Lemon Cheesecake Cookies are thick, soft, and chewy with a cheesecake-like texture and a simple lemon glaze.
Lemon Cheesecake Cookies
These Lemon Cheesecake Cookies could be your new favorite dessert! They taste like a mini cheesecake with lemon and a soft, chewy texture—totally different from Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies or Peanut Butter Cookies.
They take more time than usual, but it’s worth it. Let the cream cheese and butter warm up to room temp before starting, and chill the dough before baking. The whole process takes about three hours, but most of it is waiting time.
Lemon Cheesecake Cookies Ingredients
- Sugar & Butter: Cream the sugar and butter until fluffy to get a light texture.
- Cream Cheese: Use full-fat cream cheese for the best texture and flavor.
- Egg: Holds everything together and helps the cookies hold their shape.
- Vanilla & Lemon Extract: A little goes a long way, so don’t use too much.
- Lemon (Zest & Juice): Only zest the yellow part, avoiding the bitter white part.
- Flour: Spoon and level the flour when measuring to avoid using too much.
- Baking Powder & Cornstarch: Helps the cookies rise and become fluffy.
- Salt: Just a pinch helps bring everything together.
- Lemon Pudding Mix (Instant): Use the dry pudding mix, not the prepared pudding.
- Lemon Glaze: Just whisk together lemon juice and powdered sugar.
How To Make Lemon Cheesecake Cookies
- Prep: Let the butter, cream cheese, and egg sit out to get to room temp.
- Mix sugar and butter: Use an electric mixer to get a light, smooth texture.
- Add rest of wet ingredients: Make sure it’s fully blended for a smooth dough.
- Dry ingredients: Stir them together well before adding to the wet ingredients.
- Combine: Mix until just combined to keep the cookies light.
- Chill: Chilling helps the dough keep its shape while baking.
- Roll the dough: Use a spoon to make the dough balls the same size.
- Bake: Don’t bake too long to keep them soft.
- Glaze: Add lemon juice slowly to get the right glaze thickness.
Quick Tip
When zesting the lemon, be careful to avoid the bitter white pith directly under the yellow peel. We’re after only the yellow part in these Lemon Cheesecake Cookies.
More Cookie Recipes
- Cookie Brownie Bars with a brownie base
- Lemon Curd Cookies filled with fresh lemon curd
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies easy to make
- Chocolate Cookies with chocolate chips
- Caramel Snickerdoodles with chocolate
Lemon Cheesecake Cookies
Lemon Cheesecake Cookies are thick, soft, and chewy with a creamy texture and a sweet-tart lemon glaze.
Video
Equipment
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
- Sheet pan (15" x 10")
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 ounces cream cheese full-fat; I don’t recommend reduced-fat or Neufchâtel
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 lemon
- 1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons instant lemon-flavored pudding and pie filling mix see note 1
Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 lemon or more lemon juice from the other lemon
Instructions
- 1 hour in advance: Set out the butter, cream cheese, and egg to get to room temperature. Make sure these ingredients are all at room temperature before starting. Don’t melt any of these ingredients in the microwave or the texture will be off (see note 2).
- In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter with an hand mixer until light and fluffy. (Or use a stand mixer.)
- Add in cream cheese and continue to beat until the batter is completely smooth. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, lemon extract, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon lemon zest. When zesting the lemon, be careful to avoid the white pith of the lemon, which is very bitter; just get the outside yellow part.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cornstarch, and pudding mix. Stir together, then add to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined, being careful to not overmix (to avoid dense cookies).
- Cover the dough tightly and chill for 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Using a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon, measure the cookie dough to just fill the measuring spoon (not heaping; these are small cookie balls). Place cookies 2 inches apart on a parchment or silicone-lined sheet pan. I bake 8–10 at a time.
- Bake for 9–11 minutes (10 minutes is perfect in my oven), then remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Be very careful to not overbake these cookies as they go from a thick, soft cheesecake texture to a biscuit-like texture very quickly.
- Glaze: Once cooled, prepare the glaze by whisking together the lemon juice and powdered sugar. Add 2–3 teaspoons lemon juice just until a thick glaze can come together. Spoon the glaze over the cookies and allow to set.
Final step! Please let us know how it was by leaving a review.
Recipe Notes
Note 1: If you aren’t familiar with lemon pudding mix, here’s a picture of the box. Not lemon Jell-O® and not vanilla pudding mix, these lemon cheesecake cookies need the lemon instant pudding and pie filling mix. Do not prepare the pudding mix; just use the dry powder.
Note 2: Don’t have time for these ingredients to get to room temperature? Use some of these tricks to bring them to room temperature quicker.
Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–5 days. These cookies don’t freeze or thaw very well.
Nutrition
Serving: 24cookies | Calories: 124kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 76mg | Potassium: 32mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 76IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
For starters – I have NOT made these yet – I have to go buy some lemons and find the lemon extract – somewhere that isn’t bent on gouging prices. However, I wanted to tell you, I’m so very grateful for the pudding in this recipe! I have had this lemon pudding in my cupboard for about 3 months and I was starting to wonder if I’d ever use it! 🤣 You’ve made it possible to make the most delicious lemon cookies with pudding in the recipe! I will be checking back in as soon as I make them! 😊 Thank you again so much!
I am so happy to hear this! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! 🙂
I think I’ve made a hundred batches of this recipe – it’s an all-time favorite. My son wants a more intense lemony flavor, for which I’ve added a teaspoon of lemon extract and a teaspoon of lemon juice with a slightly longer bake time of 9 minutes. Any other ideas would be appreciated.
Best cookies I’ve ever made!!!
Ahh I am so happy to hear this! What a compliment! Thanks Barbara! 🙂
How do you calculate your nutritional information?
Thank you!
We use nutrifox.com 🙂
What can be used instead of pudding mix?
I haven’t tested anything in place of the pudding mix so I’m really not sure on these cookies; sorry!
Can I use Neufchâtel cream cheese”
I’d stick to regular full fat cream cheese for these cookies!
How do these freeze?
How many cookies does this recipe make?
About 2 dozen. Enjoy 🙂
I need to make these asap! They look fantastic!
Yummm…these look totally droolworthy! I’m such a fan of lemon desserts, but haven’t traditionally liked lemon cookies too much (I think I’ve had a few too many non-descript, dry lemon cookies) – these, however, look super moist and delicious. What a great idea to make a cheesecake-inspired cookie!