These lemon poppy seed cookies are lemon cookies filled with lemon cheesecake. It has a little lemon piped on top with cream cheese frosting. They are easy to make, too!
These lemon poppy seed cookies are packed with lemon flavor. They taste amazing, then you get to the cheesecake center and they get even better! They are the best part of lemon poppy seed muffins, cheesecake, and delicious cookies all in one!
For more cookie recipes, try Oreo Cheesecake Cookies, Chocolate Fudge Cookies, and Chocolate Caramel Cookies.
Jump to:
- Why This Lemon Poppyseed Cookies Recipe Works
- Ingredient Notes for Soft Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Ingredient Substitutions
- Step By Step Instructions - Lemon Cheesecake Filling
- Step By Step Instructions - Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Step By Step Instructions - Cream Cheese Frosting
- Expert Baking Tips
- FAQ
- Recipe Variations
- Special Tools
- Storing and Freezing
- 📖 Recipe
Why This Lemon Poppyseed Cookies Recipe Works
- Fresh lemon flavor- The lemon zest lets us pack a ton of delicious lemon flavor into the cookies without adding excess moisture! Lemon lovers will love it.
- Cheesecake filling- The cheesecake filling feels like a happy surprise every time you bite into it. Who doesn't love cheesecake?!
- Easy recipe- This recipe is written to make the process as easy as possible. Adding a cheesecake filling may feel intimidating, but it is only a few simple steps!
Ingredient Notes for Soft Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Here are some notes on the ingredients. For a full list of ingredients, check out the recipe card below.
- Cream Cheese- Take this out 2 hours before baking to get to room temperature.
- Unsalted butter- Take this out 2 hours before baking to get to room temperature.
- Eggs- Pull these out 2 hours before baking to get room temperature ingredients.
- Powdered sugar- Make sure to sift the powdered sugar to avoid gritty frosting. Confectioners' sugar is the same thing.
- Food dye- If you use food coloring make sure to use a high quality gel food dye. They are a great way to get strong color without affecting flavor. Cheaper dyes require more dye to get the same color and can affect the taste.
- Lemon zest- This recipe only uses the zest of the lemons to prevent excess moisture while still providing a strong lemon flavor. You can use the rest of the lemon for fresh lemon juice in other recipes like lemonade.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Dairy free- You can use your favorite dairy free options for this recipe!
- Gluten free- I haven't tested this gluten free. Let me know if you do.
Step By Step Instructions - Lemon Cheesecake Filling
Here is how to make the lemon cheesecake filling for the lemon poppy seed cookies.
STEP 1: Beat lemon and cream cheese. Use a small bowl and a hand mixer to beat the cream cheese, sugar, and fresh lemon zest for 1 minute on high speed.
STEP 2: Scoop filling. Scoop ½ tablespoon dollops of cream cheese mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.
STEP 3: Freeze filling. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer until frozen. This should take 1-2 hours minimum.
Step By Step Instructions - Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Here is how to make and bake the lemon poppy seed cookies.
STEP 1: Dry ingredients. Mix the all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds in a medium bowl.
STEP 2: Beat butter and sugar. Use a mixer to beat the butter and sugar for 2 minutes on high speed. It should be a pale and fluffy texture when done. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to incorporate everything.
STEP 3: Wet ingredients. Add the lemon zest, egg, and egg yolk together on medium speed until they are combined. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed until just combined.
Note that this is a thick dry dough. This is important as it will absorb moisture from the cheesecake filling and a wetter dough would spread too much.
STEP 4: Prep. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Meanwhile, line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes while you prep.
STEP 5: Scoop. Use a large cookie scoop (2 tablespoon 2 oz) to scoop the dough. Press your thumb into the dough while still in the scoop to create a hole â…” into the dough. Place a frozen cheesecake dollop inside and fold the dough back over the hole.
STEP 6: Bake cookies. Place 6 cookie dough balls per prepared baking sheet and bake 1 sheet at a time for 13-15 minutes. The cookies are done when the edges are lightly golden brown.
STEP 7: Cool. Let the cookies cool on the hot pan for 4 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step By Step Instructions - Cream Cheese Frosting
If you opt to add the frosting lemons on top for decoration, follow the steps below.
STEP 1: Beat butter and cream cheese. Use a small bowl and hand mixer to beat the butter and cream cheese together for 2 minutes on high speed.
STEP 2: Beat frosting. Add the powdered sugar (sifted) and vanilla extract. Mix them in on low speed until combined, then switch to high speed and beat until creamy.
STEP 3: Dye frosting. Separate â…“ of the frosting into one bowl and â…” into another. Add a drop of yellow food dye to the larger bowl of frosting and green into the smaller bowl. Mix the dye in.
STEP 4: Pipe lemons. I used a Wilton tip 6 for the lemons and a Wilton tip 65 for the leaves. The lemon should be a large well rounded oval. The leaf hangs off to the side.
Expert Baking Tips
- Properly measure your flour- Make sure the flour is spooned and leveled. If you stick the measuring cup directly into the flour, it will compact the flour giving you too much flour. Compacted flour can cause the cookies to not spread.
- If the cookies are spreading too much, make sure you are using parchment paper on the ungreased cookie sheet. If they are still spreading too much this could be the butter was too warm before adding the ingredients. You should use room temperature butter, but not warmed butter. If it still spreads too much, you chill the cookie dough balls for 10-15 minutes. Make sure the cheesecake filling is still frozen when added.
- If you live at high altitude, add an extra 2 Tablespoons of flour. This will help with the spread.
- The cookies should be slightly underdone at first, because they will continue to cook as they cool.
FAQ
For this recipe the dough needs to be dry because it will absorb extra moisture from the cheesecake filling. A more wet dough would then spread too much when baking.
Yes they can! Store the cookie dough balls in an airtight container or use plastic wrap. Store in the freezer for 30 days. Let the cookie dough balls thaw before adding the frozen cheesecake filling and baking.
Yes you can. However, I recommend making them into cookie dough balls first before chilling overnight. Wrap them in plastic wrap. Make sure they come to room temperature before adding the frozen filling and baking.
Recipe Variations
- No lemon frosting- You do not need to add the frosted lemon decorations. The cookies are delicious even without.
- Lemon glaze- You can add a delicious lemon glaze on top. Use the glaze from this recipe.
Special Tools
- Parchment paper: I use premade sheets of parchment paper vs the roll of parchment paper. It makes baking a lot easier!
- Piping bags: I like these 18- inch piping bags since they hold more.
- Piping tip: I love this Wilton 1M to pipe frosting.
- Large cookie scoop: I love this OXO cookie scoop.
Storing and Freezing
Store these lemon poppy seed cookies in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days. They need to be cold because of the cream cheese.
Freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container and freeze up to 30 days. Thaw for 1-2 hours before eating.
Other Lemon Desserts Recipes To Try
Try these cookie recipes too!
- Strawberry Crinkle Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Reese's Cup Peanut Butter Cookies
- Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Twix Cookies
Make sure to leave a STAR REVIEW if you loved this recipe! Make sure to tag me on Instagram @stephaniesweettreats. To get more ideas follow me on Pinterest.
📖 Recipe
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Ingredients
Lemon Cheesecake Filling
- 6 oz Cream cheese room temperature
- 3 tablespoon White granulated sugar
- ½ Large lemon zested about a tablespoon of zest
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- 2 ¾ cups All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon Poppy seeds
- 1 cup Unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups White granulated sugar
- 1 Large egg room temperature
- 1 Egg yolk room temperature
- 2 Large lemon zested about â…“ cup of zest
Cream Cheese Frosting *optional
- 2 oz Cream cheese room temperature
- 2 tablespoon Unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups Powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
- Yellow and green food dye
Instructions
Lemon Cheesecake Filling
- In a small bowl using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and lemon zest on high speed for 1 minutes until creamy.6 oz Cream cheese, 3 tablespoon White granulated sugar, ½ Large lemon zested
- Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Use a ½ Tablespoon to scoop the cream cheese filling into dollops. It will make 17 dollops
- Place in the freezer for minimum of 1-2 hours until completely frozen.
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds. Set aside.2 ¾ cups All-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon Baking soda, 1 teaspoon Salt, 1 tablespoon Poppy seeds
- Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high speed for 2 minutes. It will become pale and fluffy.1 cup Unsalted butter, 1 ½ cups White granulated sugar
- Add in the lemon zest, egg, and egg yolk and mix on medium speed until combined. Make sure to scrape the bowl using a rubber spatula.1 Large egg, 2 Large lemon zested, 1 Egg yolk
- Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. This will be a thick dry dough. This helps to prevent spreading from all the moisture the filling provides.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Let the dough rest for at least 10 minutes.
- Use a large cookie scoop to scoop the dough. While still in the scoop, press your thumb into the center going â…”rds down. Stuff a frozen cheesecake dollop inside and fold the cookie dough back on top.
- Place 6 cookie dough balls per cookie sheet. Bake one sheet at a time. Bake for 13-15 minutes. The edges of the cookie will be lightly golden.
- Cool on the hot pan for 4 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting *optional
- In a small bowl using a hand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese on high speed for 2 minutes.2 oz Cream cheese, 2 tablespoon Unsalted butter
- Add in the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix on low speed until combined. Switch to high speed and beat until creamy.1 ¼ cups Powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
- Separate the frosting into two bowls. â…“ in one bowl, and â…”rds in the other. Add a drop of yellow food dye to the bowl with more frosting. Add a drop of green food dye into the other bowl. Mix both.Yellow and green food dye
- I used Wilton tip 6 for the lemons and Wilton tip 65 for the leaf on top. I piped a large oval on the cookie and added the leaf on the side.
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