These lemon ginger cookies are made with crystallized ginger, a little ground ginger and allspice, plus plenty of lemon zest. Citrus and spice make a balanced and refreshing duo, especially if you’re craving a lemon cookie with more depth of flavor. Each cookie is soft and chewy in the centers with irresistibly crisp edges. Lemon glaze adds a finishing touch.
I didn’t think I’d love a lemon cookie quite as much as I loved these. Ginger’s spicy heat and lemon’s bright flavor complement each other so well. It’s like the perfect marriage that fits so many seasons of the year, but if you ask me, the sparkly crystallized ginger and lemon glaze on top seems especially fitting on a holiday cookie platter.
Crystallized ginger is a key ingredient in this cookie recipe, though you could certainly leave it out if needed or desired. (See recipe note.) You can find it at most grocery stores—it’s usually in the produce aisle but could also be found in the natural foods section or even by the dried fruit. Crystallized ginger is peeled and cut fresh ginger root that’s been cooked in simple syrup and dried out. Each little chunk has a crunchy sugar coating with a soft and chewy center, similar to a gumdrop candy. I love using crystallized ginger in baking for that unexpected sweet-yet-spicy flavor, like in these chocolate ginger cookies and this ginger pear galette.
Have you tried my drop sugar cookies before? This recipe is adapted from it. In my recipe testing, I added lemon zest, lemon juice, and the spices. Since I added liquid (lemon juice), I increased the flour. The cookies tasted like little lemon cakes. They were very tasty, but I wanted more of that chewy-crisp texture. Since we now have lemon (an acid) in the dough, I swapped baking powder for a smaller amount of baking soda. The edges browned and crisped beautifully. I appreciate the detailed, yet easy-to-understand way Serious Eats explains things: baking soda raises a cookie dough’s pH, creating an alkaline dough.
Renowned pastry chef Stella Parks tells us:
Baking: a delicious science.
The full written recipe is below, but let me walk you through a couple things before you get started. You need 11 ingredients for these lemon ginger cookies: flour, baking soda, ground ginger, ground allspice, salt, butter, sugar, egg, lemon, vanilla extract, and crystallized ginger. The combination of ground ginger and allspice gave these a pleasant spice flavor. Allspice is a common spice found in the spice aisle—it tastes like a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It’s excellent in many baking recipes, like my favorite apple pie. See recipe note if you don’t have it or can’t find it.
Like I mentioned above, preparing the cookie dough is easy. Proper room temperature butter is imperative and chilling the cookie dough is another non-negotiable. These lemon cookies are very buttery and the colder the cookie dough, the less they’ll over-spread. The cookie dough can get a little hard after time in the refrigerator, so I recommend rolling the dough into balls before chilling.
After the cookies cool, drizzle with a little lemon glaze. The lemon glaze sets, so these “spa cookies” 😉 are easily stackable, packable, and convenient to travel, transfer, gift, etc!
These soft and chewy lemon ginger cookies are flavored with warm spices, crystallized ginger, and plenty of lemon zest. Review recipe notes before beginning.
