Last Updated on July 9, 2025 by Jennifer Osborn
Lemon Shortbread Heart cookies are crispy and just kissed with lemon, thanks to fresh zest in the dough. The tops of the cookies are dunked in a glaze, which hardens after about an hour.

This is an easy cookie recipe made in your food processor. But, if you don't have a food processor, I also share a method for making this dough with an electric mixer.
These remind me a bit of Pink Lemonade Thumbprint Cookies.
You might also like Copycat Panera Lemon Drop Cookies Recipe
Lemon Shortbread Heart Cookies
I made you a pile of lemon heart cookies covered doused and dripping with a lemon powdered sugar glaze!
It's good it's Valentine's Day because I’m starting a deep, passionate love affair with shortbread cookie dough.
It’s so easy to work with, especially if you want to make shaped cookies with cookie cutters.
These espresso-chocolate shortbread heart cookies are another favorite.
But these double chocolate chunk shortbread cookies are also good.
Lemon is one of the best flavors in the world, especially when cooked into a dessert with butter and powdered sugar.
Or mixed with vodka like these three-ingredient lemon martinis.
Tools for Making These Cookies:
Zester for grating the rind of a lemon. I use a Microplane.
They cost about $15 and last several years.
You can also use a Microplane for grating dark chocolate into your morning cup of coffee yogurt. This is the highest and best use of your grater.
Did you know you can freeze lemon zest?

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Recipe
Lemon Shortbread Hearts Cookie Recipe

Lemon shortbread heart cookies are crispy and just kissed with lemon, thanks to fresh lemon zest in the dough. The tops of the cookies are dunked in a lemon glaze, which hardens after about an hour. This is an easy cookie recipe made in your food processor.
Ingredients
- Two cups all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks butter, cubed
Lemon Glaze
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoon lemon zest, grated
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice, from 2 to 3 lemons
Instructions
- Grate zest.
- Cut each stick of butter into slices then dice into cubes.
- In the bowl of a food processor-8-cups or larger, pour flour, both sugars and salt. Pulse briefly, 3 to 5 seconds to combine. Add lemon zest and butter cubes. Pulse again, this time for 15 to 20 seconds until the dough has small flecks of butter and has started to combine. Don’t over mix.
- Take dough out of the food processor onto wax paper. Gather together with your hands and squish to combine. This is similar to making a pie crust. Don’t overwork the dough but just keep pushing any loose flour together until the dough is well-combined. Flatten into a circle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or slide into a plastic bag. Put dough in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.
- Remove the dough from fridge and let sit for about 15 to 20 minutes until the dough is room temperature.
- Put parchment paper on counter and using a rolling pin, roll the dough to about a ¼ inch. Cut with a cookie cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. These cookies won’t spread so you can fit several on one cookie sheet depending on what size cookie cutter you’re using.
- Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes.
Make lemon glaze
- In a medium-sized bowl or in a stand-mixer, combine two cups confectioners’s sugar and a third of a cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice until opaque and glossy-about two minutes.
- Let cookies cool completely before glazing.
- To glaze cookies, dip the top of each cookie in the bowl of lemon glaze, give a shake to remove any excess glaze. Put cookies on a rack or on a sheet of wax paper to let dry, which will take about 30 minutes.
Cookie Baking Advice
You may find these baking posts helpful: from How to Avoid Flat Cookies How to Freeze Cookie Dough, Room Temperature Butter for Baking to Salted or Unsalted Butter for Cookies? to Do I Need A Cookie Scoop?, Cookie Size Chart to What Should a Beginner Bake? to Where Can I Buy Sprinkles?, Why is my sugar cookie dough too sticky? and Cookie Holidays. What is Sanding Sugar and Do I need Parchment Paper? might also be helpful. This Cuisinart 5-speed is my favorite hand mixer.
More Citrus Recipes:
Three-Ingredient Grapefruit Martini
Lemon Drop Martini
Arnold Palmer Cookies
Chewy Lime Bars
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