Vegan Lemon Cookies with Chia seeds. 1 Bowl, 7 Ingredients. Zesty, Bite size Soft cookies for snacking or weekend baking. Vegan Recipe. Easily Gluten-free, Nut-free
We got a few days of break from the heat, so I baked these snack cookies! They are zesty, soft, melt in the mouth, citrusy, chewy from the chia seeds, easy and fun.
This summer, I have been craving lemon in muffin form, in chia pudding form, doughnut form (so good!) and pound cake. And of course a lot of Shikanji, which is Indian Lemonade or Limeade with lemon/lime juice, salt, sweetener, kala namak(Indian sulphur black salt), black pepper and cumin. The spiced lemonade is amazingly refreshing and also another use of kala namak.
These cookies also have a great lemony flavor. Make a double batch of these lemon cookies to snack on through the day. Lemon juice and lemon zest (or use lime juice and zest for lime cookies), coconut oil, some non dairy yogurt/applesauce, chia seeds and flour. 7 Main ingredients, 1 Bowl and ready within 30 minutes.
More Cookies from the blog
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- Chickpea Peanut Butter Cookies
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- GF Molasses Cookies
While you are here, pls see how we can help people affected by hurricane Harvey, and animals affected. Also check what your local organizations are doing and they might need donations or volunteers. Millions of People affected in floods in South Asia over many countries, over 1400 have dies in floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Press the dough balls on parchment lined sheet.
Vegan Lemon Cookies with Chia Cookies
Ingredients
Wet:
- Zest of a lemon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp non dairy yogurt or applesauce
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 3 tbsp semi solid coconut oil
- 1/3 cup (66.67 g) sugar , unrefined raw or other
Dry:
- 1/4 cup (28 g) almond flour or use more flour
- 1 cup (125 g) flour (unbleached all purpose or white whole wheat flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp (0.13 tsp) salt
- sugar and salt for coating
Instructions
- Add all the wet ingredients to a bowl and mix well until the sugar dissolves. Let it sit for a minute. (Don’t wait for too long else chia seeds absorb all the moisture. )
- Add flours and baking powder and salt and mix in until it is a soft dough. Add a good pinch of turmeric for color if you wish. If the dough is too sticky, add a tbsp more flour. If too dry, sprinkle in a few drops of water or oil and mix in. Smooth out the dough and Chill for 10-15 mins. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Take small portions of the dough and roll into a ball. Mix 1 tbsp sugar and a good pinch of salt in a small bowl. Roll the ball in the sugar bowl, then press the ball to a flat cookie on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 11 mins. Cool for 5 minutes and serve. Store on the counter for upto 2 days. Refrigerate for upto a week, freeze for months.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
My dough was extremely dry as the chia seeds soaked up all the moisture! I think you should definitely add a tip to mix in the chia seeds in the end.
I ended up using water to make the dough wet but it became too wet! It then Firmed up a little in the fridge.
They baked quite alright but not lemony enough. They have some sort of a weird texture which is kind of rubbery and not very cookie like.
They are also a little salty due to the rolling in the end.
Didnt enjoy it enough! Sorry 🙁
Oh no. The extra water would affect the texture. I’ll add a note to not wait to combine dry and wet. I add chia seeds to wet as else they stay too crunchy.
I made these with lemon and lime instead of just lemon and they were DIVINE! The added bit of salt and sugar on the outside was *chef’s kiss*
Ooh sounds delish! I’m so glad you enjoyed these!
A neighbor made these for us at Christmas and ever since my husband has been asking me to make them for him. I am so happy to have this recipe now! These cookies are so good!!! Soft and melt in your mouth!!
I just wanted to say I am a huge fan if these for a long time now 🙂 I keep making these healthy cookiew at least once per month or so, but I modified them to be thumbnail cookies, which I fill with fresh homemade berry chia jam and bake – they are just amazing with raspberry or any tangy chia jam;) So thank you Richa!
Why does it say ginger in the video? I believe it is lemon zest!
Good eye, cannot edit the video.
I’ve had this on my list to try for a while. Made them tonight and they did not disappoint! Used meyer lemons and zest from our tree and they are perfect. It’s a great recipe to enjoy for breakfast and with tea.
awesome
Do you think I need to do anything differently if I want to make them as round balls? Thank you for the tasty-sounding recipe!
bake a minute longer
Made them tonight and these might just be my favorite cookie! I followed the poppy sub for chia and mmmm mmmm!! I can’t figure out how to attach a photo to this comment, but they look great too! Thanks so much
The video shows the recipe involving fresh ginger but I don’t see ginger specified in the written recipe. Is ginger part of the recipe for these? If so, how much? 1 tablespoon?
Thanks! These look so good, can’t wait to try the recipe out
its lemon zest. Error in caption on the video
Thanks for your reply! Do you recommend a tablespoon of zest?
loosely packed 1 tbsp
I did a double batch of these cookies and the result was great: I followed the recipe to the letter and the dough was perfect! The cookies are very nice, with a lovely lemony taste, great consistency and the added crunchiness of the chia seeds. I will certainly make them again, thank you so much for this recipe!
awesome! thanks!
Every once in awhile I get a craving for lemon cake or cookies and these were just perfect and so easy. My new “go to” recipe for a quick fix. I didn’t have enough granular sugar (maple sugar in this case) on hand so I reduced the sweetener and used 2 T. maple syrup and 1 T. maple sugar. They still came out fine but i also used whole wheat pastry flour so perhaps it absorbs a bit more moisture than white flour. I also have been using up the “butter flavor” nutiva brand coconut oil that I purchased and I did not enjoy the artificial buttery taste as it overpowered the lemon a bit, but I am sure with plain coconut oil this would not be an issue. I think next time I will make sure I have enough coconut or maple sugar on hand and use a bit more lemon. The balance was perfect in the recipe but I like some extra punch. These are awesome!
Can I use dairy yogurt instead of dairy free yogurt? Thanks
This is like sunshine in my mouth! I will add some turmeric next time so the cookies don’t look so pale. I think my dough might have been a little dry but I didn’t want to risk adding water or oil. The texture and color is like shortbread as I made it, which is delicious too! Very easy, minimal effort, and fantastic results!
awesome! you can add a sprinkle of water to bring it together. the moisture content of the yogurts vary. just add a sprinkle at a time, 2-3 times, so that it isnt too much
How can i store these longer to last for Christmas cookies? Will they grow stale after 2 days?
refrigerate for upto 7 days. The zest can get a stale flavor if left out on the counter longer than a day. The cookies retain their texture in the fridge, so keep them there
Can I use whole wheat flour instead of almond?
yes
I used half chia seeds and half poppy seeds…SO GOOD!!! Also, I didn’t have any almond flour so I just finely crushed up some raw almonds in my ninja. Will definitely be making these cookies again! Thank you for the recipe:)
awesome!
Hi Richa!!!can I omit the baking powder and what alternative shall I use if I can omit the baking powder???
you can use a 1/4 tsp baking soda.
I made this yesterday and they were amazing! I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfectly. Highly recommend!
Love these! Just made them with all purpose flour instead of almond and they turned out great! The cookies are soft and delicious, I’ll definitely be making them again!
My whole family loves these cookies. I followed the recipe except for these few changes:
I doubled the recipe ( I have teens)
3 Tbsp refined coconut oil ( I only had that much left or I would have used all refined coconut oil)
3 Tbsp vegan becel
I used apple sauce instead of the non dairy yoghurt
I added Vanilla 2 tsp for the double recipe
I’m going to try the recipe again, and omit the lemon, and add almond extract and chopped up amarena cherries.
Hello richa!!omg these look delicious. Do you think i can use coconut flour instead of almond? Or any other flour, i run out of almond flour. Thank you
just use more regular flour
Hi Richa, I had never baked anything with citrus before, and these were truly a sight for sore eyes. The taste and texture are interesting, I substituted basil seeds for chia and added 3 tbsp of lime juice. I plan to increase the lime juice to 4 tbsp next time and also increase the sweetness. Thanks for this great recipe!
great! also add more zest for a stronger lime flavor as the juice gets diluted.
Hi can I use Coconut cream instead of the yogurt? Yogurt is not so easy to find in Sout Africa.
Thanks for your easy recipes.
yes, that should work
Amazing recipe, cant wait to try. Question: for gf option use 1 cup of gf flour mix you gave mentioned in notes plus 1/4 cup almond flour correct?
yes
H, can I use spelt flower?
yes. the color will be darker
made these and they are so good! made them with gluten free flour and came out perfectly, very easy & would totally make again!
Awesome!
Made this for Christmas cookies for my vegan granddaughter. They were all gone very quickly by everybody!! This was a hit. Will definitely be making these frequently.
Richa, thank you for this perfect recipe. I have just one question. Can we replace coconut oil with any other oil like canola or olive oil? I used 1/2 cup of almond flour instead of 1/4, and replaced AP flour with whole wheat flour.
What do you mean by semi solid? Is that liquid coconut oil?
not entirely melted and not entirely solid. Like soft solid. a bit here and there will work just fine
Made this for Christmas cookies for my vegan granddaughter. They were all gone very quickly by everybody!! This was a hit. Will definitely be making these frequently.
Richa, thank you for this perfect recipe. I have just one question. Can we replace coconut oil with any other oil like canola or olive oil?
Awesome! yes canola or safflower will work
Hello Richa can I substitute the coconut oil – maybe with applesauce? I don’t do oil 🙁
Omit the oil, there is already moisture from yogurt so if you add apple sauce, it will make muffins.
Hey ! I just made them with rice flour and a bit of coconut flour, used coconut sugar and added fresh ginger + cardamon ! Look forward to try they are in the oven right now, looking great 😀
Thanks for the recipe !
I massively messed these up. For the sugar I used agave and my mixture was so wet, do I added more flour but it was still so sticky. Final result was a rubbery doughy mess :'( will try again with normal caster sugar instead of the agave!!
sugar is dry, so agave will not work as a substitute. You can substitute the non dairy yogurt with equal amount of agave and add a bit of stevia for additional sweet.
Yeh it was such a silly mistake! My fault for trying to bake too late at night and not reading the recipe properly! Thank you, I will give it another go 🙂
These are fabulous! Perfect lemon flavour…not overpowering or barely there which is hard to accomplish (my lemon was big, so more zest…) I know what my Christmas cookie is going to be this year! Thanks Richa =)
I made a double batch of these cookies and they are amazing! Super easy and yummy. The lemon flavour is quite fresh, and the chia seeds make them a bit unique. I might add more lemon the next time I make them just because I like a really strong flavour. I also used a bit extra water. I forgot to add the turmeric this time, but I’ll definitely try adding it next time. Thanks for another amazing and easy recipe, Richa!
These cookies are divine! We made a few adjustments:
We don’t do sugar so we subbed 25 drops of stevia extract instead of ⅓ C of sugar and didn’t roll them in sugar. We also used only 1 C of semiwhole spelt flour instead of 1 C flour + ¼ C almond flour.
Other than that we followed your recipe to a T and they turned out amazing! Easy enough for my three year old to make and it was so fun.
Thank you so much again!
Can i substitute the all purpose flour with gluten free flour in order to make it gluten free?
Yes, see the notes to make it gluten-free or use your own gluten-free blend.
Richa, these turned out absolutely lovely, thank you for the recipe, I will certainly make it again! I had to add a little more flour and also added extra almond flour to get a consistency that was manageable and not too sticky but I guess I also had heaping spoons of yogurt and perhaps a little more lemon juice than asked for… I can’t wait to share these cookies, I’m sure they will be loved!
I’ve made these twice now and each time they are delicious- love the use of chia seeds instead of poppy seeds!
I am getting ready to make these and I may be dense but what is “semi solid” coconut oil?
its not entirely melted and not very solid. You can use solid as well.
Working with a nut allergy… Do you think that we could sub coconut flour for the almond flour? Or do you have another suggestion?
Just add more flour.
I made these yesterday and we loved them. At least half the food we eat comes from your book or website. Thanks and keep up the great work!
Thats awesome!!
I made a gluten free version using a mix of crashed almonds, brown rice flower, GF crushed oats, buckweat flour and arrowroot powder. I used coconut suger as a sweetener. The dough came out too sticky to handle the same way as described in the recipe, even after I had added more flour into the mix. So I just spooned it on the baking sheet and sprinkled with coconut suger. The cookies came out great. 🙂 Absolutely delisious! I’m going to try out more of your recipies. Thank you!
Awesome! the dough would depend on the amount of flours. Almond doesnt absorb as much moisture. You can add 1 to 2 tbsp coconut flour to absorb all the excess moisture.
Perfect, thank you! I’ll experiment with coconut flour next time. 🙂
Just made these, they are so good! Very Morerish. Made your Lemon blueberry pound cake yesterday and its all gone! Love it! Thanks again
Hi RIcha,
Can I use grape seed oil instead of coconut oil? Or something else?
thanks
Such a bright and cheerful little treat. Sounds great!
Richa I am confused! Should the chia seeds have been pre-soaked? I used them dry and my final mixture was sooooo dry, i had to add about an extra 1/4 cup rice milk, plus the juice of a whole extra lemon, plus about an extra tablespoon oil. Even then it was a very dry biscuit dough. I can’t understand how you say you ‘can’ leave out the chia seeds because they soak up so much liquid it would completely alter the texture of the final dough?
Mine are in the oven now – hopefully they will be ok !
They do if they are in liquid, but once the dough is made they absorb little moisture and very slowly. What flour did you use?
I used a sifted spelt. But I put the chia seeds in with the wet ingredients as instructed and maybe I should have got the sugar to dissolve first ?
By the way, they came out pretty well in the end! I might try again with adding the seeds to the wet ingredients at the last minute so they don’t get a chance to suck up all the moisture!
Yes, add the chia seeds in the end. the dissolved sugar will thiken the liquid making it harder to absorb. the chia seeds i have take hours to really hydrate. If yours are hydrating rally quickly, then allow them least amount of time in liquid.
Well, I really “messed with the recipe”. I ground up the chia seeds. I also used a whole peeled lemon & blended it with coconut sugar, omitted the yogurt. Subbed cashew meal for the almond flour (allergy) and used sorghum flour (to make GF). The dough turned out soft and I thought the cookies turned out delicious.
spelt generally will absorb more moisture than all purpose. Start with 3/4 cup and add more if needed.
Thank you, I have been dying to eat something lemony and do not have chia seeds but I see you have said I can make these without them. THANK YOU, for giving the GF option!!! Can’t wait to make this for the Labor day weekend gathering. Will post how it tastes.
Replaced chia seeds with poppy seeds, which also works. Delicious! Thank you so much for another great recipe Richa!
Delicious! Would this recipe also work with ground flaxseed?
you can make these without any seeds.
Just made these and they are so good! Thank you!!
yay!!
These look great Richa. Pinned for later.
Can the refined sugar be replace with other healthier sweetener like maple syrup etc? If so, how much? Thanks.
I use unrefined raw sugar. Maple will add a lot more liquid. Maybe replace the yogurt with maple syrup and add some stevia or 2 tbsp unrefined sugar
Can I replace butter for the coconut oil
yes use vegan butter