Lemon Spritz Cookies

Crisp, buttery spritz cookies with a bright lemon punch from both fresh juice and grated zest. These are egg-free and dairy-free (using margarine), which makes them one of the simpler spritz recipes you’ll find. Six ingredients, one bowl for wet, one for dry, and you’re loading the cookie press.

Powdered sugar instead of granulated is the reason these have such a fine, tender crumb. It dissolves more completely into the dough, giving each cookie a melt-on-your-tongue texture that granulated sugar can’t match.

The lemon flavor here is clean and direct. No vanilla, no almond extract, nothing competing with the citrus. Just lemon juice and zest doing all the work.

Kitchen Tips

• Make sure the margarine is softened, not melted. Melted margarine makes the dough too loose to hold shapes in the cookie press.
• Mix wet and dry ingredients just until combined. Overworking spritz dough develops gluten and makes the cookies tough instead of tender.
• If the dough won’t press smoothly, it may be too cold. Let it warm up at room temperature for a few minutes.
• Watch the oven closely after the 10-minute mark. The edges should be just barely golden. These go from done to overdone quickly.

Variations

• Dip the cooled cookies halfway in melted white chocolate for a pretty contrast.
• Replace lemon with lime juice and zest for a key lime spritz version.
• Add a drop of lavender extract to the wet ingredients for a lemon-lavender tea cookie.