Gluten-free lemon cookies that are also vegan, paleo, easy to make and have a delicious frosting!
In January and February, I’m always in the mood for lemon. Winters are so grey here and citrus cheers me up.
Unlike some of my other cookie recipes, you can tell that these aren’t made with all-purpose flour (but don’t run away just yet!).
Those other cookies (especially these vegan peanut butter cookies, paleo vegan coconut flour cookies and paleo oatmeal cookies) have nut butters in them doing all kinds of magical things to the texture but I didn’t want to add anything to detract from the lemon flavor in these cookies.
But that doesn’t mean that these paleo lemon cookies aren’t delicious! They’re totally maple sweetened and surprisingly (and thankfully!) don’t taste a thing like maple syrup. I absolutely love the taste of maple – but not in my lemon goodies.
I want that lemon taste to shine through everything else. I used the lightest Grade A maple syrup in these cookies and recommend you do the same if you don’t want any maple flavor. Maple also worked great in this paleo lemon fudge!
With no eggs or gluten, I have no idea how these lemon cookies hold together so well but I’m not complaining!
This healthy lemon cookies recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons of coconut flour but you can’t just omit it and there’s no substitute for it. Just saying since someone always asks!
Some people have said in other posts of mine that oat flour works as a coconut flour sub (for a non-paleo version), but I’ve never tried it myself. If you try it out, please let us know in the comments!
I first posted this vegan lemon cookies recipe 4 years ago and am reposting them because I wanted to reshare them with the frosting recipe. It makes them so much more delicious!
They’re still great without but… make them with the frosting! :D
If you try these gluten-free lemon cookies, I’d love to hear what you think! And should you want to try another citrusy treat, try this tangerine posset.
Substitution questions about these gluten-free lemon cookies?
- Can I use something instead of coconut oil in the cookie dough?
I think butter or ghee would work (for a dairy-containing version ) as well as vegan butter (for a non-paleo version).
- Can I use something instead of maple syrup?
Honey would probably work if you don’t mind a bit of honey taste (for a non-vegan version). Honey + lemon is delicious together! If you want to use honey, bake them at 325 degrees F (162 degree C) instead of 350. Honey bakes quicker than maple syrup. But if you want just lemon taste, go with maple. Agave syrup would probably work, too.
If anyone tries a keto version, I’d love to hear how you did it and how they came out! - Does it have to be blanched almond flour?
You can use almond meal if you don’t mind the little bits of almond skin in your cookies. Hazelnut meal would also probably work but I think that’s a weird flavor combination with the lemon.
- Can I use something instead of coconut flour?
Unfortunately not. There’s not a good sub for coconut flour as it absorbs so much more liquid than other flours. I’ve heard of people using oat flour (if you can have grains) but I have absolutely no idea how much you’d need to use or if it’d be as tasty.
- Can I use something instead of coconut butter in the frosting?
Nope! Like I said in my post on how to make coconut butter, there’s no sub for it.
Gluten-free Lemon Cookies (paleo, vegan)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 9 cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (56 grams) refined coconut oil, melted1
- 1/3 cup (80 milliliters) maple syrup (I used the lightest Grade A syrup, which results in no maple taste in the cookies)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 1/3 cups (133 grams) blanched almond flour
- 2 tablespoons (17 grams) coconut flour, sifted if lumpy
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (63 grams) coconut butter (NOT coconut oil!), softened but not melted
- 1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) refined coconut oil, softened but not melted
- 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon (or more) lemon zest
- 1/8 - 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (the amount will depend on your brand of extract and how lemony you want them)
- pinch of salt
For the cookies:
For the frosting:
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup, lemon zest and lemon extract. Add the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt. The mixture might be thin and wet and much more like batter than dough. It might not be. Do not add any additional flour! Chilling will firm it up. Let the dough sit for 5 minutes and then place the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until the dough is firm.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- Roll into nine 35-gram balls. Place 3" apart on the prepared baking sheet and press the balls down slightly with your palm.
- Bake the smaller cookies for 10-12 minutes and the larger cookies for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies have lightly browned (not just the edges but also the middle of the cookies). The cookies may crackle a little.
- The cookies will still be very soft when you remove them from the oven. Let them cool on the pan completely.
- Prepare the frosting. Combine all of the ingredients in a high-powered blender and blend for about 20 seconds at medium or until totally smooth. Don't blend too long or it'll melt. You can also mix this by hand if your coconut butter and oil are soft enough. Spread a heaping tablespoon over each cookie.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
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345 comments on “Gluten-free Lemon Cookies (vegan, paleo)” — Add one!
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What is the nutrition info on this recipe? Also whould oat flower be a good sub for the almond flour? (Sister is highly allergic to nuts) Thanks!
I don’t have that info but you can copy and paste the recipe here for the nutritional profile, if you’d like. :) And unfortunately, nuts flours aren’t interchangeable with non-nut flours. I’ve heard of people using sunflower seed flour as a sub but I’ve never tried it and have no idea if it’d work here. Sorry about that!
I made these today, mine were not runny at all, had a great cookie consistency, I refrigerated them anyway. I love the texture, mine aren’t very lemony, so I will add more zest next time. I use sugar free syrup and it can not be tasted at all.
Thank you for the great recipes!
I’m happy that they came out well for you and that sugar-free syrup worked! I guess the consistency of the dough depends on the type of almond and coconut flour used. Thanks a bunch for your comment. :)
I am making them right now and my dough is perfect for cookies as well – not runny at all! Thank you for your comment – I wanted to make sure I didn’t ruin it and so glad your comment was here!
Mine’s always like batter! I guess it’s my almond flour. I’ve changed the instructions to say that it may or may not be runny. :) Thanks for your comment!
Hi Erin, awesome recipe! Mine turned out great! Will they last longer than four days if put in the fridge?
Hi Sisca! I’m so happy you liked them. :) And yes, they will! Maybe a week in an airtight container? Thanks for your comment!
These sound divine! i love lemon anything and have a very large quantity of coconut flour to use up! It’s used far more in paleo baking than it is in vegan and after I switched to vegan I found that it’s rarely used. I will be making these soon.
As for your aquafaba question, I recently made a vegan cornbread that called for aquafaba and as I made it into a “meringue” consistency it was FANTASTIC! In no way do you get a single hint of stinky chickpeas! Now if course I added organic cane sugar but I still half expected it to smell like beans. I was simply elated to see how beautifully it rose and has the exact same feel as traditional meringue. It was just glorious. The juice of one can made far far more than I was expecting so my advice would be to start slow and with one can. Good luck!
Haha. I love how you refer to chickpeas as stinky. That’s how I feel about them. :D That cornbread recipe sounds very interesting! Is the recipe online? Thanks so much for your tip and for your comment! I hope you’ll enjoy these cookies. :)
Your cookies are divine! I’m in love with the coco ahaha you know, so these were a savior for me after hours on the net looking for something decent. Baked them yesterday, but without lemon at all, and I substituted coconut oil with coconut goodness. On top of all, I added coconut goodness peanut cream and raw chocolate nibs on top. It seems these are absolutely different from yours now… BUT ANYWAY the idea was born here.
Check up my blog for reworked version of cookies inspired by you! I’m posting it today :)
Haha. I’ve made a coconut version of these, too! They’re good. :) But peanut cream?! Yum! Never tried that. Thanks a bunch for your feedback!
I made these yesterday. The texture wasn’t batter like, but seemed just perfect to me. Didn’t chill them the full 30 minutes as didn’t feel it needed it but the end result ….. absolutely perfect!
I shall be making these again for sure and doubling the quantity!
Thanks.
I guess the dough consistency has to do with the coconut oil temperature and the brand of flour. I’m happy it worked out well for you and that you’re going to make them again. :) Thanks for your feedback!
Erin what is the best substitutes for coconut oil and flour if a person doesn’t care for coconut?
Butter would work in these cookies but unfortunately, there’s no sub for coconut flour. It absorbs so much more liquid than any other type of flour and using more almond flour in place of it won’t work. You can’t taste the coconut flour as long as you add all the lemony ingredients, though. :)
I’m hoping you can help me, I quadruple checked my recipe, because I was expecting my batter to be wet, but was instead very crumbly and dry, like a powder. What went wrong? I’m sure all my ingredients and measurements were correct, and according to the comments it wasn’t something that happened to anyone else. I was really looking forward to these! Any advice?
Hi there! I’m sorry you’re having difficulties! Like you said, none of the other commenters have had that issue (and I’ve made these tons of times) so either one of the ingredients or one of the measurements were off. Or perhaps you really, really packed the almond flour? But even then, I don’t think it’d come out crumbly and dry. There have been times when I follow one of my own recipes (which has nothing but great reviews) and they come out terribly. Then I realize I added too much or too little of something. It happens. :/ I’m sorry! I hope you’ll give them another try. :) Maybe you could use a scale next time, if you didn’t last time.
Well I have not given up hope, lol. I’ll be trying it again cause I really want these cookies! Thank you!
Good luck! :)
This happened to me too!! It was just dust!! I checked over and over again also. I ended up adding in a bunch of water, an egg, and butter. They are in the oven now and I am thankful that I just made them for my husband tonight haha
Gah!
Correction – I made this again and weighed everything instead of measuring. They came out awesome. User error for sure : )
Aww, yay! So happy that you tried it again and actually came back to let the others know that it was user error. Thank you! And sorry I didn’t see your comments until now. Thanks again!
I just had the exact same problem. I followed the recipe exactly. Double and tripled checking everything. I used ghee instead of coconut oil but that shouldn’t have caused an issue but it came out very dry and crumbly. I added small amounts of ghee essentially doubling the oil and now my cookie dough looks more like pie crust dough. I am chilling the dough and going to try making them tomorrow. See how they turn out. I am glad I am not the only one though.
Hmm. I did a video of the orange version of these cookies (which is exactly the same as these but with orange flavoring) which you can find here. You can see that the dough definitely isn’t dry and crumbly. Like I said in my above comment, something must have gone wrong (especially when you consider that nobody on the first page of comments had any issues). Sorry I can’t be more of a help! I hate it when something doesn’t come out well. What brand of almond flour did you use?
What about eggs in the recipe?
There aren’t any. They’re not needed. :)
These cookies are delicious! The recipe sounds pretty versatile too. I am thinking you could change the extract and bake it into a cookie pie crust for Thanksgiving! 😊 I am going to have to test that!
I am impatient and did not chill my dough for the full time so my cookies ended up dreading thin but are delicious nonetheless! I used honey instead of maple syrup because I only had dark syrup on hand. 5 Stars – Great recipe Erin! Thanks for posting! 💗
Good luck with the cookie pie crust! I’d love to hear how that goes (but I have to admit that I’m not very hopeful). I’m really happy you enjoyed the cookies despite them spreading! Thanks a bunch for your comment. :)
Hi! These cookies are SO GOOD. Can they be frozen? If yes, how?
Hello! I’m not sure how well the lemon curd would freeze. If you had an option, I’d freeze the cookie dough and freeze that. If you’ve already made all the cookies, then I guess put them in an airtight bag / container and see how it goes. :) Sorry for my slow reply!
Glad to find your blog ! Full of fantastic recipes, especially this one. It’s on my baking list right now One question, can I use lemon juice instead of the extract Thanks :)
I’m happy you found it, too! Welcome. :) One commenter used 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in place of the lemon extract. I haven’t tried it but she loved them! I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies. :)
These are delicious! I made them at the weekend, and just made them tonight but had to substitute the almond flour for ground walnuts because I ran out of almonds! they still worked very well! I added extra lemon zest and are delish!
Ground walnuts worked here?! I’m really surprised. I wouldn’t have figured that’d pair well with the lemon flavor! I’m super happy that you liked them. :) Thanks for your comment!
Hi there. I am planning on making these tomorrow, so am getting my shopping list ready. Is blanched almond flour any different from plain almond flour? Over here (South Africa) I have only seen plain old almond flour.
Blanched almond flour is also called blanched ground almonds. You could use non-blanched ground almonds, but then you’d have little specks of almond skin in your cookies. I prefer blanched for lighter flavored goodies like these lemon cookies. I hope you’ll enjoy them! :)
The lemon cookies can’t be categorized as Paleo because chickpeas are included in “grains” for Paleo and as you know, Paleo means NO grains.
Actually, chickpeas aren’t grains or even pseudograins – they’re legumes (which also aren’t paleo). But it doesn’t really matter because there are absolutely no chickpeas, other legumes, or grains in this recipe . :)
What can I substitute for the almond flour? We have dairy, peanut, tree nut, and soy allergies.
Thank you.
Unfortunately, nuts flours aren’t interchangeable with non-nut flours. I’ve heard of people using sunflower seed flour but I’ve never tried it and have no idea if it’d work here. I’m also doubtful of how it’d taste in these light flavored lemon cookies. Sorry about that!
Hi Erin! I was looking for your zucchini brownie recipe and got sidetracked when I saw this recipe. I love lemon, so had to make these. I substituted agave for the maple syrup. I also didn’t chill the dough. I can’t be sure whether it affected the finished product, but the cookies tasted soft and chewy. If there had been coconut in them, I would’ve thought they were macaroons. Loved them!!! Thanks!! I’ll make the brownies tomorrow ;-)
Hi Heather! I’m so happy that they came out well for you. And that’s so interesting that some people don’t have to chill the dough. Mine is almost like a batter it’s so liquidy before chilling! And I love the idea of adding some coconut to these to turn them into macaroons. :) Thanks a bunch for your comment and I hope you’ll enjoy the brownies, too!
Aquafaba does not taste like chickpeas at all! It truly is a miracle liquid!
That’s good to know! I reaaally don’t like chickpeas. Thanks for your comment. :)
Can you use lemon essential oil instead of lemon extract?
I’ve never used essential oil in baking. If you’ve done it before with success, I bet it’d work here, too. :)
Loved these! I follow Wheat Belly so I subbed xylitol for the syrup and made up for the moisture with an egg and lemon juice from my zested lemons. These were so delicious I ate half the batch right when they came out!
Haha. I know that eating-half-the-batch problem all too well. ;) I’m happy you came up with a sugar-free solution and that you enjoyed them! Thanks for your comment. :)