These Pink Lemonade Cookies only require 6 ingredients and bring a little sunshine to your life! This recipe starts with a soft lemon cookie that’s baked in the oven and topped with a sweet-tart raspberry lemon filling. Easy to make, buttery, and packed with raspberry-lemon flavor, these bright, tangy cookies will brighten up your day.
6-Ingredient Pink Lemonade Thumbprint Cookies
A lemon sugar cookie base holds a lemon raspberry filling that is a beautiful pink color from just one raspberry. Both lemon juice and zest give the cookie and the filling a bright lemon flavor.
Remember when you were a kid, and you guzzled down pink lemonade by the glass full on a sizzling hot day? Well, these cookies bring that same refreshing taste in cookie form. They’re similar to lemon curd cookies but topped with a homemade raspberry lemon filling instead of lemon curd.
The recipe starts off with making the cookies, which are kind of like a lemon sugar cookie. The dough only contains a few basic ingredients like flour, salt, butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and zest. When the cookies are almost done, you’ll press an indentation in the center to hold the filling.
Once the cookies are baked, it’s time to make the filling.
The filling is more of a lemon frosting that has a slight raspberry flavor from just 1 raspberry. You can boost the flavor and the color by using more, but you only need 1 to get that beautiful pink color. You could also go with a thicker frosting and try a raspberry buttercream frosting.
These cookies are the perfect springtime or summertime cookie, or if you’ve got those winter blues and need a tart pick-me-up. I always try to make a batch for valentines day. If you want an all pink dessert tray, add some pink crinkle cookies for you party.
Try serving with a cold glass of homemade lemonade or iced tea lemonade.
Why You’ll Be Obsessed With These Pink Lemonade Cookies
- Bright and tangy: The lemon-infused cookies and filling give you that hit of tangy flavor.
- Make-ahead friendly: This recipe makes a ton of cookies, so you can make them ahead of time and freeze them for later with or without the filling.
- Simple: This recipe requires 5 basic ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen!
What You’ll Need
- Pantry staples: You’ll need all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, salt, and powdered sugar.
- Lemon zest and lemon juice: You’ll need to freshly zest and juice lemons for the best flavor.
- Raspberry: You only need one raspberry to get the perfect pink color, but you can always add more if you like.
Making Raspberry Lemonade Cookies From Scratch
Step One: Make the Dough
Mix your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy, then add lemon zest and juice. Combine everything to form the dough.
Step Two: Shape and Chill
Roll the cookie dough into small balls and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Pop them in the freezer to chill briefly.
Step Three: Bake the Lemon Sugar Cookies
Partially bake the chilled dough balls, then press an indentation into the center of each while still warm. Finish baking until the cookies are set. Let them cool completely on wire racks.
Step Four: Make the Filling
Whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, and a raspberry together to create a smooth filling.
Step Five: Fill and Finish
Sprinkle the cooled cookies with powdered sugar, spoon in the filling, and let it set before serving. Enjoy!
Make Them Your Own
- Filling: Replace the raspberry with a strawberry, blackberry, or blueberry to get a slightly different color and flavor, or try adding lemon curd instead.
- Raspberry: Boost the raspberry flavor by adding a few more raspberries to the filling. This will deepen the color and intensify the raspberry flavor.
A Few Things to Note
- Cool: Let the cookies cool completely before adding the filling.
- Beat: Make sure to thoroughly beat the butter and sugar to aerate it. This will create air bubbles and create a soft, fluffy texture.
- Room temperature: Use room temperature unsalted butter. If you’re in a rush, learn how to soften butter quickly.
Storage and Freezing Tips
These cookies will last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To freeze, place the cookies on a baking sheet and flash-freeze for an hour before placing the cookies in an airtight container.
Make-Ahead Tip
These cookies are perfect for making ahead. Here’s how to do it:
- Option 1: Once you make the dough and roll it into balls, flash-freeze the dough balls for an hour before transferring them to a bag or container for up to 3 months. Let the dough thaw in the fridge overnight before baking and finishing the rest of the recipe.
- Option 2: Freeze the cookies after baking. To make sure the filling stays intact, flash-freeze for an hour before transferring them to a container. You can stack them on top of each other once they’re frozen without smearing the filling.
Don’t Forget!
Like and review this post – it helps our website grow so we can give you more delicious Southern recipes!
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 ½ cups flour
- ¾ cup powdered sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter room temp
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Filling
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 raspberry
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1/4 cup powdered sugar miixture until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add lemon zest and juice and beat to combine. Add flour and mix until combined.
- Roll the dough into balls using a small ice cream scoop and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325º.
- Remove the cookie dough balls from the freezer and place immediately into the oven. Bake for 10 minutes then remove and use a rounded measuring spoon to make an indentation into the hot cookies. Return to the oven and bake an additional 12-15 minutes until the bottoms are slightly brown. The top of the cookies will not be browned. Let cool on a wire rack before filling.
Filling:
- Add 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, lemon juice and 1 single raspberry to a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Sprinkle the cooled cookies with powdered sugar and spoon in about ½ teaspoon of raspberry filling into the center.
Notes
- You can add more raspberries to increase the flavor.
- You can change up the filling by using blueberries, blackberries or strawberries.
Such a bright and happy cookie! I was confused because it says to mix the powdered sugar with the flour and also with the butter. Since I’d already mixed the dry ingredients, that’s what I did and it seemed to be ok. The cookies were a tad dry, so maybe that is why? Will make again.
I could have made that clearer, you were correct. I have updated the recipe card to make the directions a little clearer. Thanks.
Such a great mid winter, spring, or even summer cookie! It was easy to make and the flavors matched nicely. I might add a bit of freeze dried raspberries to the frosting next time to give a bit more raspberry flavor.
Freeze dried fruit adds so much flavor, that’s a great idea.