Light and crisp buttery lemon poppy seed cookies are a wonderful treat! Make them extra special by topping them with a simple lemon glaze.
What are your Mother’s Day plans? If you are a mom, I hope you are going to get to put your feet up for a few minutes and eat a little sweet treat on Sunday! I think that these light and lemony cookies are a perfect Mother’s Day brunch or lunch cookie. Crispy, buttery, and flavorful, they are a delicious little dessert.
You can make these plain, or top them with a simple glaze. Lemon juice or water plus some confectioner’s sugar is all it takes to make the glaze. And it’s up to you as far as flavor goes…Darryl prefers a really lemony glaze, and I prefer a sweeter glaze.
Vegan and Gluten Free Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies.
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 blend or King Arthur Multi-Purpose Gluten Free Flour works well
- 2/3 cup vegan buttery spread
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 2 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest be careful when you zest the lemon to get only the yellow, not any white!
- 1 Tablespoons poppy seeds
For the glaze
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
- lemon juice or water to taste and to the consistency you like - start with 2 Tablespoons
Instructions
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In a large bowl, beat the buttery spread, sugar, applesauce, and lemon juice on medium speed until light and fluffy.
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Add the gluten free flour blend and lemon zest, mix to combine. Add the poppy seeds and mix. (If the dough seems too wet, add a bit more flour. Texture can vary with different gluten free flour blends).
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Divide the dough into two parts, and shape into discs. Wrap the discs with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours, or freeze for about 30 minutes.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
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Lightly flour a rolling pin and rolling surface with gluten free flour. Place the dough on the surface and roll to about a 1/4 inch thickness. (If the dough is too cold and stiff, you may have to let it warm up just a little bit before rolling.
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Using a round cookie cutter, (or a different shape - flowers would be pretty!) cut out cookies, and quickly transfer them to the cookie sheets.
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Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.
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Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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To make the glaze:
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Sift the confectioner's sugar into a mixing bowl.
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Add the lemon juice, or water, depending on if you want a lemony glaze, or just a sugary glaze, and whisk. If the glaze is too thick, add more liquid.
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Drizzle glaze over cooled cookies.
Recipe Notes
You can use regular all-purpose flour or white spelt flour if you don't need these to be gluten free.
These are so easy to make ahead of time – just keep them in an airtight container.
Scalloped Cookie Cutters
Gluten Free Flour Blend
Poppy Seeds
Cookie Sheet
Have a wonderful weekend!
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Kelly Roenicke
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Love these cookies! So simple and dainty. (I don’t think I’ve ever even used the word dainty legitimately before. Congrats!)
Thank you so much! Dainty is what I was going for here! :)
I just love poppy seeds. Such happy little specks in baked goods! I hope you have a great Mother’s Day friend : )
Thank you, Natalie! I love poppy seeds, too!
These cookies are just perfect for Mother’s Day tomorrow! I just LOVE that photo of the glaze all over that stack of cookies. Lemon and poppyseeds just go so amazing together don’t they?? Have an awesome Mother’s Day weekend, Kelly! Pinned.
Thank you for your sweet words, Sarah! And thanks for pinning!
I love lemon and poppyseed- genius idea baking cookies! Loving that glaze- super delicious!
Thank you so much, Jessica!
Can I use just regular flour in place of the gluten free flour?
You sure can!
This look simple yet elegant! Definitely going to give it a try!
Thanks, Yvonne! I hope you enjoy them!
I love these little lemon cookies! I put lemon on pretty much everything I eat, and I love a good lemon dessert. I also really love shortbread, it is so light and buttery :)
Thank you, Isadora!
Can I use mashed bananas instead of applesauce?? I’m out of applesauce and I really want to make this now!!!
I have not tried it that way.,..I think the applesauce is more of a neutral flavor, so the lemon can really shine. I wonder if you would taste the banana?
Hi! How well do these hold up? I want to mail them roughly 1800 miles. Are they on the softer side or the harder side?
Thanks!
They are not crumbly…but to be honest, I have never tried to mail cookies, so I don’t know how they would hold up. They are a firmer cookie, so they might be fine! If you try it, please let me know how it works out!
I want to bake them for my son. I, too, want to mail the cookies to him. Can I use coconut oil instead applesauce?
Or what is a substitution for applesauce? Thank you
The applesauce is a binder…oil will not work. The recipe already has a lot of buttery spread in it. Are you worried about the applesauce spoiling or something in the mail? It should be just fine once it is baked. You could try a flax egg in its place. That would be 1 Tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tablespoons of water. I do not know how it would work in this recipe though, I tested these cookies with applesauce. Good luck! :)
Thank you, Kelly! I will bake the cookies per your instructions.
I’d love to make these, but I don’t feel like rolling out dough at the moment lol. Can this dough be used to make them drop cookies, or would it only work rolled out?
I’m not actually sure if it would be the same…it may be too thick in the middle and the bottom may burn while the middle stays uncooked.
Hi Kelly–these cookies look amazing–love your pics! Just wanted to check before making
them–did you use Earth Balance sticks or from the tub? Thank you!
Thank you! I used the tub, but if you have the sticks, they would be fine, too!
Hi I just made it and it became extremely hard. Like unedible hard??
Hi there! I’m sorry you experienced this, I didn’t have that problem. Maybe they were in the oven too long, it’s pretty easy to overbake butter cookies.
Would I be able to use coconut oil instead of the spread?
These cookies are what I have been looking for! Do you think I could use earth balance vegan shortening instead of the spread?
I think so but I haven’t tried that so I’m not positive. Let me know if you try it that way!