These Vegan Lemon Cookies are infused with fresh lemon juice, vanilla and super moist thanks to almond flour. They are also oil-free and gluten-free. Soft and puffy and deliciously, fragrant cookies. All you need is just 8 ingredients and 1 bowl and bake in just 10 minutes!
VEGAN LEMON COOKIES
These little puffy vegan lemon cookies are so easy and fast to make….like 10 minutes prep! They are super soft and like clouds, yet have a nice chewy texture thanks to the almond flour. As I’ve mentioned before, my hubby loves lemon. He especially loves this Vegan Lemon Cake! He asked me to make him some lemon vanilla cookies and this is what I came up with. They are little cookies that are cakey and soft, but not dry, they are perfectly moist because of using almond flour to replace the oil. He actually hushed me as I was asking him if he approved….he said I was disturbing his bliss of eating them! Haha. In other words, he loved them.
If you love citrus in general, then be sure to check out these Vegan Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies, too! The recipe base is very similar to these lemon cookies.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN LEMON COOKIES
First, you will need to gather these 8 ingredients (+salt):
- superfine blanched almond flour
- fine oat flour
- tapioca starch (or cornstarch)
- coconut sugar
- baking powder
- maple syrup
- fresh lemon juice and zest
- vanilla extract
To a large bowl, add the oat flour, almond flour, tapioca starch, salt, baking powder and coconut sugar. Whisk very well to ensure there are no lumps.
Add the syrup, lemon juice and vanilla and stir well for 1-2 minutes until it becomes thick and sticky.
Place the batter in the fridge to chill for about an hour. This is necessary so that the batter fluffs up and creates soft, cloud-like cookies, as you see in the photos.
After the batter has chilled, preheat an oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2 inch cookie scooper, drop 12 cookie scoops onto the pan. They should hold their shape as shown above. Do not flatten the cookies.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are just beginning to turn a warm golden brown and puffy clouds form. See how gorgeous they spread and poof up on their own?
These Vegan Lemon Cookies may be healthier than the ones made with butter, white sugar and eggs, but they taste every bit as delicious! I served these with homemade lemonade and my daughter was ecstatic!
I’m telling you, these are SO soft and LIGHT like clouds. They are a lemon lovers dream and won’t leave you feeling heavy!
OTHER VEGAN COOKIE RECIPES
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Best Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 5 Ingredient Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Grain-free Chocolate Coconut Cookies
- Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Easy Vegan Lemon Cookies (Gluten-free, ONLY 8 Ingredients!)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (64g) superfine oat flour (I use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free)
- 1 cup (112g) superfine blanched almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill labeled "superfine") SEE NOTES at bottom
- 2 tablespoons (16g) tapioca starch
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons (24g) coconut sugar (or white sugar)
- 1/4 cup (80g) pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon (35g) fresh lemon juice and the zest of 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7g) vanilla extract
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed. You never need cups, just the scale and bowl and make sure to zero out in between each ingredient.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- I really recommend a cookie scoop for these, so they bake up perfectly round and puffy. Using a regular spoon they won't work quite the same and the batter is too sticky to roll into balls.
- To a large bowl, add the oat flour, almond flour, tapioca starch, salt, baking powder and coconut sugar. Whisk very well to ensure there are no lumps.
- To the same bowl, add the lemon zest and stir it in. I just zested the lemon right over the bowl.
- Add the syrup, lemon juice and vanilla and stir well for 1-2 minutes until it becomes thick and sticky.
- If your batter is already thick and holding shape with a cookie scoop, no need to chill the dough. But if it's kind of soft and loose, place the batter in the fridge to chill for about an hour. This is necessary so that the batter fluffs up and creates soft, cloud-like cookies, as you see in the photos.
- Due to different brands of almond flour being more fine or not, this can affect how they spread. Also, in addition, I live in a warm, humid climate, which also helps them spread well. If you are in a drier climate or want yours spread out more, slightly flatten the cookies before baking, not too much, just a bit.
- After the batter has chilled, preheat an oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2 inch cookie scooper, drop 12 cookie scoops onto the pan. They should hold their shape as in the photos. If you weighed correctly, they should hold. If your cookie scoops are not holding their shape (too runny), either your measurements are off or you didn't use a superfine almond flour, which will cause the batter to be too wet. This will make your cookies bake up flatter. If yours seems too wet, to where it is a bit runny, then add 2 more tablespoons of almond flour if your first cookie scoop is not holding it's shape. I did not flatten them at all and mine spread and puffed up as you see in the photos.
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are just beginning to turn a warm golden brown. Mine were done at 12 minutes. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes and use a thin spatula to carefully transfer to cool completely on a rack. These cookies are best the first day. They are still good by the 2nd day, but they do become almost too soft and crumble some.
Notes
- ALMOND FLOUR: Each brand can greatly vary in how fine the almond flour is, therefore it will result in different shapes of cookies for people. Some may end up with fluffier balls and some will spread like mine did and some may be flatter if you use a non-fine almond flour. They will still taste great, but this is something to keep in mind. Also, climate will affect how fluffy your cookies bake up. If you are in a hot humid climate, they tend to spread more since there is more moisture in the air.
- OAT FLOUR: Use certified gluten-free oat flour if needed. I use Bob's Red Mill.
Nutrition
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Hello Brandi!! Would I be able to sub the Oat Flour for Pastry or Regular AP Flour and achieve a similar result in texture??
I do have oats that I can grind up but if I could replace them, I rather do that 😅 Thank you!!
Fantastic! Super easy to make and they turn out so well. These have a great texture and aren’t as dense as many vegan, oil free cookies.
very good
Hello! I’ve made these cookies twice before and they came out perfect both times!! I want to make them again for a party but I’m wondering if it’s possible to omit the 24g of sugar from the recipe and just use the 80g of maple syrup as a sweetener? Thanks in advance!
Hi Taylor! Glad to hear that! They will be more bitter and might affect the texture some since sugar aids in texture during baking, but since it’s a small amount, I think you should be good!
Just made these. so easy and something any lemon lover would enjoy
So happy you enjoyed them Cheryl!