Lemon Poppy Seed Shortbread Cookies

Lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies are pale with golden edges. They’re delicate and sandy, with subtle lemon flavour and poppy seed crunch!

Lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies are my new holiday favourite! For the last two years, this brown sugar shortbread recipe has claimed the top spot for my whole family (and still does for my dad). However, this year, as a hard-core lemon lover, (I’m 99% sure) this lemon poppy seed recipe has won my holiday heart!

Don’t be intimidated by the stamp impression on top of the cookies. I just happen to have a few thrifted ceramic cookie stamps in my baking cupboard and I like to use them whenever I can. You can easily use the bottom of a drinking glass, or even a fork, to flatten the cookie dough balls! Trust me, making lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies is incredibly simple.

For this recipe I rolled the cookie dough into balls and stamped them flat. Another option is to roll the cookie dough into a log shape as a slice-and-bake refrigerator cookie like this chocolate shortbread recipe I developed for BAKED the blog.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Step-By-Step Instructions
• Notes & Tips
• Substitutions
• Recipe

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of the post, or scroll to the bottom of the post, to see the full recipe card with ingredient measurements and instructions.

Ingredients

Step-By-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, salt, and lemon zest. Set aside.

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In another larger bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.

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You can use a hand mixer, stand mixer, or go the traditional route and use elbow-grease and a wooden spoon. Choose whichever tool works for you!

Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix everything together until the dough starts to clump together.

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It will take a little while for the dough to start to come together, about 4 to 5 minutes, but I promise you it will! After a minute or two of mixing it will look like the picture below.

You can stop mixing when the cookie dough forms larger clumps, about the size of popped popcorn, like this picture below.

Gather the cookie dough together in the bowl with your hands.

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Place the cookie dough on a work surface and divide it into 12 equal portions. Sprinkle some sugar onto a small plate. With your hands, roll each cookie dough portion into a smooth ball.

Place the dough balls, a few at a time, on the plate of sugar. Swirl the plate in gentle circles. The balls will roll around as you swirl the plate, each receiving an all-over coating of sugar.

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Space the 12 cookie dough balls evenly apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Using a ceramic cookie stamp, or the bottom of a drinking glass, gently press and flatten the top of each dough ball to about 2-½ inches (6-½ cm) in diameter and ¼-inch (6-mm) thick. The edges of the cookies should crack as you flatten the balls, and is an indication of a correct butter to flour ratio.

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Place the stamped cookies in the preheated oven and bake them for 26 to 28 minutes, or until the tops are pale and the edges are light gold. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately transfer them from the baking sheet to a wire rack and cool.

Notes & Tips

To make lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies, you can use a hand mixer, stand mixer, or go the traditional route and use elbow-grease and a wooden spoon. Choose whichever tool works for you!

Add ½ teaspoon of vanilla or lemon extract to the butter and sugar before mixing if you like.

If you don’t own cookie stamps, I talk about them a bit more here in this stamped brown sugar shortbread post.

You can divide the cookie dough into 24 smaller portions rather than 12 if you like, however the baking time will change. Just watch for light golden edges and you should be good.

Rolling the dough balls in sugar is completely optional. If you don’t want the extra sugar, simply sprinkle a bit of flour on each dough ball, or dip your stamp / the bottom of your glass in flour, before flattening the lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies.

The edges of the cookies should crack as you stamp / flatten the dough balls. The cracking is an indication of a correct butter-to-flour ratio.

Skip the cookie stamp and instead use a flat-bottomed drinking glass to flatten the lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies. When fully cooled, top them with this luscious whipped cream cheese frosting.

Lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

To freeze, gently place the fully-cooled cookies in a sealed zip-top plastic bag in the freezer for up to two months.

Substitutions

Because the recipe for lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies is pretty basic, with very few ingredients, there aren’t a whole lot of substitutions you can make. That being said, orange zest in place of lemon would be dreamy.

Use a high-quality plant-based butter like Miyokos to make vegan lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies.

Another shaping option is to roll the cookie dough into a log-shape. Wrap the log in wax paper and store it in the fridge or freezer. To bake, simply slice ¼-inch (6-mm) thick discs from the log, and bake them as per the recipe directions.

More Holiday Cookie Recipes

Lavender Sugar Cookies With Earl Grey Glaze The herbaceous, botanical note of lavender is offset with a simple Earl Grey tea glaze.

Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies Perfectly balanced sweet-and-salty with crisp outsides and chewy middles.

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies Double chocolate, mini marshmallows, and dairy-free.

Chocolate Eggnog Cookies Creamy holiday eggnog flavour combined with the rich, sweet chocolate.

Did you make this recipe? If yes, I would love to know how you made out in the comments below! You can also tag me on Instagram @kellyneildotcom or use the hashtag #kellyneil.