a dent but it still holds shape. Not shiny, not greasy, not melted puddle.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes + Chill Time: 2 hours (up to 24 hours)
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American