These bright and zesty Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies are soft, tender, and bursting with flavors of sweet lemon and poppy seeds.
Looking for some sunshine for a dreary winter day? ☀️ These cheery lemon cookies with poppy seeds might be exactly what you need! 🍋 Like my White Chocolate Cranberry Lemon Cookies, these cookies are soft and tender with the perfect amount of lemon flavor.
This cookie dough has an interesting and unique addition: instant lemon pudding mix. Instant pudding mix gives cookies an irresistible soft and chewy texture and imparts a flavor boost depending on the flavor of pudding used. My recipe for Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies calls for vanilla pudding mix and my Oreo Pistachio Pudding Cookies are made with pistachio pudding mix!
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⭐️ Why You Need to Make This Recipe
- Flavor - The perfect soft and sweet lemon flavor achieved by using a few different ingredients compliments the poppy seeds for that classic lemon poppy seed flavor.
- Texture - Depending on how you like your cookies done, these poppy seed lemon cookies can range from extra soft and gooey to crisp around the edges and almost cake-like inside.
- Method - This recipe is simple and easy to make for even beginner bakers!
🧈 Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make these poppy seed lemon cookies.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter - This recipe calls for salted butter, as I use in most of recipes but you could use unsalted butter with ½ teaspoon of salt added to the recipe.
- Lemon - A combination of instant lemon pudding and fresh lemon juice and zest gives these cookies the perfect lemony flavor.
- Poppy Seeds - Like my delicious Poppy Seed Pound Cake, this cookie dough has lots of yummy poppy seeds for a unique flavor and texture.
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients with measurements.
📃 Instructions
Step 1: In a mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, sugar, brown sugar, and instant lemon pudding mix. Begin creaming together using an electric mixer until fully incorporated and smooth.
Step 2: Add the eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest and continue creaming at high speed until fluffy.
Step 3: Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and poppy seeds until combined.
Step 4: Add the combined dry ingredients into the mixing bowl with the butter mixture and mix at low speed just until incorporated.
Step 5: Scoop the cookie dough out onto a pan lined with parchment paper, cover it with plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes to allow the cookie dough to firm up. (Scooping the cookie dough allows it to chill faster.)
Step 6: Once chilled, place the scoops of cookie dough onto another pan lined with parchment paper, leaving at least 1 ½ inches of spreading room between each cookie.
Bake the cookies in a preheated oven for 10-14 minutes or until your desired doneness is reached. 10-12 minutes yields a very soft and gooey cookie. 12-14 minutes yields a cookie that is a little cakier in interior texture with a pleasant golden brown crispness around the edges. Every oven is different and bakes differently so be sure to keep an eye on the first pan to find a benchmark baking time that works for your oven!
💡 Top Tip
Every oven is different so be sure to keep a close eye on the first batch of cookies to figure out the exact time that works for yours! If you prefer a softer, gooey-interior cookie, experiment with the 8-12 minute range. For a more "well-done" cookie that is golden around the edges and almost cake-like inside, the 10-14 minute range will likely be where you want to be.
❓ Recipe FAQs
This recipe was developed with instant lemon pudding mix for flavor and texture. I have not tested this recipe without it and would not recommend omitting or substituting it.
Yes! Simply add ½ teaspoon of salt to the dry ingredients if you are using unsalted butter.
Store fully cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 4 months.
🍋 More Lemon Recipes
Looking for other recipes featuring lemons? Try these next:
If you tried these Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and write a little note telling me how it went in the comments below. Thank you!!
📖 Recipe
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Equipment
- baking sheet(s)
- parchment paper
- mixing bowls
- measuring cups & spoons
- electric handheld mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter * softened
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 package instant lemon pudding mix (99 grams)
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup poppy seeds
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter, sugar, brown sugar, and instant lemon pudding mix at high speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract, and continue mixing until fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and poppy seeds. Add to the creamed butter mixture and mix at low speed until combined. Using a cookie dough scoop, scoop all the cookie dough onto a pan lined with parchment paper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a few baking sheets with parchment paper. Arrange the chilled scoops of cookie dough on the prepared pans, leaving 2 inches between each cookie for spreading room. Bake, one pan at a time, in the preheated oven for 10-14 minutes or until slightly golden around the edges. Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling while you bake the rest of the cookies.
Notes
- Add ½ teaspoon of salt to the dry ingredients if you are using unsalted butter.
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