These Raspberry Cookies are soft, fluffy, buttery, and bursting with the delicious flavors of fresh lemon and raspberries. Super quick and easy to make and everyone loves them!
Raspberry Cookie Recipe
Soft, pillowy, and cake-like, these amazing raspberry cookies are one of my absolute favorite cookie recipes. Like a breath of fresh air, these lemon raspberry cookies taste different than many of the beloved cookie classics (like chocolate chip or snickerdoodle). They taste like summer.
Don’t worry, though. These are still cookies. Buttery, sweet, and perfectly soft cookies complemented by fresh lemon and tart raspberries.
This is a cookie recipe you will find yourself making over and over.
Recipe Ingredients
- butter
- sugar
- vanilla extract
- egg
- fresh lemon juice
- lemon zest
- baking soda
- baking powder
- all-purpose flour
- fresh or frozen raspberries
I do not recommend making these cookies with bottled lemon juice concentrate. They will not taste good.
I can not speak for flour substitutes (almond flour, for example), plant-based butter or egg replacements, or sugar alternatives as I have not made this recipe any other way other than as it is written.
Fresh or Frozen Raspberries in Cookies?
You can make these raspberry cookies with both fresh and frozen raspberries.
If you choose to use fresh raspberries, make sure they are firm, not mushy. You can also try mixing them in a couple of teaspoons of flour before folding them into the batter. When using frozen raspberries, make sure they are completely frozen before adding them to the batter.
No matter if you use fresh or frozen raspberries, the most important thing is to not overmix in the batter.
Does one taste better than the other? Nope, they taste the exact same.
Recipe Tips
- This is a drop cookie recipe. Scoop and plop using a cookie scoop (approximately 1 tablespoon), that’s the way you do it. This means that we are not rolling these beauties into balls. The batter is far too sticky.
- Before you even START making the cookies, preheat your oven and line your baking sheets. This is especially important if you’re using frozen raspberries.
- Only when the oven is ready, the baking sheets are prepped, and the batter is mixed, should the raspberries be removed from the freezer and immediately added to the batter.
- Very gently fold the raspberries into the batter. It does not have to be perfectly mixed.
- Store the remaining cookie dough in the refrigerator until the first round of cookies has been baked, cooled, and removed from the baking sheet.
- I do not recommend making double or triple batches of this recipe at the same time UNLESS you divide the batter into separate bowls and store each individual bowl in the refrigerator (without the raspberries) until ready to bake.
Have you tried making this Raspberry Cookie Recipe?
Tell me about it in the comments below! I always love to hear your thoughts. And tag me #theforkedspoon on Instagram if you’ve made any of my recipes, I always love to see what you’re cooking in the kitchen.
RECIPE CARD
Raspberry Lemon Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter - softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg - at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 lemon - zested and juiced
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1.5 cup raspberries - frozen
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium power until light and fluffy (approximately 3 minutes). Reduce to low speed and add the vanilla extract, egg, salt, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl when needed.
- In a separate mixing bowl, sift together the baking powder, baking soda, and flour.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until just combined. Use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon and mix in the frozen raspberries (do not overmix!)
- Using a cookie scoop, drop the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet (approximately 1 heaping tablespoon per cookie). The dough is extremely sticky so it is much more difficult, messy, and time-consuming to use a regular spoon, so use a scooper if you have one.
- Bake for approximately 14-16 minutes or until they are no longer shiny on the top and they are just starting to turn golden brown around the edges.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Jessica’s Notes
- While the first sheet of cookies is baking, place the second half of cookie dough in the fridge to prevent the raspberries from thawing completely.
- Keep leftover cookies stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Optional: Before adding the raspberries, mix in 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- If you would like to make the cookie dough ahead of time and freeze them for later use, wait to add the raspberries until after you’ve thawed the dough and you’re ready to bake them.
- Recipe adapted from Bake. Eat. Repeat.
Nutritional Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.)
These turned out terrible. Tasted amazing but went completely flat. From reading the comments my lemon was probably too big. Would suggest in future actually measuring the lemon juice since the cookies were so affected by it. The frozen raspberries were also probably too big, but nothing in the recipe suggested to cut them down. Overall, wouldn’t recommend this one.
Salted or unsalted butter?
I generally use salted, but if you are on a low salt diet unsalted will work as you also add additional salt 🙂
Just made these for a cookie party. I took a bit of the flour away and added lemon jello instant pudding mix in its place. Absolutely delicious, bright, and fruity! I’m sure they’ll be a hit!
Thanks for the delicious feedback and rating, Jessie 🙂
These cookies are delicious! I made two batches to dial it in. The first ones didn’t come out too well, I found that the raspberries I used were simply too large, and did not have the ability to break down during baking. They remained one large clump in the cookie, and did not have the marbling appearance of even distribution throughout the cookie and they did not brown. I used frozen berries and baked at 350. The second batch I cut the frozen raspberries into quarters and folded gently in the batter. I also increased the baking temperature to 375. These cookies came out Perfect! Everyone’s technique and oven are slightly different. I will be making several dozen of these for a baby shower, coming up and wanted to test the recipe first. It’s definitely a winner! These cookies are beautiful in appearance, and the taste is incredible!
Thanks for your incredible feedback, Kim 😀
Hello! I’m very excited to try this recipe as I love these flavors. Have you or has anyone else tried making this with raspberry jam in place of raspberries? I ask because my household includes an elderly member who loves raspberry flavor but not the seeds. Normally I try to use all the ingredients exactly the way the recipe calls for, but I want to accommodate this person if I can! If I do try, I will report back!
Also, to the person who asked about not using zest… lemon zest does WONDERFUL things to baked goods! It only takes a little bit of effort to grate the zest and it’s so worth it! Just my two cents 🙂
Well, I went ahead and made this recipe with seedless raspberry jam in place of the raspberries (if you missed it in my original post, an elderly relative was concerned about raspberry seeds). The cookies taste great, their texture was probably changed a little bit by the jam, and the jam definitely oozed on the baking tray, but the paper caught it! I’d say they will very much work for you if you have this same concern!
My only suggestion (and it’s more for general taste preferences than my own) – they came out pretty tart! I had a lemon that was rather large, and if you don’t care for a strong lemon flavor (I happen to!) I might consider slightly increasing all the other ingredients (as it is the recipe only made 30 cookies for me, so you’ll get more cookies too! Or use a smaller lemon :)).
Looking forward to trying other recipes here and really appreciate that I don’t have to create a whole account just to leave a comment.
Hi! I have a question that might seem silly. Is it necessary to add the zest into it, or is plain lemon juice okay?
Not a silly question at all! Lemon zest adds a bright, aromatic flavor to the cookies that lemon juice alone doesn’t provide. The zest contains oils that give a more intense lemon flavor compared to just the juice. However, if you prefer or only have lemon juice, you can still use it; just keep in mind that the lemon flavor might be a bit milder. You could add a little extra juice to compensate, but be cautious as too much can affect the texture of the dough. Enjoy your baking!
I made these cookies. I made one batch as recipe, and second batch I added semi sweet chocolate chips. My family enjoyed them, but prefer the ones with no chocolate chips. They were a hit at our Canada Day celebration.
Made these yesterday. I zested the whole lemon but only half the juice. The batter is a huge lemon punch and delicious all alone at a lemon cookie. My butter was very soft and the cookies are cakey, which I like! I added chocolate chips and they are so good!
Yummy cookie with beautiful Summer flavors. The problem some people (including me) had with the cookies falling flat could have to do with the liquid-dry balance. The lemon I used was large & very juicy and so the amount of liquid probably needed balancing out with a little extra flour. I did notice my batter was not “very sticky” – that was a clue. I decided to add a bit of flour to the other half before baking, and indeed the batter became sticky and the cookies turned out more like the ones pictured. It would be great to have exact liquid measurements to solve this. Either way, they’re a delicious treat – thanks for posting!