Enjoy summer in a bite with these raspberry lemonade cookies! They're pillowy soft and bursting with tangy lemon and raspberry flavor. Made in just one bowl in half an hour, they're a breeze to whip up!
It takes a lot for me to veer away from my classic chocolate loaded cookie, like my brownie cookies or chocolate chip cookies, but these raspberry lemonade sugar cookies do just that. They are the quintessential summer time cookie with their hot pink sweet raspberry swirls, made from real fruit, and zesty lemon flavor. They're chewy and soft with a cake-like texture all in a classic cookie shape.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Unsalted Butter - This is what gives the cookies that nice chewy texture. Use dairy-free butter if needed.
- Sugar - White granulated sugar is used to provide a chewy texture and sweeten the dough.
- Gluten free 1:1 flour - You can also use all purpose flour if desired.
- Lemon - Both the juice and zest are used in the dough to give it a tart lemon flavor. Fresh lemon juice is preferred but you can use store-bought as well and will need to increase the amount to 1 ½ tablespoons of lemon juice.
- Frozen raspberries - You can either use store-bought frozen raspberries or freeze fresh raspberries. If you choose to freeze your own berries, make sure they are completely dry before placing them in the freezer. You don't want any water on them or they will become icy. In this recipe we want little pieces of raspberries, not full plump berries, so eventually you will break them up with your hands.
How to Make Raspberry Lemonade Cookies
You will need a large bowl, an electric mixer or stand mixer, cookie scoop, and a cookie sheet with parchment paper for these cookies.
Step 1 : Cream the butter and sugar together. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, add the room temperature butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and creamy.
Step 2 : Add the wet ingredients. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice to the bowl and mix well to incorporate.
Step 3 : Fold in the dry ingredients. Add the gluten free flour, baking soda, baking powder, and lemon zest and fold into the batter with a rubber spatula. Stop folding when there is still a little flour mixture left in the bowl.
Step 4 : Add the frozen raspberries. If you haven't already, break up the frozen raspberries into pieces with our hands. Add them to the bowl and gently fold into the cookie dough with only a few folds. Don't over mix this step, we are looking for little ribbons of raspberries in the lemon dough. The natural raspberry juices will dye the dough a hot pink color so there is no food coloring required!
If you are using a stand mixer, only mix on low speed for a few seconds.
Chill the bowl of dough in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. Because the frozen raspberries release water and juice as they're mixed into the batter, it's important to pop the dough back in the fridge so it can firm up again before baking the cookies. It won't take long! Go ahead and preheat the oven while the dough is chilling.
Step 5 : Bake in the oven. Use a large cookie scoop if making large cookies or a medium cookie scoop for regular sized cookies. Scoop the dough onto a prepared baking sheet, leave about 2 inches in between each cookie ball, and bake in the oven until the edges are set and golden.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle some extra coarse cane sugar on top of the cookies while they're cooling if desired.
Expert Tips
- Break the frozen raspberries into smaller pieces. This makes it easier to fold into the batter and scoop into cookie dough balls. I do this with my hands by pinching each raspberry in between my thumb and pointer finger. You can also use the back of a fork.
- Don't over mix the raspberries into the dough. Ideally you should only have to fold the dough about 4 - 5 times to distribute the raspberries into the dough. As the raspberries mix with the dough, portions of the dough turn a hot or soft pink color. You want ribbons of pink color with some plain cookie dough color in the mix too to create a marbled effect.
- Remember to chill the dough while the oven preheats. The cookie dough can become a little soft as the raspberries defrost. Chilling it helps to keep the dough in tact to create beautiful cookies.
- Allow the cookies to cool before transferring them to a cooling rack. They will be very soft and flimsy while they're warm but will firm up as they cool down making the easier to pick up with your hands.
How to Store
Once the cookies have cooled completely, transfer them to an airtight container and store them out on the counter. They will keep for up to 5 days and get even softer after each day.
Can I Make These into Strawberry Lemonade Cookies?
I haven't tried this but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I would use frozen strawberries and break them up into smaller pieces in a food processor by pulsing just a few times. Then fold them into the cookie dough just like you would the raspberries and bake as directed.
For more cookie ingredients, check out my:
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Raspberry Lemonade Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter - use dairy free if needed
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice - approx. 1 lemon
- 2 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1 ½ cup gluten free 1:1 flour - or all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ⅔ cup raspberries - frozen and broken into smaller pieces
- Coarse sugar - optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice to the bowl and mix to incorporate.
- Fold the lemon zest, gluten free flour, baking powder, and baking soda into the batter until there the flour is almost all incorporated.
- If your frozen raspberries are still in their full shape, break them up gently with your hands into smaller pieces and add them to the bowl. Gently fold the raspberries into the dough with only a few folds. Try not to overmix the dough, you want little swirls of pink raspberry dough. Chill the dough for at least 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 F while the dough is chilling.
- Use a large cookie scoop, if baking large cookies, to scoop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the cookies in the oven for 14 - 16 minutes until the edges are puffed up and golden brown. Let the cookies cool completely before transferring them to a cooling rack. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired and enjoy!
I was so excited to try this recipe as I love all things raspberry. I didn’t have lemons on hand so I used lime instead in the same portions the recipe called for. The flavor combo was incredible but the recipe did not work. They took longer to bake, never got any color and the texture was gummy and weird. They weren’t pretty, either, but that can be forgiven if they’re delicious. They were not. There was also no salt in this recipe, which is also odd. It’s a great idea but I’m going to use this recipe as inspiration and come up with a more reliable recipe.
These were so delicious and easy to make!!
Hello! I’m excited to make these cookies. I accidentally purchased unsalted margarine sticks. Can I use margarine or should I use butter? Thank you!
Could dried raspberries be used? I know the colour wouldn't be the same though!
You could use dried raspberries but the flavor will be a little different.
What would you suggest as an egg substitute for these cookies?
I use flax eggs successfully in cookies. Apparently chia eggs also work well.
These cookies are full of flavour. They have a soft cake consistency. I used MELT dairy free baking stick so might have made them a bit softer but still held together nicely without excessive overspreading. A lovely summer treat.
The taste is really good. The combination of lemons and raspberries is perfect. I think I did something wrong on my side because the cookies turned out to be very very thin. When I baked them one batch was overcooked and the other was undercooked. I'm not sure what when wrong there, but might be my oven.
If you want it crunchy, this is not your recipe, but I enjoyed the taste a lot, lemon zest an raspberries is a very successful combination. Thanks.
Is there a way to lessen the sugar or use something different if wanted to avoid sugar? If so, would it still be 2 cups of what you recommend? Thank you!
Darlene, recipe only calls for 1 cup of sugar..not two. A sprinkling of coarse sugar can be added on-top of each cookie, if desired.
You can use stevia, Splenda, or Splenda/sugar blend that tells you on the packaging how to calculate how much sweetener you need based on how much sugar the recipe originally called for.
Are all of the cookies altogether 385 calories or is just one cookie 385?
One large cookie is 385. It's half of that if you make them regular sized.
These were so easy to make and so yummy to eat!!! Mine came out really soft, more like a cake than shortbread but it doesn't matter, these are my new go-to cookies!
Any feedback on subbing apple sauce for the sugar?
Usually you sub apple sauce for oil in a recipe. I would not try it, the apple sauce would be way too runny for a cookie dough.
Hi! How many degrees and how much time this cookies need to bake?
350 degree Fahrenheit for 14-16 minutes 🙂
Love these cookies! Me & my roommate made half a batch like the recipe & the other half blueberry - both were great! Could I sub in frozen pineapple instead possibly too?
So fun! Frozen pineapple should work too but it won't give you the color of raspberries and blueberries.
We love these cookies! After baking we refrigerated and decided we like them cold. We did have to cook them for about 20 minutes, but it could be our oven. They are perfectly tart and crunchy. We will make again!
Yay I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Hi! Can you use fresh berries?
Yes you can use fresh berries but you still want to break them up a bit with the back of a fork.