Lemon Meltaway Cookies

Why We Like This Recipe

• These meltaway cookies are easy to make with little effort. You can even make them at the last minute.
• They are made with simple ingredients you already have in your pantry. 
• They are egg-free. A great option for friends who have an eggless diet.
• Their mini size is great. They make around 70 mini cookies. So you can share or freeze some. 
• They are soft and melt in your mouth.
• The lemon flavor gives a refreshing feeling.
• There is no baking powder in these meltaways cookies, so they don’t rise when baking. You can place as many cookies on a baking sheet as you like.
• They keep well for up to 2 weeks. 
• They can be frozen before being baked.

These meltaway cookies already look cute with their itsy bitsy size on special occasions, but you can make them look even fancier with some colorful sprinkles. And if you use Christmas colors, they are perfect for cookie exchange or make perfect edible gifts! Pack your Christmas meltaway cookies in jars or fancy looking mini boxes and give them to whoever you like.

About The Ingredients

Flour: We use all purpose flour but a combination of all purpose and whole wheat flour works fine too.

Cornstarch: Also known as corn flour in the UK, corn starch is a key ingredient in this meltaways cookies recipe. The cookies are wonderfully soft thanks to cornstarch.

Powdered sugar: We need it both in the cookie dough and for coating. The amount in the dough is not much because we coat the meltaways with powdered sugar after they are baked. Other types of cookies like granulated sugar or brown sugar won’t give the same result. So use powdered sugar, also known as icing sugar. 

Unsalted Butter: We use 1 cup butter for these mini melting butter cookies. Make sure it is softened at room temperature before combining it with the other ingredients. If you try to use it cold and hard, it won’t blend well and you can’t form a dough.

Fresh lemon zest: These are lemon melt away cookies, but you can leave the zest out if you want to. We highly recommend that you use it though because the flavor is even better with it. 

Cinnamon: We just use ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. You can increase the amount or leave it out. 

Alternative Add-Ins

Lemon juice: If you want even more lemony flavor in your lemon meltaways, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice in addition to lemon zest. 

Nuts: You can add finely crumbled hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts or pecans. They all give a nice nutty flavor to your cookies. If you want that nutty flavor to stand out more, skip lemon zest. Just use this recipe as a base and create your own version.

Spices: You can create other versions of these meltaway butter cookies using spices like ground ginger and pumpkin pie spice. 

Vanilla extract or almond extract: Either of these would be a good addition too.

How To Make

The recipe for these melt in your mouth cookies with cornstarch is straightforward. Just follow the steps below.

1. In a large bowl, cream butter, lemon zest, cinnamon and powdered sugar. You can use a hand mixer or spatula for this. If you want, make the dough in a stand mixer. 

2. Now you can add the dry ingredients. First, add in cornstarch. Using a spatula, stir well. 

3. Combine flour with this mixture well until you get a soft dough.

4. Using a teaspoon, scoop dough and make tiny balls. You can use a small cookie scoop too. 

5. Place them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes or until their bottoms are slightly golden. Let them cool on the baking sheet. You don’t need to transfer them on a wire rack.

6. When they are cooled, put some powdered sugar in a small bowl and roll the baked cookies into it.

7. Alternatively, you can sprinkle colored sugar or sprinkles over the baked cookies. Read the tips about sprinkles below to learn more about this.

Expert Tips

• Make sure butter is softened. This is very important.
• You really don’t need to chill the dough, but if somehow you find it difficult to roll the dough into balls, chill it for 15-20 minutes.
• You don’t need to leave a lot of space between each dough ball on the baking sheet. As there is no baking powder in the dough, the cookies don’t rise when baking. 
• The measurements here make about 7 dozen mini cookies. If you want, you can make your meltaway cookies bigger than these. 
• Roll these meltaway shortbread cookies in powdered sugar after they are cooled. 
• The powdered sugar on them might be absorbed as they sit in the container, it is normal. You can sift more powdered sugar on them if you want.
• To store: Keep these cookies in an airtight container or jars at room temperature for up to two weeks. If it is summer or the temperature is high in your place, put them in the refrigerator after one week. 
• To freeze: You can freeze half of the meltaways if you want. To do this, roll dough in balls, place on a plate or baking sheet. Freeze them for 30 minutes and remove. Put them in a freezer bag and then keep them in the freezer. When you are ready to bake, either let them sit on the counter for 1 hour and bake as stated in the recipe or put directly in the oven and bake for about 3 minutes longer. 
• To give a Christmas feeling on these meltaway cookies: We sometimes use colored sugar sprinkles. You can easily make your  DIY colored sugar and simply sprinkle some on the cookies when you pack them in a box or jar. 
• How to make sprinkles to completely stick on your melt away cookies: Whisk together two egg whites and ¼ teaspoon water. Let the cookies cool down completely and brush their tops with this mixture and coat with sprinkles immediately.

FAQs