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These lemon olive oil cookies come together quickly and are free of gluten, grains, and dairy. The olive oil won’t assert its flavor in the finished cookies, but helps produce a tender, delicate crumb.
It’s Monday, but these lemon olive oil cookies can help ease the pain. They’re bright, chewy, and irresistible. They’re delicious right out of the oven or the next morning, when they fit right in at breakfast by masquerading as extra-tasty mini scones. They’re good with or without the glaze; you can make them with Meyer or regular lemons. The only way to go wrong with these cookies would be to not make them at all.
This is one of those cookie recipes where you basically just stir all the ingredients together in a bowl. You can even use a fork. The hardest part by far is zesting and juicing the lemons, and I find that fun. The smell of the lemon oils released from the peel is reward enough for me. (Wait, I take that back. I actually also need there to be cookies. Cookies are the best reward!)
When I make these without the glaze, I roll the balls of dough in a little raw sugar before baking them to give the outsides a little extra texture. If you’re planning to glaze them, you can skip that step.
I’ve made these cookies with regular old lemons and love them that way, but recently Barn2Door sent me a box of organic Meyer lemons straight from Fairview Orchards in Ojai, California. If you read my posts often, you know I am all about getting my food from local farms, and I do that with most of my meat and vegetables. However, I live in the Tennessee Valley. No one is growing citrus fruits, bananas, or avocados, and I’m not about to just give those up. That’s where Barn2Door comes in. They offer a marketplace where farms can sell clean, sustainable produce, meat, cheeses, and other products directly to consumers without middlemen or markups.
You can get Meyer lemons shipped right to your door, packaged within a day of being picked. Depending on where you live, you may also find produce or products you can buy online and then pick up at a local farm. To see what ships nationwide and what’s available in your area, just go to Barn2Door and enter your zip code. They have all kinds of things, from cheese to maple syrup to coffee. And in the winter they have organic blood oranges, which are always really hard for me to find locally.
I was so excited when this box of fragrant Meyer lemons landed on my doorstep. They arrived on May 20th, and a little card inside the box told me they were harvested just two days before, on May 18th. The freshness shows–the lemons are so juicy and beautiful. They’re wonderful in these cookies and in the glaze, and I also used them in a batch of lemon raspberry bars that you’ll hopefully see a recipe for soon. I’m currently brainstorming savory applications for the remaining lemons, and my Lebanese lemon chicken is high on the list. Do you have any favorite ways to use lemons, Meyer or regular?
(Oh, and I always feel like I need to include a little pep talk for those of you who may be suspicious of desserts made with olive oil. Just try it! I promise it works so well, and it’s so easy. Plus, olive oil is a great healthy fat. If you’re looking for more proof/ideas, see my lemon olive oil cake and olive oil blondies.)
Lemon Olive Oil Cookies
These lemon olive oil cookies come together quickly and are free of gluten, grains, and dairy. The olive oil won’t assert its flavor in the finished cookies, but helps produce a tender, delicate crumb.
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon raw sugar
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups lightly packed almond flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of sea salt
- Pinch of vanilla bean powder
For the glaze:
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Pinch of sea salt
- Pinch of vanilla bean powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment.
- Mix the sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl, rubbing the two together using your fingers. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla and beat using a fork. Stir in all the remaining ingredients until well mixed.
- Form 12 balls with a heaping tablespoonful of dough in each one. If you'd like, roll each one in a bit of sugar to coat. Put the dough balls on the baking sheet, leaving at least an inch and half between them. Bake for about 18 minutes. The cookies should be puffy, cracked, and lightly golden on the bottom. Transfer to a rack to cool.
- To make the glaze, stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl with a fork until no lumps remain. Use the fork to drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.
- Leftover cookies will keep in an airtight container on the counter for a few days, and are fabulous with coffee or tea.
Notes
This recipe doubles well. If I'm doubling the recipe, I bake the cookies in two batches, letting the cookie sheet cool for a few minutes in between.
*You can also make your own vanilla powder from whole vanilla beans. I use this tutorial.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 176Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 56mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 2gSugar: 8gProtein: 4g
The nutrition label provided is an estimate for informational purposes only and may not be accurate. I am not a nutritionist or medical professional.
Barn2Door provided me with Meyer lemons for use in this recipe.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I loved the recipe! Never thought olive oil and lemon cookies could go so well together haha.
Hi Becky
I have appreciated your approach – looks most helpful, and in the right direction.
I have had some diet issues, and have been on the Low FODMAP regime…. I like your direction, gluten and grain-free, but sugars, due to fructose malabsorption, are my problem. Sucrose is 50% fructose and 50% glucose, so when I see labels or recipes saying ‘sugar’, without clarifying which sugar, I prefer to avoid the recipe or packaged food.
Could you suggest recipes that are sugar-free, as well as gluten and grain-free please? Or point me / us to websites that we can try?
Many thanks
Peter
Hi Peter! I’m not sure which sweeteners have fructose and which don’t–I use a lot of honey and maple syrup. You might want to google some sugar-free baking sites or try some keto sites. Here is one I like: https://www.castironketo.net/ Good luck!
Made a double batch of these cookies. They were super easy and tasted absolutely divine. Best chewy texture too. I added fresh thyme leaves to the mix and a few thyme flowers on top which looked pretty cute.
I’m so glad you liked them! The addition of thyme sounds wonderful!
Hi Becky,
Thanks for the recipe! Could I use arrowroot flour instead of tapioca flour? If so, would that change the amount?
Best,
Erin
Hi Erin! Arrowroot should work. I would try it with the same amount. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Thank you, Becky!
They look so yummy. Do you think it’s ok if I use only almond flour (not the tapioca one) and honey? I can’t eat carbs 🙁
Hmm, honey actually has more carbohydrates per tablespoon than sugar (and much more than tapioca flour), so I am not sure if that would solve your problem. That being said, I haven’t tested the recipe with those substitutions, so I can’t say whether it would work, but it can’t hurt to experiment!
Could I use coconut oil in place of the olive oil? Thanks
Oops…I see where you answered me above…thank you.
No suspicion here about olive oil it’s brilliant. I also love a cookie that covers breakfast and snacks. What could be better
Thanks, Tania! Glad you’re with me on baking with olive oil 🙂
These sound and look amazing! Questions. . Can I use regular flour instead of almond and tapioca flour? Can I use vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean powder?
You can definitely use vanilla extract instead of powder (I’d use 1/4 teaspoon each in the cookies and glaze). If you want to use regular flour you might be better off looking for a recipe that calls for it. I don’t bake with regular flour anymore and develop all my recipes based on what I’ve learned about grain-free baking, so I’m not sure how they would turn out.
You could try these, with or without the rosemary. I’m sure they’d be great with my glaze on top!
http://www.simplywhisked.com/lemon-rosemary-olive-oil-cookies/
Thanks for the feedback!
Do you think I could use coconut oil in place of the olive oil? Thank you
It would probably work! I don’t cook with coconut oil because I’m allergic to coconut, but it’d definitely be worth a try.
I’m most definitely eating these for breakfast as a ‘scone’! Getting Meyer lemons shipped right to my door sounds great because it’s fairly hit and miss around here for whether or not they’re available. 🙂
Thank you so much, Kari! Here too–Meyers can be so hard to find. And these were far better than any others I’ve tried!
Ohhh I want to make these! They sound simply amazing!
Thank you so much, Renee!
Yuuuuum! These are just what my morning needs! I love secretly healthy cookies, and these look so flavorful! I want to enjoy 12…errr…I mean 2 with my morning tea 😉
Haha, 12 is more my speed in terms of cookie servings, sadly. Thanks, Julia!! 🙂
Lemon is absolutely one of my favorite dessert flavors. I bet I’d go crazy for these cookies!
Me too! Lemon is gaining on chocolate for me…I think chocolate is still my #1, but lemon is catching up quickly.
We are twinning on the citrusy olive oil dessert recipes today! I love meyer lemons SO much and thee cookies look like fluffy domes of perfection 🙂 Pinning!
Thank you so much, Medha! Off to check out your citrus + OO dessert right now!