These easy Lemon Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies are crisp and buttery. These slice and bake cookies are gluten-free and perfect for spring!
Spring always gets me excited to bake with fresh citrus, especially lemon. My favorite baking recipes include these lemon bars, lemon scones, lemon cheesecake bars, and this lemon ricotta cake.
This spring I can’t get enough of these lemon almond flour shortbread cookies. These cookies have an irresistible combination of lemon and almond flavors. They’re buttery, with crispy edges and slightly chewy centers. If you love traditional shortbread cookies, you are going to love these almond flour cookies with lemon!
You can see pretty flecks of lemon zest in these almond meal cookies. I used Meyer lemons, which I highly recommend if you can get your hands on some. These almond meal cookies are slice and bake cookies, and the dough is really easy to mix up. Below I give you my best tips to make sure your cookies turn out perfect.
These lemon almond flour shortbread cookies would be a wonderful addition to an Easter brunch buffet or Easter dessert table. If you have extras, these cookies freeze well.
I made these almond flour cookies with Bob’s Red Mill finely ground almond meal/flour. I use Bob’s Red Mill products because their quality has proven itself time and time again. Bob’s Red Mill almond meal is ground from whole, blanched sweet almonds. Not only do almonds have a healthy boost of protein, they are also very low in carbohydrates and inherently gluten free.
When you make these shortbread cookies with almond meal, your almond meal cookies will be gluten free and have only 4 grams of carbohydrates per cookie. The hint of almond flavor and slight crunch from the almond meal is irresistible!
How to Make Almond Flour Cookies
The process of making these Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies is simple. These are slice and bake cookies, so there’s no rolling out of dough for this recipe. You’ll want to plan ahead, as you need to chill the dough for at least 2 hours before slicing and baking.
To start, you’ll cream together butter and sugar using an electric mixer. Next you’ll add lemon zest. The lemon zest will infuse the butter and sugar with lemon flavor, so the cookies have lemon flavor throughout.
Next, add a little salt and almond extract. Finally you’ll mix in the almond flour in three additions until the dough comes together. The finished dough should look like the photo below.
Shape the dough into two 1 ½-inch logs and chill in your refrigerator. Once the dough is chilled you’re ready to slice and bake!
Baking Tips for Gluten Free Almond Shortbread Cookies
- Use finely ground almond meal/almond flour for best results. I have only tested this recipe using Bob’s Red Mill almond meal/flour.
- Use a kitchen scale to weigh your almond flour for the most accurate measurement.
- Chill the dough logs for at least 2 hours before slicing the cookies. You want the dough to be very cold and firm. This will allow you to slice the cookies easily, and will prevent your cookies from spreading.
- Bake the cookies right away after you slice the dough logs. If the dough warms up before you put it in the oven, you can place the baking sheets with the unbaked sliced cookies in your refrigerator for about 15 minutes to re-chill the dough. You want the dough to be very cold to prevent the cookies from spreading in the oven.
More Almond Flour Recipes
Thank you to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Kristine’s Kitchen possible.
Recipe retested, improved and updated 2/7/19.
Lemon Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, softened slightly but still cool
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest, from 2 medium lemons
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 ½ cups (280 grams) Bob's Red Mill Finely Ground Almond Meal/Flour
Instructions
- Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the lemon zest and mix on low speed until combined.
- Add the salt and almond extract and mix on low speed to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the almond flour in 3 separate additions, mixing on low after each addition until combined. The dough will be crumbly at first, but continue to mix on low speed and it will come together. Once the dough begins to stick together (see photo in the post above), stop mixing.
- Divide the dough in half. Shape each half first into a ball and then into a log that is 1 ½ inches in diameter and wrap in plastic wrap. You can roll the dough log a bit more after wrapping it in the plastic wrap to smooth it out. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into ¼-inch thick slices. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake for 7-10 minutes, until the cookies are barely golden on the edges and bottoms. Be very careful not to over-bake the cookies. If you are baking two pans of cookies at once, rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store cooled cookies wrapped airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
- I recommend that you weigh the flour for an accurate measurement.
- Not all almond flours are ground the same or have the same moisture content. This recipe has only been tested with Bob's Red Mill almond flour/almond meal.
I am definitely ready for spring and warmer weather! These cookies sound like the perfect treat to get me in that mindset! I’ve never had a lemon shortbread cookie before. These sound delicious, Kristine!
Thank you, Gayle! We loved the lemon flavor in these buttery shortbread cookies!
These cookies are absolutely GORGEOUS, Kristine! And gosh, you are getting me SO excited for spring! Sooo yeah, I’m gonna need like 10 of these cookies for breakfast right about now. 😉
Thanks, Sarah! I’ll admit I’ve snacked on these cookies in the morning myself. 😉
So simple, and so perfect for spring! What a delicious cookie, Kristine!
Thanks, Blair! Lemon and spring just go together!
I love lemon cookies! Such a bright and springy flavor!
Me too, Kelly!
Has anyone tried these with vegan butter? Successful?
I adore these cookies, Kristine! The lemon zest makes these look so pretty, and I love that you used meyer lemons. I’ve got to try these!
Thank you, Rachel! My grandma has a meyer lemon tree, so I’m hoping for more lemons soon!
I love this gluten-free cookie option, Kristine! I love Bob’s almond meal and use it all the time, so I’m definitely trying these. And of course, I love that you flavored these up with plenty of lemon!
LOVE shortbread.. the buttery, crumbliness gets me every time. These look perfect.
Shortbread is just the best- so buttery and full of flavor. Yours looks fabulous! Pinning 🙂
It’s hard to believe spring is almost here, but I’m loving all of the springy recipes! These cookies look absolutely delicious, love that you used the almond flour for these too!
So I never actually look forward to the first day of Spring. In Manitoba, we have the “first day of spring” and then the day Spring actually comes, like 2 months later. This year though I am actually starting to get excited! I think it might actually come. Lol. Lemon totally makes me thing of Spring and these cookies are gorgeous!
Dear Kristine, these cookies look delightful! What a wonderful spring treat…I love that fresh burst of lemon. xo, Catherine
I used Stevia not an entire 1/2 cup as it would be too sweet with a weird after taste. I used this rather than sugar. In order to be healthier. I used a bit less than half a cup. Came out yummy.
Hi Kristine – have the dough for these lovely cookies chilling in the fridge and am looking forward to baking them off later this afternoon with my granddaughter. Am wondering the best way to store these and how long will they keep in storage?
Cheers!
Katherine
Hi Katherine, I store these in a ziplock bag, for a few days at room temperature or in the freezer for up to 3 months. I hope you enjoy them!
Thanks for the gluten free recipe. Love your recipe as you have taken the time to include convert in “””gram”””, so happy n much appreciated….
I usually skip recipe in cups …. Coz the measurements differ …. Love Bob Red mill prdt too
Definitely will follow u for more recipe 🙂
Hi Kristine,
Do you think I could roll this dough out and use a cookie cutter with it? Or would the consistency not be right?
Thanks
Hi Gina, it’s best to make these as slice and bake cookies, as directed in the recipe. Thanks for reading!
I was wondering….can I use stevia instead of sugar and get the same results?
Hi Stacy, I don’t bake with stevia so I’m not sure.
I used a one to one monk fruit sugar substitute and they were really good!
thank you, Lisa! i’d love to try this recipe but without the granulated sugar and you answered my question! Did you use 1:1 substitution?
These are delicious and easy to make. I didn’t have Bob’s flour on hand. so I used 2 C of Kirkland (Costco) superfine almond flour and 1/2 C of Trader Joe’s Just Almond Meal and they turned out perfectly! This will be my go-to lemon cookie recipe from now on. Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these! Thanks for sharing which almond flour worked for you.
These are perfect in every way. I used Costco superfine almond flour. Can I freeze the uncooked dough? Or is it best to cook them and then freeze.
Thanks for this recipe.
I haven’t tried freezing the uncooked dough, but I think that would work well. I have frozen the baked cookies and they freeze well. I’m so glad you enjoyed these!
Hi, did you have luck when freezing the dough? I’d like to try that too.
Thanks!
Hi, i would like to try this recipe but only think what bothers me is that when I change the amount of cookies I want to make, the grams don’t change.
Can you improve that, correct it ?
Thank you
I can’t change that, it will only change the first measurement amount when you change the number of cookies. I would recommend halving or doubling the recipe to make the math easy to calculate.
Can’t wait to make these lemon cookies. Just wondering why you don’t use any lemon juice. Looking forward to your answer. Thank you
Lemon zest gives more concentrated lemon flavor than lemon juice, plus it’s best not to add liquid lemon juice to the cookie dough. I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Delicious! I did add about 1 Tbs of Lemon juice for the extra tartness.
Highly recommended.
I’m glad you enjoyed these!
I made a batch of these for my gluten/dairy free kiddos today, using a vegan butter substitute. They turned out great. We loved them!
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Thank you for sharing these changes! I’m going to follow your lead ?
I made these but with orange zest instead ? so so so good. I will make with lemons once i buy some.
Delicious!
Just made my second batch. Can’t wait until tomorrow to bake them up. ?
These look fabulous!! Shortbread cookies are my favorite and these seem “almost” healthy. I am making them tomorrow
Regarding the flour, you have 2-1/2 cups (280 grams). However, 2-1/2 cups is actually 340 grams. So when you state to measure the ingredients are you using cups or grams in 5is recipe?
I used Bob’s Red Mill super-fine almond flour. According to the nutrition label on the package, 2 tablespoons equals 14 grams by weight. If you work out the calculation, 2 1/2 cups will equal 280 grams. For the best accuracy I recommend weighing 280 grams but you can also use a cup measure if you do not have a kitchen scale. I hope that helps to clarify.
Great recipe! These are SO tasty and easy to make. We have a Meyer lemon tree, so I’m always looking for ways to use them. This will definitely be my new go to!
These are so good! I used an equal amount of erythritol in place of the sugar and they turned out great!
Can the cookie rolls be frozen before they are sliced and baked?
I haven’t tried that but I think it would work. If you try it, let me know how it turns out. 🙂
I’ll start by saying that I never leave reviews, but felt I had to for these. I just tried my first cookie and oh my, it is delicious! I’m not a sugar fan so I only used about half the amount. I also used brown sugar because that’s all I had. The local shop in Canmore was out of almond flour, so I ground my own from sliced almonds. Despite these changes, they still turned out wonderfully! I’ll definitely be making these again. The taste and texture are perfect, and they’re pretty healthy! 🙂
Hi Kristine! Your old pal from teaching here. Stumbled across this when I received a bunch of lemons this week, and the kiddos and I had a great time making them. They were perfect. I used the Costco almond flour and vanilla extract because I did not have almond, but the lemon flavor was what really delighted. Congrats on this blog. So many of your recipes have been used in my home!
Hi Laurel! It is good to hear from you! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the cookies. It makes me so happy to hear that you have been making my recipes! Thank you!!
Hi! Do you think it would be alright if I left out the lemon zest? I also was wondering if I could make the dough and chill it like you instructed, then cut it out and put chocolate chips on top of the cookies before they go into the oven.
Yes, you can leave out the lemon zest. If you want to try these with chocolate chips, I would mix mini chocolate chips into the dough after all of the flour has been incorporated, but before chilling the dough. If you only have regular sized chocolate chips, I would recommend chopping them smaller. I haven’t tried this recipe with chocolate, but I think it will work. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
Could I use Monkfuit Classic instead of the sugar? I’m diabetic and stay away from sugar.
I have not tried these cookies using monkfruit so I can’t say how they will turn out. If you try it, let me know how it goes.
I followed the recipe to a T, I used unsalted butter and as the recipe says 1teaspoon of salt, but they were overly salty. :/ I’ll try once again with no salt I think or only salted butter no extra salt.
Otherwise I can tell they would be very tasty!
Hi Kala,
The recipe says to use 1/2 teaspoon salt and calls for unsalted butter. If you follow the recipe, the cookies will not be too salty.
Delicious cookies!
Crunchy on the outside with a hint of chewy marzipan inside.
Full confession, I panicked & added one egg during the butter-sugar step, it worked out just fine, a very versatile recipe indeed.
This came up in my search for Keto lemon cookies, I substituted the sugar for erythritol and the carbs came out at 1.2 g that’s without subtracting the fiber so great for my Keto diet
Can you use food processor? Just pulse it the ingredients a few times until it comes together?
That may work but I can’t say for sure without trying it myself. If you try it, let me know how it goes. 🙂
I always use my food processor to mix shortbread, and I do have a recipe for almond shortbread, so can assure you that the food processor will work very well for these cookies. The food processor allows for more consistency when incorporating butter into other ingredients. Also, once dough is rolled, it can definitely be frozen and thawed in the fridge before slicing.
Hi Kristine! Thank you for the wonderful recipe. Just wondering if I could freeze the dough instead of the cookies for later use? If so, how long do you think the cookie dough will keep?
Hi Kris, I haven’t tried freezing the cookie dough, but I think it would freeze well tightly wrapped in the log shape. It should keep for 2-3 months in the freezer.
I am not a baking person. However these cookies are delicious! I love them?. That lemon flavor is so good!
I know I will be baking more. I want to try it with orange zest.
Thank you for this recipe. ?
Recipe was easy to follow and the cookies are very pretty. The only complaint is that they don’t really taste like lemon. They have a very faint lemon taste. I love lemon so I would have preferred a stronger lemon flavor.
Made these as plain almond shortbread cookies. The recipe is awesome. Thank you so much. I have a question though….I made them with the Bob’s Almond meal/flour I had in the freezer. Went back today to purchase more. Now Bob’s only makes almond flour. Do you think the recipe will work with this? it looks like a finer grind. Thanks.
Yes, I think that will work. I’m glad you are enjoying this recipe!
These would be great to add to the christmas cookie list.
I used vanilla extract since I had no almond extract on hand. I left my 2nd batch of dough in the fridge for 2 days. I greased a paring knife with butter before each slice – makes a difference! Baking time of 9 min for the first batch was a bit too long. I baked the 2nd batch for 8:40, rotating the baking skeet halfway through. Next time I will try adding orange zest and chopped cranberries. The texture is like a real shortbread!! I am delighted by how great these turned out. My dough was super crumbly & I thought I’d done something wrong. Not the case — these are perfect cookies. Thank you!!
Was looking for a dessert to take to Passover dinner. I’m an experienced baker and thought these were tasteless. Made a lemon glaze to go on top and that helped immensely.
Hi! Can these be made with coconut oil? Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Rebecca, I think butter brings the best flavor in this recipe.
Made these cookies for the first time today. I used Kirkland brand almond flour and measured it by weight. My hand mixer never got the batter to the clumping stage so I will try it with my stand mixer next time. I was able to shape it into logs by hand. I put the logs in the freezer for 25 minutes instead of 2 hours in the fridge and was able to cut them without the dough crumbling too much. The lemon taste seemed a bit overpowered by the almond extract so I will cut the extract in half next time, maybe even add a bit of lemon juice. I baked them for 8 minutes and turned the tray around halfway through. Loved the texture of the cookies and will definitely make them again.
good
I Love these!
Hi Kristine, is it the same if I use lime instead of lemons?
Yes, you can try this recipe with lime instead of lemon. Let me know how they turn out.
I’ve tried these a couple of times now. The first time dividing the dough into two rolls resulted in very small cookies. The second time I did it with one piece of dough only. Both times however the dough was very crumbly despite cooling it in the fridge for 24 hours, so when I tried to slice them they kept falling apart. I love the taste of them but would really like them to turn out looking like yours. I didn’t use Bob’s Red Mill almond flour because I don’t believe it’s available in Australia where I live. Hope you can help.
Anne
Interesting recipe, but I can’t see in any version of the recipe how hot the oven should be.
Hi Kate,
In the recipe card at the end of the post, step 6 of the recipe says to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
These are delicious! Possibly because of where I live, I had to add in one whole lemon’s worth of juice. They came out amazing, ty for the recipe.
These were easy to make and tasted great. The dough was crumbly but came together after a lot of mixing, just like the recipe said. I took the suggestion to use Meyer lemons but I think the flavor is a bit odd. I’m going to make them again, using regular lemons, and again, trying some variations like orange zest, ginger, and cinnamon.
These are so delicious and easy to make. A family pleaser.
Can I substitute xylitol for the cane sugar?
I have not tried that so I can’t say how it would turn out.