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
The Vegan 8 is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my full disclosure policy here.
I haven’t tasted it yet,,But i’m Sure ,is very healthy… And special..even for those Who are not vegans
Truly delightful. All the lemony goodness I crave, but with none of the naughty-ness of the typical lemon cookies crammed with egg, dairy, and white flour. Essentially, a burst of spring in my mouth. Simply delicious. Kudos, Brandi!
If you love lemons you’ll love these cookies. These pillow like cookies are scrumptious. I want to thank you for the scale recommendation. The scale makes baking so much quicker!
So happy you loved these Janet!
These are wonderful cookies! I made them today with lemon extract, instead of vanilla and they were perfect! So delightfully lemony!!
Amazing cookies!
Substituted tapioca starch with arrowroot powder and used the Myer lemons I had in the fridge. They are delicious!
Thanks for a wonderful vegan cookie recipe!
I love these delicate lemon cookies. Perfect texture and flavor.
Made these yesterday & implemented a few changes. I’ve made enough of your recipes that I feel more confident changing things. I didn’t need the extra sugar so I omitted it. The maple syrup was more than enough to make these delicious. I will also omit or lessen the salt when I make them again, as I found it a little too much for my palate. I added the zest of two lemons, increased the lemon juice to 3 tablespoons, and added a tablespoon of chia. I love chia and add it to everything I bake ;). They didn’t flatten out much, most likely because of my changes I made. Next time I will flatten them slightly before baking. Excellent cookie 👍🏻 Especially for a lemon lover like me.
Glad you loved these! Yours didn’t flatten much because you added chia, which would make them fluff and thicken quite a bit. But glad you still enjoyed them!
I (my sister and roommate) enjoyed this recipe a lot! I was pleased to find that they reminded me of scones, which I hadn’t eaten in quite some time, due to the gluten in traditional recipes.
So glad you both enjoyed these, thank you Desiree!
so yummy!!
I don’t typically leave responses on sites. However, I had to say THANK YOU. My cookies were DELICIOUS……soft, light, fluffy, and LEMONY! And, I couldn’t get over the simplicity of the recipe.
I will add this easy yet SUPERB cookie recipe to my repertoire.
Thank you
Hello, just wondering if I can use date syrup instead of maple syrup.
Hi Brandi,
I just made the recipe and the dough is too powdery to stick together. I used a scale as you recommended. What can I add to the mixture now so I can refrigerate it?
Thank you!
Smilia
Powdery? Do you mean dry? Something is off with the measurements or ingredients used because this dough is very moist. Not the least bit dry. I’ve made them dozens of times. Did you leave out the syrup?? It makes them super moist to easily use a cookie scoop. Did you change an ingredient?
I’d love to try these – is it possible to leave out the maple syrup? I sub sugars with sugar alcohols for my diabetic husband in all my baking but there is no real liquid sugar substitute and I struggle with recipes that require maple syrup for a proper bake (a big problem in vegan baking recipes). Love your savoury recipes – I have made many with great success. Thanks.
You can’t really leave it out since the liquid is needed for moisture and to balance the dry to liquid ratio. Also, if you leave out the syrup, they will taste very bitter and not like cookies. You could try subbing in a creamy milk and add a dry sweetener if you want, but I can’t guarantee results on how that would turn out. You’d have to experiment.
Hi Brandi,
I am really excited to try your lemon cookies. I am new to your site, and new to Colorado (5000+ elevation) I am wondering if you have any suggestions for high altitude baking? To date, I have tried various recommended adjustments i.e. decreasing baking powder/soda, increasing dry ingredients. To date I have noted modest improvements but still have not managed to bake without flat or sunken baked goods. I am excited to try the cookies, any suggestions to help address the altitude would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you! I look forward to further exploring your website
Linda
Hi Linda! I’m so sorry but I’ve never lived in that kind of environment and have no experience with high altitude baking. I would suggest maybe just try baking them as is listed the first time without making adjustments and see how they turn out. Then you can know what adjustments may need to be made. Since my recipes are gluten-free and oil-free, they are already really different than most recipes online, so that’s why I would suggest that first. I wish I had better advice, so sorry!
Excellent, delicious very easy 😋 to make enjoyable ⭐🌟🌟🌟🌟
hmm I’m allergic to all nuts can I use date sugar and increase the oat flour
No. the nuts give the moisture since they contain fat. They’d be very dry without almond flour, unfortunately.
Yum! Love the freshness of the lemon. Love that they are wfpb! My teenager is a big fan too! Thanks for the recipe!
These are going to be a new family favorite!! They are so delightful! I’ll be sharing these with my plant-based cooking club–Brandi’s Lemon Cookies! Or maybe Brandi’s Lemon Clouds!
That is so amazing to hear Sue, thank you so much for the feedback!
These are amazing, Brandi! I’m not a huge fan of lemon cookies but I made them anyway because I really wanted some cookies (from one of YOUR recipes) and this is the only recipe I had all the ingredients for! I loved them and so did my bf and his daughter (who also aren’t huge lemon cookie fans). Thanks for another great recipe, Brandi! You’re awesome! 🙂
-Amy
p.s. – I think it’s fair to call these “lemon pillows.” They are fantastic!!!
These delicious cookies are now a staple in our home. I use ground chia seed for the tapioca starch because that is what I have. I use it all the time to replace eggs or to bind batter. These are truly heavenly, lemony and just downright delicious. Thank you for all your recipes.
So wonderful to hear that Cheri! Really glad the chia is a great sub for the tapioca too and still works!
I forgot to give you five stars!
Made these yesterday! Didn’t have coconut sugar but regular sugar worked without a problem. These are so delicious and lemony and easy to make. Such a perfect summer cookie that you can serve to anyone, even if they aren’t GF and vegan!
And anything with LEMONS or Almond Flour or Maple Syrup are my FAVS! Thank you!
LUV your recipes, you use such wonderful, healthy ingredients! Using maple syrup, almond flour, and oat flour are SEW important for my and hubby’s health. Thank you SEW much!
So very kind RB, thank you so much!!
Absolutely divine, made them for my daughter because she has gluten allergies and they have become a favorite! Just had a girls night, served them up and was asked for the recipe from non vegans and vegans alike. I’m steering them over to your website! Thank you
Yay, really glad to hear that Suzanne!! Thank you for sharing, that means a lot to me!