These Sourdough Discard Lemon Sugar Cookies are a flavor-packed sugar cookie topped with a lemon buttercream frosting. They're sweet and just the right amount of tart, and perfect for spring! These cookies are chilled, rolled, and cut to any shape, then spread with frosting to make a delicious dessert.
Looking for other sugar cookie recipes? Try my Sourdough Discard Sugar Cookies, too!
Why you'll love this recipe
- Sourdough Discard Lemon Sugar Cookies are light, bright, and full of lemon flavor! The lemon buttercream frosting adds a zesty sweetness to the cookie.
- In a lemon mood? Try this Sourdough Discard Lemon Loaf Cake and this Sourdough Lemon Blackberry Cake, too.
- These lemon cookies are made with sourdough discard, but you could easily modify to use active sourdough starter, if you prefer.
- This recipe uses lemon juice and lemon zest for flavor; no lemon extract needed.
- These cookies can be cut into any shape for any holiday or celebration! Use food coloring to make the icing any color of your choice, too!
- Don't feel like rolling and cutting cookies? Try these Sourdough Discard Lemon Cookie Bars and these Sourdough Discard Sugar Cookie Bars!
Jump to:
Ingredients
There are only a few key ingredients you'll need to bring these lemon cookies together.
- Sourdough discard: The sourdough discard should be unfed and at room temperature for this recipe. This recipe is designed for a sourdough starter with a 1:1 ratio (when you feed your starter, it's with 1 part flour and 1 part water). If your starter uses a different ratio, you may need to adjust some of the ingredients in this recipe.
- Learn more about how to make a sourdough starter.
- Lemon juice and lemon zest: This is where the cookies and the frosting get their lemon flavor. Don't skimp on the juice or zest!
- Try this Sourdough Lemon Blueberry Cake, too!
See full recipe below for detailed directions.
Substitutions & Variations
This is a very adaptable recipe and below are a few easy substitutions and variations you can try.
- Use active sourdough starter - If you'd like to make this recipe with active sourdough starter, you can! To do so, omit the yeast and replace the sourdough discard with active starter (200g). You will also need to increase the rise times.
- Use oranges instead of lemons - These cookies would also be delicious using orange juice and orange zest rather than lemon!
- Customize your shapes - Use different shaped cookie cutters to make these cookies for any holiday or celebration! I used these biscuit cutters to make circles, but these cookies could be any shape you like.
- Customize your colors and sprinkles - Food coloring is another easy way to customize these cookies. The icing is typically white, but could be any color, and you can add sprinkles to make these as festive as you like!
- Make cookie bars - Make these Sourdough Discard Lemon Cookie Bars if you're not in the mood to roll and cut individual cookies!
How to Make Sourdough Discard Lemon Sugar Cookies
There are only a few key steps to bring this recipe together. The full recipe with detailed directions is at the bottom of this post.
- Step 1: Mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- Step 2: Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Step 3: Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix until incorporated and mostly smooth.
- Step 4: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, press into a disk, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Step 5: Divide the dough into two halves.
- Step 6: Working with one half, roll it out to ¼-inch thickness.
- Step 7: Use biscuit cutters or cookie cutters to cut your desired shape.
- Step 8: Transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake 12-14 minutes.
- Step 9: Once the cookies are cooled, make the buttercream frosting.
- Step 10: Spread the cooled cookies with buttercream frosting, then serve.
Expert Baking Tips
- Use metric measurements for at least the flour and sourdough discard. These are two ingredients where there can be a huge variation in using cups vs. metric measurements. Using a kitchen scale for metric measurements for at least these two ingredients will set you on the right path!
- Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature. This will ensure that it creams together appropriately with the sugar.
- Let the dough chill for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days) before rolling and cutting.
- The dough will be best in that first roll, so get as many cookies as you can out of it! For subsequent rolls, those cookies will end up being a little bit thicker after they bake (more gluten is activated by gathering and re-rolling, essentially kneading, the dough). They'll still be delicious!
- Let the cookies cool completely before adding the frosting, otherwise the frosting will melt right off.
- Looking for other iced cookie recipes? Try these Sourdough Discard Lofthouse Cookies.
Storage
Room Temperature Storage: Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5-6 days.
Freezer Storage: Store the cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Before serving, let the cookies thaw to room temperature.
Recipe FAQs
They're accurate! I use the metric measurements for my own baking, especially with the flour and sourdough discard, so I recommend you do the same! There can be such a huge variation in cups measurements, particularly for those two ingredients.
Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature (I like to leave it out on the kitchen counter overnight if I know I'll need softened butter the next day). Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes, then add the powdered sugar and mix. Use room temperature milk and lemon juice and mix that in thoroughly until smooth!
Buttercream is also best if you use it right away. If you let it sit, and then frost, it will start to get chunky (still delicious, though)!
More Sourdough Discard Cookie Recipes
If you tried these Sourdough Discard Lemon Sugar Cookies or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you! Happy Baking!
Sourdough Discard Lemon Sugar Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 14 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 200 grams (about ¾ cup) sourdough discard unfed, at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 3 Tablespoons lemon zest from about 3 lemons
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ¾ cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon milk non-dairy or regular dairy
- lemon zest for topping
- sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Make the cookies. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the sourdough discard, egg, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined, and a smooth dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and press it into a disk. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).
- Preheat the oven to 375℉ and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and divide into two pieces. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Press your cookie cutters into the dough to cut your desired shapes, then transfer the cut cookies to the prepared baking sheet.Gather any dough scraps together, re-roll the dough, and cut out additional shapes until all dough has been used. Repeat with the remaining half of the dough.The dough will be best in the first roll, so get as many cookies out of it as you can! Subsequent rolls will give you slightly thicker cookies (more gluten is activated by gathering and re-rolling the dough).
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the cookies are firmed and the bottoms are just starting to brown. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool fully.
- Make the frosting. Once the cookies are fully cooled, cream the butter until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, then slowly mix in the confectioner's sugar. Add the lemon juice and milk, mixing until fully smooth and incorporated. Add more milk if you feel that the frosting is too thick.
- Spread the cookies with a layer of lemon buttercream frosting, add sprinkles (optional), and serve!
Faith Knight says
Do you have to let it refrigerate for the whole 2 hours or can I just do 1?
Jessica Vogl says
You want the dough to be chilled thoroughly so that it's easier to roll and cut. If it's not chilled, it will be stickier and harder to work with. If you're tight on time, you could certainly try at 1 hour!
Linda Genung says
This recipe sounds really good, can't wait to try it. I want to say, thanks for the note that the discard needs to be at room temp. My question is about freezing the unbaked cookies. I saw where you made a comment that they can be frozen. It is just my Hubby and I, so I bake half of the batch and freeze the rest. I flash freeze and then separate with parchment paper before freezing. Pull out the evening before I bake, put in frig overnight and then bake the next day. Does the dough need to be at room temp or can I add a minute or two to bake time. Thanks so much for your response.
Jessica Vogl says
Either way should work, but if you're baking straight from frozen, they may need another minute or two!
Abby says
Can I freeze the dough instead of baked cookies?
Jessica Vogl says
Yes, you could!
Kellie Binegar says
what size biscuit cutter should I use? to yield the 32 cookies?
Jessica Vogl says
I used a 3-inch biscuit cutter.
Justine Gooding says
Hello,
Is it Baking Soda or Baking Powder needed for the recipe? The list of ingredients notes Baking Soda, but the instructions note Baking Powder.
Excited to make this one!
Jessica Vogl says
Typo on my part! It's baking soda. I'll make that correction now.
Ruthie DeMore says
These cookies were so easy to make and they were incredibly delicious and fabulous to look at. I am not the most gifted baker and decided to make these for Easter. Everyone was so impressed and raved about the cookies. Comments were that they were “delicious”; “like nothing tasted before; and “looked professional”. Since my family and friends know that I am not the best baker, they were quite impressed. I was thrilled by how easy they were to make as well as the incredible taste, including how the lemon butter cream frosting perfectly accented the lemon sugar cookies. These are going to become one of my signature cookies for future family events. ❤️
Jessica Vogl says
Tangy and sweet, and perfect for spring! We love these cookies!
Martha says
Wow, these are delicious and so easy❤️ Thank you Jessica for sharing this gem‼️
Jessica Vogl says
Soooo glad you liked them! Thank you!