If you love a zesty lemon-flavored treat every now and again, look no further than these simple and delicious vegan lemon cookies which take less than 20 minutes to make.
They're so soft, slightly chewy and filled generously with dairy-free chocolate chips. The tanginess creates a unique cookie-eating experience that I hadn't had before. I think that you will love them.
They cookies are great when eaten on their own but I personally love to have these lemon cookies alongside a hot cup of coffee, tea, hot chocolate or even just a glass of oat milk.
Some other cookies recipe that I highly recommend are my single serve double chocolate chip cookie, vegan chocolate wafer cookies and vegan open sandwich cookie butter bars recipes which are all so tasty!
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Why You Will Love These Cookies
- Quick & Easy - The process for making this recipe is really simple. All you need to do is combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients to form a cookie dough, roll the cookie dough into individual smaller balls and bake.
- Strong Flavors - Not only did I use lemon juice in this recipe but also, lemon zest. Although they come from the same fruit, they're also slightly different in flavor and make a great combination. I also used them both in my vegan blueberry lemon cake with great success. On top of this, these cookies are beautifully sweet too.
- Fantastic Texture - These homemade cookies are golden, chewy and fairly crumbly, while also being velvety soft at the same time. If you love cookies with all of these features, you'll also really enjoy my vegan red velvet white chocolate cookies which have a very similar texture.
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - This vegan lemon cookies recipe is completely vegan and dairy free.
Ingredient Notes
- Baking soda - This is arguably most important ingredient in this recipe. It helps the vegan lemon cookies to spread well in the oven, as opposed to them being round and chunky.
- Granulated sugar - I love to use this kind of sugar as it gives the cookies amazingly crispy edges. Granulated sugar is hygroscopic. These attract and absorb cookie dough liquids, slowing down the development of the gluten, which ultimately creates a crispier cookie. This process also plays an invaluable part in my vegan white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and vegan chocolate shortbread cookies recipes.
- Vegan chocolate chips - The dairy-free chocolate chips will be used for the cookie dough, as well as being melted on top of the cookies. Using small chocolate chunks is also completely fine.
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice - This is the main source of the lemon flavors within the cookies. Make sure that you don't use artificial lemon juice. This will create a taste which is not only inauthentic, but also a flavor which is weaker.
- Zest of one lemon - This underrated ingredient gives the cookies a stronger lemon flavor than just the juice. It give them that extra 'oomph'.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- When it comes down to the chocolate chips, there are multiple kinds you can use. Feel free to use a completely different type of vegan chocolate chips. You could use dairy-free white chocolate chips or dairy-free milk chocolate chips which both work equally as well as the standard dark ones. Some days I actually prefer to mix it up a little, using all three. No matter which type of chocolate chips you use, you'll love these cookies so much.
- You can also add other fillings to the cookies if you wish. How about chopped hazelnuts or chopped peanuts? If you can't have nuts, you could try crushed Oreos like in my vegan oreo chocolate chip cookies. There are so many options!
How To Make Vegan Lemon Chocolate Cookies
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
2: Combine the dry cookie dough ingredients inside a mixing bowl.
3: Add the wet ingredients to form a cookie dough.
4: Roll the cookie dough into balls and bake.
5: Let the cookies cool, then serve.
Expert Tips
Let the cookies cool fully - They are very soft and tender when they first come out from the oven which means that they are capable of falling apart. Allow them to cool completely on a cooling rack so that they can firm up. They will still taste unbelievably delicious.
Don't use artificial lemon juice - Any type of lemon juice other than natural, freshly-squeezed lemon juice from an actual lemon shouldn't be used in this recipe. It should never be artificial.
Recipe FAQs
After making lots of lemon cookies over the years, I've found that the optimal temperature to bake them at is 160 Celsius, which is 325 Fahrenheit.
I highly recommend that you use them both! The general rule to balance lemon flavors is 1 teaspoon of lemon zest for every 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice.
Store these lemon chocolate chip cookies at room temperature for up to 5 days, sealed inside an airtight container. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
If you tried this Vegan Lemon Cookies Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
Easy Vegan Lemon Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 125 g all-purpose flour
- 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
- 0.25 teaspoon salt
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 35 g vegan chocolate chips
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 4 teaspoons soy milk
- 4 teaspoons vegetable oil
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 160 Celsius (325F).
- Line a large baking tray with parchment paper then set aside.
Make the lemon cookie dough:
- To a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and chocolate chips. Combine well.
- Next, pour in the lemon juice, lemon zest, soy milk and vegetable oil. Mix until a cookie dough forms.
- Using a cookie dough scooper, scoop 1.5 Tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie. Use your hands to roll into balls and place them about 2-3 inches apart on the baking tray.
- Press each cookie dough ball to flatten them a little on top.
Bake the cookies:
- Bake in the center of the preheated oven for 12 minutes. The edges should be golden brown. Let them cool for 10 minutes.
Video
Notes
- They are very soft and tender when they first come out from the oven which means that they are capable of falling apart. Allow them to cool completely on a cooling rack so that they can firm up. They will still taste unbelievably delicious.
- Any type of lemon juice other than natural, freshly-squeezed lemon juice from an actual lemon shouldn't be used in this recipe. It should never be artificial.
Chris says
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