I love chocolate thin mints, but they feel more like a winter or fall snack. I started to wonder if there could be a similar cookie, but one that was more suited to the warmer days in the spring and summer. Introducing Lemon Thins!
Lemon Thins are a delightful snack that are perfect for serving with tea or coffee in the afternoon. There’s a slight cool down period while waiting for the white chocolate coating to harden, but trust me when I say it’s well worth waiting for. We’ll show you how to make it with both lemon extract or fresh lemons so you have some flexibility in how to flavor your cookies!
Fresh Lemons vs Lemon Extract?
Lemon Thins can be made from either fresh lemons or lemon extract. We’ll briefly discuss the pros and cons of each approach here so you can decide which works best for you!
I prefer fresh lemons to lemon extract nine times out of ten. Fresh lemons have an acidity and sourness that just doesn’t get captured in lemon extract. I always try to use more natural ingredients whenever I can to reduce the amount of preservatives I’m feeding to my charitable bellies.
In this recipe, you can use fresh lemons to flavor the cookies because there is a liquid component that we can substitute out for lemon juice. Another added benefit of using fresh lemons is that you can grate some of the peel and bake the zest directly into the cookie or garnish the cookie toppings for decorative purposes.
On the other hand, lemon extract is definitely more convenient. Lemon extract is useful because it has a longer shelf life and packs a lot of flavor for just a few drops. In addition, the lemon flavor is what we’re really going for in this particular cookie, so the acidity factor from fresh lemons is less critical here. Just be sure not to use too much lemon extract, or else the scent may be overpowering.
Typically, 2T of lemon juice is equivalent to 1t of lemon extract.
Why this Lemon Thins recipe?
This recipe for Lemon Thins is a fun and tasty spring cookie. You can decorate the cookie in a lot of creative ways, making it a beautiful addition to your dessert spread. It’s fast and easy, and affords you flexibility in using either fresh lemons or lemon extract.
This cookie is perfect for beginners. The hardest part, but also the most fun part, is decorating the cookie. That can only come with practice, but the taste of the cookie is so delicious you won’t mind practicing a couple of batches. We made sure to provide some tips on how you can decorate the cookies so you can fast track your practice.
If using lemon extract, this recipe can be easily whipped together with ingredients that are not easily perishable. We’ll also be using a mix of primarily almond flour with a small amount of all-purpose flour so you can enjoy more of these low-carb cookies for less guilt! In addition, this recipe is designed as a small batch, so you don’t need to worry about making too much.
Cooking Process for Lemon Thins
The making of Lemon Thins can be split into two phases: Baking Lemon Cookies, and Decorating Lemon Cookies.
BAKING
Measure out all the dry cookie ingredients into a large bowl and stir with a spatula to mix everything together. Add the lemon extract or lemon juice and stir quickly to soak the lemon flavoring equally into the dry ingredients. Next, add in the remaining wet ingredients and fully combine dough. Remember, if you’re using fresh lemon juice instead of lemon extract, do not add any water or else the dough will become too wet. Continue to mix all the cookie ingredients together until a solid dough forms.
Lay a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Use a teaspoon to scoop out some of the dough. Roll the dough into a small ball and place it on the baking sheet. Use a spatula or a plate to gently press down the dough so that a circular shape is formed. Flatten the dough until it’s about ⅛” thick, and 1 ½” in diameter.
The oil in the dough prevents the dough from sticking to your flattening tool. You can also dip the spatula or plate in some water to prevent the dough from sticking. Lifting the flattening tool off at an angle (as if if you were peeling it off the cookie) will also help.
Just scrape off any lingering dough and press it into the cookie. There will be some unevenness if you look closely, but it won’t be too noticeable after baking. Furthermore, we coat the tops of the cookies with white chocolate so any imperfections will be covered up.
Repeat the process until all the cookie dough is used up – this recipe makes about a dozen cookies, but you can easily double or triple the recipe as needed.
Once all the cookies are shaped, transfer the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 12-13 minutes. The cookies are ready as soon as they are slightly golden brown. They’ll still be a little soft in the center when you first remove them, but they’ll crisp up nicely as they cool down. Leave the cookies to cool completely on the pan before decorating them.
DECORATING
We can decorate the lemon cookies as soon as they’re completely cool. If you have a water bath that can be used on the stove, you can use that to melt the white chocolate. If not, you can make a poor man’s water bath by pouring boiling water into a large bowl, and placing a smaller bowl with the white chocolate inside it. Boil some extra water to replenish the larger bowl as the water cools.
I like to cover the smaller bowl with some parchment paper before pouring in the white chocolate. Without the parchment paper, I find that I waste a good amount of white chocolate that just sticks to the bowl even after trying to scrape it clean. However, with the parchment paper, you can transfer the paper into the fridge and it will harden as it cools in there, making it easy to peel off! You peel chunks of it off as a snack throughout the day, or even shave chunks of it off as decoration of other desserts.
Once the white chocolate has melted, add in the lemon juice or lemon extract and stir until fully combined. From here, there are a couple of options for decorating the cookies. If you’re not too picky on the appearance of the cookie, you can use a butter knife or spoon to smear the lemon white chocolate onto the chookie. I use about a ½ – 1t of white chocolate per lemon cookie.
Option A - Uniform Piping
If you prefer a more uniform look, I recommend piping the white chocolate onto the cookie so it’s easier to shape. You can transfer the melted lemon white chocolate into a piping bag and use a very thin tip to make sure that you don’t overload the lemon cookie.
Option B - Natural Piping
My personal preference is to simply use the parchment paper that the white chocolate has been melted in and convert that into an ad-hoc piping bag. It saves an extra step for cleaning, and makes very pretty cookies as well. The parchment paper piping bag will be harder to maintain than the traditional piping bag so I recommend laying out your cookies on a plate that can be refrigerated first so you can move quickly.
Gather up the sides of the parchment paper and pinch sides together with your hand so that a point end is formed at the center of the melted white chocolate. You can use a clip to keep it together, or just continue to hold it with your hands.
Use a pair of foodsafe scissors to cut off a small part of the tip. Err on the side of cutting off a small tip since you can always increase the size later if needed. Support the parchment piping bag with one hand and squeeze with your other hand to pipe the white chocolate onto the lemon cookies.
I don’t recommend dipping the cookie directly into the white chocolate. Melted white chocolate is thicker than regular melted chocolate so you’ll run the risk of coating too much white chocolate onto your lemon cookie.
If you’re using fresh lemons, you can also add some lemon zest on top of the cookies to brighten the lemon thins!
After all the lemon thins have been decorated, transfer them into the refrigerator and wait for the cookies to harden. The cookies can be served as soon as the white chocolate topping has completely hardened!
After all the lemon thins have been decorated, transfer them into the refrigerator and wait for the cookies to harden. The cookies can be served as soon as the white chocolate topping has completely hardened!
Final Thoughts on Lemon Thins
Lemon Thins are a delicious, easy cookie that can be made a couple days in advance. I recommend storing them in the refrigerator to make sure they don’t melt.
Lemon Thins
Ingredients
Cookie Dough Ingredients
- ⅛ c all-purpose flour
- ⅜ c almond flour
- ¼ t baking soda
- ⅛ t salt
- ½ t lemon extract
- 1 T sugar
- 2 t water
- 1 ½ t olive oil
Chocolate Coating Ingredients
- ¼ c white chocolate
- ¼ t lemon extract
Instructions
Cookie Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Measure out all the dry ingredients of the cookie dough and mix together to blend well. Add in the lemon extract and stir thoroughly.
- Measure in the wet ingredients and mix until a soft, wet dough forms.
- Lay a parchment paper on a baking sheet. Take about 1 teaspoon of dough and place it on the tray. Flatten out with a spatula and roughly shape into a circular shape. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
- Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake for 15 minutes, turning the tray halfway through. The cookies will still appear soft when removed from the oven, but they’ll harden as they cool. Cool completely before going on to coat the cookies.
White Chocolate Coating Instructions
- Melt some white chocolate (either in the microwave, or through a water bath). Stir in the lemon extract until fully mixed in.
- Place the fully cooled cookie in the melted chocolate, top side face down. Flip the cookie so that the bottom side is also coated. Lift up the cookie and let the excess chocolate drain off before transferring the coated cookie onto a plate covered with parchment paper. Repeat until all of the cookies are covered.
- After all the cookies are coated, transfer the sheet into the refrigerator until the coated chocolate has hardened (usually around 30 minutes). Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve!
