This is the recipe for Sugar Free Lemon Drop Cookies (2024)

FAQs

What is drop cookies made of? ›

A basic drop cookie recipe contains butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, flour, salt, and a leavening agent, like baking soda or baking powder. From there, cookies may contain various mix-ins, like rolled oats, cocoa powder, dried fruit, nuts, or chocolate candies.

Beat together sugar, butter, and lemon zest in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Whisk together eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl until combined. Beat into butter mixture slowly on low speed. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Baking soda also serves another important purpose when it comes to cookies: It encourages spreading by raising the mixture's pH, which slows protein coagulation. This gives the dough more time to set before the eggs set, which results in a more evenly baked cookie.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream 2 cups of butter and 1 cup of confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and combine. Gradually add in 3 1/2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of salt until wet and dry ingredients are well combined. Add nuts or other additional ingredients of your choosing.

Chocolate chip cookies are “drop” cookies, which means exactly what you think: cookie dough is scooped and dropped onto a baking sheet. Drop cookies are typically made using the creaming method of mixing—butter and sugar are beaten together before egg and dry ingredients are added.

Lemon juice: Lemon juice is the best substitute for lemon extract—similar in consistency and flavor, most recipes will adapt to the change, albeit with a more tart or bitter flavor. However, the flavor of lemon juice isn't as strong as lemon extract.

Lemon juice carries the same flavor as lemon zest, but it's more acidic, so you might want to add a pinch of sugar to balance out the tartness. That said, the lemon flavor is not as concentrated as lemon zest, so you'll want to keep this formula handy: 1 teaspoon of lemon zest = 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Lemon Extract Substitute: Citrus Juice

Citrus juice, such as freshly squeezed lemon, orange or lime juice can be used in place of lemon extract in many recipes. It's similar to the flavor of lemon extract, but it's much less concentrated and very acidic.

You technically can leave out baking soda in certain recipes (like chocolate chip cookies or pancakes) in a pinch, but you need to understand that your finished product will not be as light and fluffy as the recipe intended. Unless you have no other option, you really should use a leavening substitute.

However, if you're in a pinch, the substitution is one teaspoon baking soda equals three teaspoons baking powder. Baking soda is also much stronger than baking powder and, by trying to provide enough leavening, you may wind up with an unpleasant metallic, salty taste in the final baked product.

What happens if you add too much sugar to sugar cookies? ›

Sugar sweetens the cookies and makes them an enticing golden brown. Adding too little sugar can affect the taste and texture of cookies. Adding too much can cause them to be brittle.

The ingredients you used could be the culprit – using different sugars, melted butter, baking powder or baking soda can alter a cookie's texture and taste.

Dropped cookies are made from a free-form piece of dough, generally about 1 tablespoon's worth, that is dropped from a spoon or two or a small scoop onto a prepared cookie sheet. Other drop cookies come from a small piece of dough that is rolled into a ball first.

Rolled cookies are more crumbly and less chewy than drop ones. Rolled cookies should be thin and crisp, so generally, the dough should be rolled in a 1/8-inch-thick circle in a cool room so the dough does not get soft. The rule is the thinner they are, they are more crispy and fragile.

Many simple cookies sell for between $2.00 and $5.00 each, but it's not uncommon to see a dozen cookies cost $55 or more depending on the time and ingredients that went into making them. Some people charge $10 or more per cookie because of their decorative, custom designs.