Lemon Cranberry Cookies

Lemon Cranberry Cookies are soft, buttery, and bursting with bright citrus flavor and tart cranberry goodness! These cookies are simple to make with pantry staples, a touch of lemon zest, and a sweet glaze that makes them absolutely irresistible. They’re perfect for holidays, cookie exchanges, or any time you’re craving something a little different from the usual chocolate chip.

Love More Cranberry Desserts? Try My Cranberry Orange Cookies or this Christmas Cranberry Bars next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

These Lemon Cranberry Cookies are a bright and cheerful treat bursting with flavor. Soft, buttery, and perfectly tangy, they blend the zesty freshness of lemon with the sweet-tart pop of dried cranberries. Ideal for holidays or anytime you crave something light yet indulgent, these cookies bring a refreshing twist to classic homemade baking.

Print

Ingredient List

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

Why These Ingredients Work

The zest does everything here. Everyone thinks lemon juice = lemon flavor but nope, it’s the zest. All those tiny oil pockets in the yellow part of the peel are where the party’s at. That’s why we rub it into sugar first – you’re basically forcing those oils out and mixing them everywhere. I got lazy one time and just dumped the zest in without rubbing and the cookies tasted like cardboard with occasional lemon surprises. Not great.

Brown sugar makes these chewy. I ran out once and used all white sugar and they came out crunchy like those Danish butter cookies in the blue tin. Fine if that’s your thing, but not what we’re after.

Chopping cranberries seems like extra dishes but hear me out. Whole dried cranberries are rubbery and weird to chew through. Little pieces give you tart bursts without the jaw workout. Way better.

Butter temperature matters so much. Too warm = flat puddle cookies. Too cold = dense brick cookies. You want it soft enough to dent with your finger but not shiny or melty looking. I set mine on the counter when I’m making breakfast and it’s perfect by lunch.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Large mixing bowl
• Electric mixer (hand mixer or stand mixer works great)
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Microplane or fine grater (for zesting the lemon)
• Sharp knife and cutting board (for chopping cranberries)
• 3-tablespoon cookie scoop (or regular spoon)
• Two baking sheets
• Parchment paper
• Small bowl (for the glaze)
• Pastry brush or spoon (for glazing)

How To Make Lemon Cranberry Cookies

Step 1: Create the Lemon Sugar Base

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.

Step 2: Cream the Butter Mixture

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.

Step 3: Add Wet Ingredients

Crack in the egg, dump in vanilla and lemon juice. Beat until smooth. Should smell really lemony and good.

Step 4: Incorporate Dry Ingredients

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.

Step 5: Fold in Cranberries

Chop cranberries first – I go for like half their original size. Fold them in with a spatula. Don’t turn the mixer back on.

Step 6: Chill the Dough

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.

Step 7: Prepare for Baking

Crank oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Don’t skip parchment – cleanup is a million times easier.

Step 8: Bake to Perfection

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.

Step 9: Make the Glaze

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.

Step 10: Glaze the Cookies

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.

You Must Know

The dough HAS to chill. Not negotiable. Minimum 2 hours or they’ll spread everywhere and merge into cookie chaos. I got impatient once after 30 minutes and they became one giant mutant cookie stuck to the pan. Also the taste is way better after chilling – flavors get friendlier or something.

Everything room temp. Cold butter won’t mix right and you’ll get flat dense disasters. Cold eggs get lumpy. I take butter out in the morning and it’s good by afternoon.

Personal Secret: Zest your lemon right over the sugar bowl so those tiny oil droplets that fly everywhere land in the sugar instead of on your counter. Nothing wasted.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

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.

Flavor Variations / Suggestions

Orange Version: Use orange zest and juice instead. Tastes sweeter and milder. My mom likes this better but I’m ride or die for lemon.

White Chocolate Addition: Throw half cup white chocolate chips in with cranberries. More dessert-y and sweet.

Rosemary Lemon: Mince half teaspoon fresh rosemary into the dough. Sounds nuts but it’s fancy and delicious. Made these for a dinner party and people freaked out.

Extra Lemony: Add another teaspoon lemon juice to dough and use 2 tablespoons in glaze if you want major pucker.

Skip Glaze: Honestly fine without. Sprinkle coarse sugar on top before baking instead.

Make-Ahead Options

Dough sits in the fridge up to 24 hours before baking. I make it Sunday night watching Netflix and bake Monday after work.

Freeze dough balls for months. Scoop, freeze on tray till solid, bag them up. Bake from frozen – add 1-2 minutes. I keep a stash for emergencies.

Baked cookies freeze great. Skip glaze, cool completely, freeze 3 months. Thaw and glaze fresh.

Don’t freeze glazed cookies. Glaze gets weird and sticky thawing. Always glaze fresh after thawing.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

That 3-tablespoon scoop makes huge bakery cookies. Want smaller? Use regular tablespoon and bake 9-10 minutes.

Every oven’s different. Mine runs hot so I check at 11 minutes. Figure yours out.

Fresh lemon zest versus bottled – no contest. Fresh wins. Bottled tastes fake. Just buy a lemon.

Glaze looks thin when you mix it. Sits on cookies 10 minutes and sets up glossy and hard.

Serving Suggestions

These hit my Christmas cookie tray every year. Red cranberries look festive and they’re different from all the chocolate peanut butter stuff.

Perfect with coffee. I eat two with iced coffee and call it breakfast.

Great gifts. I tin them up for my mail carrier, hair stylist, kids’ teachers. Everyone wants the recipe.

Parties – pile on white platter, scatter lemon slices and cranberries around. Takes 30 seconds, looks expensive.

Hope you’re as obsessed with these as I am. They’re on repeat here and probably will be at your place too.

How to Store Your Lemon Cranberry Cookies

Counter in a container with lid. Good 3-4 days. Glaze might soften but still tastes fine.

No fridge needed unless you’re somewhere crazy humid. If you do fridge them, let sit 20 minutes before eating.

Freeze baked cookies no glaze 3 months. Wrap well so no freezer burn. Fresh glaze after thawing.

Freeze raw dough balls 3 months. Bake frozen, add 1-2 minutes.

Best room temp. Microwave 5 seconds if you want warm but don’t overdo it or glaze melts.

Allergy Information

Contains:

• Wheat (gluten)
• Dairy (butter)
• Eggs

Gluten-Free: Swap 1:1 gluten-free flour. Texture’s slightly different but works.

Dairy-Free: Vegan butter sticks not tub kind. Basically the same.

Egg-Free: Flax egg – 1 tablespoon ground flax plus 3 tablespoons water, sit 5 minutes till goopy. Bit crumblier but edible.

Nut-Free: No nuts so safe for school.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

Can I use fresh cranberries instead of dried?

No. Fresh ones are wet and super sour. They’d make cookies spread weird and taste harsh. Dried is what you need. If you really want fresh you’d have to cook them with sugar first which is a whole thing.

My cookies spread too much – what went wrong?

Butter was too soft or melted. Or didn’t chill dough long enough. Or baking soda’s old. Make sure butter’s just softened not warm, chill dough balls 2 hours minimum, check baking soda expiration.

Can I skip the glaze?

Yeah. Good plain. Roll dough balls in coarse sugar before chilling if you want sweet sparkly without glaze.

The glaze is too thick/thin – how do I fix it?

Thick add lemon juice tiny bit at a time. Thin add powdered sugar one spoon at a time. Should coat spoon but drip off slow.

💬 Tried this? Comment below! How’d they turn out? Orange instead of lemon?