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The sweetest Lemon Rose Shortbread Cookies. Lightly sweetened, buttery shortbread cookies hinted with lemon and vanilla, and finished generously with a sweet lemony glaze. These are easy, fun, so pretty, and so very delicious! The loveliest (most romantic) cookies to bake up any time this month.
Question…what’s your take on Valentine’s Day?
Do you want my honest, bah humbug opinion? I think it’s simply a made up holiday that some genius created to make an extra buck or two on romantic cards, fancy jewelry, and chocolates. Yes, those are my thoughts. Probably because that’s been my dad’s mantra ever since I was a little girl.
I know, I know. So depressing, right? I guess that’s kind of life growing up with all boys (1 dad, 5 brothers). However, on a more positive note, my dad did always follow that comment with kind of a sweet one. He said, you need to show someone you love them in little ways every day. Not just on the one day that’s become commercially synonymous with love.
All that said, I still have an appreciation for Valentine’s Day, just like most every other girl out there. I love more the concept of Valentine’s Day. The flowers, chocolates, and sweets in general, that are such a huge part of the day. And I respect that it celebrates love of all kinds. Meaning, if you’re single, you should still embrace V-day! My grandma was my one shining knight when it came to Valentine’s Day. No matter how far apart we were, she’d always send my mom and I some kind of v-day gift. Most often it was a cute card, some chocolates, and a fun stuffed animal. Nothing big by any means, but she always made Valentine’s Day fun.
Since my grandma passed, I want to carry on that tradition with my little sister, Asher. She never got to experience very many of those sweet cards and gifts. So this year I’m baking cookies, and on the hunt for the best cheesy Hallmark stuffed animal I can find. If you have ideas for me, let me know!
While I might still be on the hunt for the perfect stuffed animal, I have the cookie part all figured out.
Enter these dainty, romantic, lemony, shortbread cookies, that are truly just as precious and delicious as they look. Normally, I’m all about chocolate desserts. But as I slowly started to envision these cookies in my head, I knew they’d be cookies that I would come to love. Both for their pretty looks and their buttery sweet deliciousness.
Like any other shortbread style cookie, these are really, really simple.
You need just five simple ingredients, butter, sugar, lemon, vanilla, and flour. If you want to be on the fancier side, some dried rose petals and a blood orange are great additions. But they’re completely optional…though very delicious.
Creaming together the butter, lemon, and roses (if you’re using) is the key to a good shortbread cookie. You want the butter to be light and fluffy, and both the lemon and rose petals to infuse the butter. This process takes a minute or two. But then all that’s left to do is add the flour, roll the cookies, chill, and bake.
Honestly, these are some of the simplest cookies, but yet still so delicious.
Oh and my other trick? Salted butter. I’ve always used salted butter. It’s what my mom baked with when I was growing up. The extra touch of salt is especially delicious when making extra buttery cookies. I know it may not be traditional, but trust me, it’s what you should use.
For the glaze, I did a simple Meyer lemon glaze. I colored it with a couple drops of blood orange juice, which gave the glaze the daintiest pink color, exactly what I wanted. With food coloring you tend to end up with these unnatural neon like colors. But the blood orange juice works so perfectly to create a light shade of pink.
To decorate, I actually just shredded real roses. Yes, roses are edible, but make sure to use orange roses or culinary roses. Just cut using a sharp knife and sprinkle them over the cookies. Like I’ve said before, flowers are my “sprinkle” of choice.
These are obviously great for Valentine’s Day, but honestly? I’ll be making them year-round. I already have plans to recreate them for my brother’s wedding this September. The sister-in-law to be has already put in her request. Can’t blame her, these do kind of scream “wedding cookies”.
Good news for me? These cookies are so easy. Good news for everyone else? They’re delicious, and well…oh so lovely!
If you make these lemon rose shortbread cookies, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Lemon Rose Shortbread Cookies
Servings: 20 about cookies
Calories Per Serving: 1079 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon dried rose petals, finely crushed (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Lemon Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons Meyer (or regular) lemon juice
- 1-2 drops blood orange juice (optional)
Instructions
- 1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, lemon zest, dried roses, if using, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the flour and beat until combined, and the dough forms a ball.2. Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of lightly floured parchment to 1/4 inch thickness. Make sure you're using enough flour or your dough will stick. Cut out the cookies using a heart shaped cookie cutter or your favorite shape. Carefully transfer the cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and place in the freezer, freeze until firm, about 10-20 minutes. Roll out the leftover scraps, and repeat with the dough.3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cookies on the middle rack of the oven for 12-14 minutes or until just lightly golden. Cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.4. To make the glaze. In a medium bowl, beat together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon water until smooth and drizzly. If needed, thin the glaze by adding water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until drizzly. Stir 1-2 drops blood orange juice if a pink color is desired.5. Dip the tops of cookies into the glaze, letting the excess drip off. Transfer to a wire rack and decorate as desired with fresh roses. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Hi! These look beautiful and I would love to try them!! Just curious- where did you get your cookie cutters for this recipe? I love the wavy heart one! Thanks!
Hey Tanya,
So sorry these cookie cutters are old, I do not have a link for them. I hope you love the cookies! xTieghan
Yummy! Mine cooked for about an extra 5 minutes, may have been a bit thicker? I used homemade lemon bitters and they tasted wonderful!
Hey Molly,
Thanks for trying the recipe! If they were thicker then yes that would make sense. xTieghan
I’m thinking of making these lemon(/blood orange) and bergamot instead of rose! Just extract in the icing and/or perhaps some dried Earl Grey tea in the dough. Have you worked with bergamot extract before? And/or do you think this would be good!?
Hey Kari,
So sorry I’ve not tested this, let me know how it turns out! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
What a beautiful cookie! I just tried this out and they were wonderful. Great recipe!
Thank you so much Gina! xTieghan
Hi Thank you for the recipe! If I wanted to decorate these with royal icing, would they be sturdy enough? And could I freeze them for up to a week? Making treats for family and friends, I love the flavor of shortbread but sometimes it is too crumbly.
Hi Ruhi,
Yes I think that would be totally fine! Yes you can freeze these. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Unfortunately, mine came out tasting very strongly of the flour. I haven’t glazed yet. What could I have done wrong, and is there anything I can do to salvage them?
Hey Sophia! I am sorry you had trouble. Was there anything you did differently at all? Any ingredients different? Method of baking? Any info will be helpful to help me problem solve and figure out what might be happening for you. It’s hard to know without knowing any details. That said, the frosting should add plenty of flavor, so I think the cookies can still be saved!
Hope I can help you! xTieghan
My dough came out really crumbly??? I don’t know where I went wrong
Hi Prerana! Is there anything that could have gone wrong in the initial making? I would love to help you out, I just need to know a bit more! Please let me know! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan! I just made these and my whole kitchen smells delicious! Very creative – kudos for coming up with such a beautiful and delicious recipe! I could not find safely edible roses in my hometown, so I ordered dried online. Like another baker before me, I found I needed to add water to the batter to make it form a ball – it was very dry – next time I’d reduce the flour by 1/2 cup. I didn’t have a blood orange, but crushing and using the juice from a strawberry worked just as well. I’m sharing them with my lady friends this weekend for a belated “galentine” day – we’re gathering to watch the first Outlander show of the 5th season on Stars. I may have to order your recipe book if they’re all as good as this one!
Hi Kelly! I am so glad these cookies turned out so well for you! I hope your friends love them! xTieghan
My 14 year old daughter made these for her friends for Galentine’s Day. They are beautiful and delicious! We did not have dried rose petals on hand but I did have rose water. She put one teaspoon of rosewater in the dough and it was perfect. There is a hint of rose flavor without being overpowering. In the words of my husband, “Those are really yummy! They don’t taste like soap.” That’s high praise from him for anything rose flavored. (I may have once accidentally put too much rose in something and he’s never forgotten it!) The blood orange juice gives such a delicate shade of pink to the glaze. These are such a perfect Valentine’s Day treat! Or brunch, or afternoon tea, or baby shower, or bridal shower, or…
Hi Sarah! I am so so glad these cookies turned out amazing for you! Thank you so much for trying them and I hope your daughter had a wonderful Galentine’s Day! So sweet! xTieghan
The best if not the cheesiest stuffed animal (at least according to my granddaughters) is a microwaveable kitty. They warm them up and take them to bed and the luuurve them.
Those are so great I have heard! Thank you Bebe! xTieghan
Can you share a link for teh cookie cutters you used? They’re beautiful!
Hey Jenn! I am sorry, I actually do not have the link. This was a cookie cutter that my mom passed down to me. Wish I could have helped more!! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Look amazing! Can I refrigerate the dough overnight and then cut it?
Hey Jenny! Yes, that works great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
I added some rose water to the cookies (1/2 tsp each) and icing since I didn’t have any edible rose petals easily available. It added just a light little something extra! So good!!
Thank you so much Sarah! xTieghan
Does the glaze set hard or soft? Kz i may have to stack them for storage/transport. Lemme know.
Hi Chamila! The sets hards. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
I keep thinking about these cookies and need to make them. No idea if I can buy edible roses locally but blood oranges are on sale, I have rosewater and I bought a set of heart shaped cookie cutters at a thrift store last year, along with a bunny set. Can you say blush pink easter bunny cookies?
So cute! Love the idea of blush pink easter bunnies! I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan