meyer lemon peeps cut out sugar cookies

These Meyer lemon sugar cookies are soft with a crisp edge and so full of lemon flavor, especially when paired with the lemon royal icing. I made mine into peeps, but you can make these into whatever shapes you like.

ingredients you’ll need to make meyer lemon cut out sugar cookies

• butter– I always use unsalted butter in my recipes so I can accurately tell you how much salt to add, but the truth is that when I’m just baking personally, I use salted butter and nothing is ever too salty. Use what you have, but make sure that it has come to room temperature, about 66-70 degrees. Butter straight out of the fridge will not cream as well, which will either require too much creaming (creating too aerated of a mixture) or the final dough will have little pebbles of butter that will melt in the oven, causing uneven cookies. Make sure the butter hasn’t softened too much and become melty or squishy. 
• sugar– I use granulated sugar and brown sugar in this cookie recipe. Granulated sugar gives a nice crisp edge, but brown sugar gives great chewiness and flavor.
• salt– Diamond Crystal kosher salt is the best for baking, so I recommend grabbing a box if you can. It will last you for a long time if you just use it for baking! If you don’t have this type of salt, swap for regular table salt and use half the amount called for.
• lemons– I used Meyer lemons in this cookie, but you can absolutely use regular lemons. We’ll use the zest in the dough and the juice in the icing.
• egg– An egg will give the cookie structure and tenderness. You can use either a whole egg or two yolks.
• vanilla– Vanilla is essential for flavor in this recipe, and I recommend using vanilla bean paste instead of extract if you can. I love to use vanilla bean paste because the flavor is more intense, but vanilla extract is great as well. I love The Spice House, Heilala, and Nielsen-Massey. (Make sure to check your local Costco store for big jars of Nielsen-Massey at an amazing price!)
• flour–  Flour provides the structure for this cookie, and this recipe has the perfect amount for the dough to both hold its shape, yet not be too floury and hard once baked.
• cornstarch– aids in tenderness and helps with spread
• baking powder– for a little lift, but optional
• powdered sugar– for the royal icing
• meringue powder– for the royal icing (I like Modern Mountain meringue powder)
• corn syrup– for the royal icing, but optional

*You can use my code EMILYLOGGANS for 10% off at The Spice House. I love to get my vanilla, almond extract, salt, and spices from there!

supplies you’ll need

• hand mixer or stand mixer– A stand mixer makes this process so incredibly easy, but a hand mixer works just fine, especially if you’re just making a single batch.
• spatula– A spatula is essential to scrape down the bowl throughout the process. Without scraping, you’ll end up with an unevenly mixed dough and cookies that are inconsistent. 
• scale– If there’s one thing I can convince you of, please let it be a kitchen scale. 🙏🏻Using a scale makes everything easier with baking, and it ensures you get the same results every time. Flour is so easy to over-add with volume measurements, and a scale solves that problem.
• parchment paper– I always roll my dough between two sheets of pre-cut parchment paper, which is by far the best way to roll out dough.
• guided rolling pin– Rolling dough evenly is tricky with a regular rolling pin, but with a guided rolling pin, dough comes out evenly every time. It’s such a time saver and one of my favorite kitchen tools.
• baking sheets– I use these cookie sheets for years, and they are amazing.
• cookie cutters– I made mine into peeps sugar cookies, but you could use any cutter you like! I got my peep cutter from Williams Sonoma.

tips for making meyer lemon sugar cookies

The dough comes together very easily, like most sugar cookie doughs. Cream the butter and sugar, add the egg and vanilla, then the dry ingredients. Once the dough has come together, chill for two hours or up to five days (if well wrapped and sealed) in the fridge. 

If I’m going to be using the dough right away (after the two hour chill time), I prefer to roll the dough between parchment immediately after mixing and then chill it. If I’m going to let it chill for longer, I like to wrap it tightly in plastic, put it in a ziplock, and store in the fridge until I’m ready to use it. When I’m ready to use it, I just let it come to room temperature before rolling it out between parchment. If the dough is at all soft at this point, pop it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes before cutting shapes.

A microplane zester is my favorite tool for zesting citrus. Make sure to only zest the rind and not any of the pith (white part). If you like a more punchy flavor to your cookies, you can double the amount of zest in the dough. (But don’t add more of the juice!)

The dough is extra yellow because I used egg yolks rather than a whole egg. It also makes a more tender soft dough.

Don’t over bake these cookies so they stay soft. They should be fully set and not shiny at all on top, and they should not take on any color. As you can see, they hold their shape and don’t spread, but if you’re a professional cookie decorator you may want to add an additional 15g-30g to the dough to ensure it holds its shape even better. You also may want to skip the baking powder so they don’t puff.

decorating peeps sugar cookies

These peeps sugar cookies are extremely easy to decorate. Make the lemon royal icing and color it with gel food coloring. I used Americolor electric yellow for that classic yellow peep color. I bagged a little bit of the thicker icing to use as an outline consistency, then I added even more lemon juice to the rest until I reached a flood consistency. I bagged that up and was ready to go!

Outline the entire shape of the cookie, then flood it in with the looser consistency of royal icing. Sprinkle the cookie with granulated sugar and leave it that way until the icing has fully dried (8-12 hours). Gently dust off the excess with a fluffy brush or gently tap the cookie on the tray until the excess falls off.

Using a bit of black or brown royal icing (or a bit of melted chocolate), pipe eyes and a mouth.

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