Soft, chewy graham cracker cookie base and rich cream cheese frosting. All the bright flavor of lemon cheesecake in a soft, bakery-style cookie!
These are NOT regular sugar cookies, these feature my perfected graham cracker cookie base, and taste like a graham cracker cheesecake crust, just like I use in my blueberry cheesecake cookies.
Quick Overview
- Ready In: ~45 minutes, with cooling time
- Serves: 12-14
- Bake Time: 10-12 minutes
- Dietary Info: dairy, gluten
- Best for: Baby showers, tea parties, cookie exchanges, holiday tables, or any special occasion you want! A spring and summer dessert for sure.
Summarize & Save This Recipe On
Imagine a cookie and a slice of lemon cheesecake having a delicious baby. Most other lemon cheesecake cookies are either stuffed or are similar to sugar cookies, but I'm a little gushy about the soft graham cracker cookies and absolutely love them as the base. The tart lemon glaze on TOP of the lemon cheesecake frosting is much needed to balance out the sweet!
If you're a fan of cheesecake cookies or other Crumbl copycat cookies, you should check out my strawberry cheesecake cookies or raspberry donut cookies. Personal favorites for things like Fathers day would be more chocolate based like german chocolate cookies or cherry chocolate cheesecake cookies, that still have a little fruit in them.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Lemon Cheesecake in cookie form : Soft cookie base (the graham cracker in them is amazing), creamy lemon cream cheese frosting, and a tart lemon glaze on top. No fussy lemon curd!
- Freezer friendly: I've baked and frozen the cookies and frosting separately, then thawed overnight the day before I needed them and assembled them in the morning! Worked perfectly.
- Better than Crumbl! These have some salt in them and are perfectly baked. They are RICH and a calorie commitment but they are showstoppers!
- No stuffing required: while I love a good stuffed cookie (hello caramel stuffed snickerdoodles), these have the cheesecake frosting on top, which makes them a lot easier to make!
- No chilling the dough!!! I just don't have the patience for it, so I won't make you either.
📝 Ingredient Notes
- Cream cheese - for the "cheesecake" flavored frosting. Make sure to use full fat (doesn't matter what brand) for the right texture.
- Sugar - Brown sugar for the cookie dough for the flavor and texture, it makes the cookies moist and gives them a lovely flavor. Powdered sugar for the frosting.
- Graham Crackers - blended or crushed to wet sand texture. These are used in the cookie dough to make the delicious graham cracker flavored base for the cookie. Name brand or generic is fine, just make sure to weigh them so you get accurate results! I have found using different brands can make the dough more dry or less dry depending on how dense the graham crackers are, so weighing is your friend.
- Salted butter - used in the cookies and in the frosting, using butter in the frosting makes it a little more stable. Do NOT use margarine or a butter substitute. It needs to be real butter, salted preferred.
- Fresh Lemons - bottled lemon juice just doesn't have the same flavor, fresh is best!
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Cream Cheese - mascarpone cheese could be switched in, it tastes delicious!
- Brown Sugar - you can use dark or light brown sugar in the dough, but I use light brown most often and love it.
Need To Substitute an Ingredient?
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🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. In a mixing bowl, combine softened butter and brown sugar. Mix on high speed for at least 3 minutes with an electric mixer to "cream" them together and begin dissolving the sugar.
- Step 2. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix for 1 minute, until the egg is fully mixed in and the mixture is fluffy.
- Step 3.In a blender, pulse the graham crackers until they become a fine powder, or crush them in a gallon-sized bag with a rolling pin. Just make sure to crush them into a fine powder.
- Step 4. Add the graham cracker powder, flour, baking soda, and salt to the cookie dough and mix on low speed until everything is mixed in, about 1 minute.
- Step 5. Scoop the cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets with a large 3-4 Tablespoon cookie scoop. Smash the cookie dough slightly so they are about 2 inches wide.
- Step 6. Bake at 350 ℉ for 10-11 minutes, they will be starting to crack around the edges.
- Step 7. Make your frosting while the cookies are cooling! In a mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon zest and mix well.
- Step 8. Add butter, cream cheese, cornstarch and vanilla and mix at medium/high speed with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Step 9. Once the cookies are completely cool, transfer the cream cheese frosting to a piping bag and pipe onto each cookie starting on the outside, frosting in a spiral to the center.
- Step 10. Make the lemony glaze by combining the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl and whisking until smooth.
- Step 11. Drizzle the glaze over the frosted cookies, and optionally place a small, thinly sliced lemon triangle and/or lemon zest on top of each cooke and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs.
Tips For Success
• Large cookies (3-4 Tablespoon balls) take longer to bake than smaller cookies. This batch makes 12-13 larger cookies that bake for 10-12 minutes. Smaller, regular-sized cookies using a 1.5-2 Tablespoon cookie scoop will take 8-10 minutes to bake.
• You can spread the frosting onto the cookies with a knife but it looks amazing if done with a large round frosting tip and it's easy cleanup with disposable pastry bags. I like to use the reusable pastry bags just to have less waste.
📌 Troubleshooting
- Dry cookies - overbaking or too much flour/graham crackers. Make sure you weigh your ingredients.
- Why did my cookies spread too much? Not enough flour, or butter was too soft when mixing.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, I would freeze the baked cookies unfrosted and freeze the frosting separately, then thaw overnight to assemble the day of serving.
If you can, I'd much rather refrigerate the frosting for up to 4-5 days instead of freezing and thawing to preserve the best texture.
Cream cheese in the frosting needs to be refrigerated, it can be left out for about 3-4 hours at room temperature for serving.
You could, but fresh lemon juice tastes much better.
More Showstopping Cookie Recipes
If you need more ideas for fancy cookie recipes, I've got you covered!
Did You Try This Recipe? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make sure to leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card. I love hearing from you, and it is so helpful to other readers! Better yet, share it with family and friends. Thank you!!
📝 Printable Recipe
Lemon Cheesecake Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- 1½ cups light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 graham crackers (2 cups crumbs) 190 g
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the frosting:
- 2½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest from one lemon
- ½ cup salted butter softened
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the lemon glaze:
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cookies:
- In a mixing bowl, combine butter and brown sugar. Mix on high speed for at least 3 minutes with an electric mixer to "cream" them together and begin dissolving the sugar.1 cup salted butter, 1½ cups light brown sugar
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix for 1 minute, until the egg is fully mixed in and the mixture is fluffy.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a blender, pulse the graham crackers until they become a fine powder, or you can smash them in a gallon sized bag with a rolling pin, just be sure to make sure they get very well smashed into a fine powder like sand.12 graham crackers (2 cups crumbs)
- Add the graham cracker powder, flour, baking soda, and salt (cinnamon optional) to the cookie dough and mix on low speed until everything is mixed in, about 1 minute.2 cups all purpose flour , 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- Scoop the cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets with a large 3-4 Tablespoon cookie scoop. Smash the cookies slightly so they are about 2 inches.
- Bake at 350 ℉ for 10-12 minutes, they will be starting to crack around the edges. Let cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting:
- In a mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon zest and mix well.2½ cups powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- Add butter, cream cheese, cornstarch and vanilla and mix at medium/high speed with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 1 minute.½ cup salted butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Once the cookies are completely cool, transfer the cream cheese frosting to a piping bag and pipe onto each cookie starting on the outside, frosting in a spiral to the center.
- Make the lemony glaze by combining the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl and whisking until smooth.1½ cups powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons lemon juice , ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Drizzle the glaze over the frosted cookies. Optional: place a small, thinly sliced lemon triangle and/or lemon zest on top of each cookie and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, I'm Sara!
Registered Nurse by day, food blogger by weekend. Perfect dip tester & snack quester. I love short walks on the beach and long naps. Sharing my love for food, one bite at a time.
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