These Over The Top Lemon Drop Candy Cookies are a bakery style cookie that’s a thin, tender, chewy, with a bright lemon flavor. Lemon Drop Candies are the secret ingredient. Betcha can’t eat just one.
There is a little cookie store near my home, Over The Top Gourmet Cookies, that sells the best lemon cookie I’ve ever tasted. They don’t have a subtle lemon flavor like some lemon cookies. They are a sweet, but lemon bar tart cookie.
My neighbor and I decided their secret ingredient is crushed lemon drop candies. (Although I recently found out they use Lemonheads.)
I did an internet search to see if I could find a lemon cookie recipe made with lemon drops and sure enough there were several online, but they used shortening.
I’m pretty sure the Lemon Cookies at Over The Top are made with butter, so I combined a Lemon Drop Candy Cookie recipe with an Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cookies. The result is a tender, chewy, scrumptious Over the Top Lemon Drop Candy Cookie.
The cookies spread quite a bit, so I only baked eight cookies per sheet. You want to take them out of the oven before the middle is completely set so the cookie is chewy and not crunchy.
The lemon glaze on the cookies really ups the lemon flavor of the cookies. I added just one drop of lemon gel food coloring. Then I finished them with some rainbow sparkling sugar.
Laura from Real Mom Kitchen posted her delicious version of Over the Top Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies. The Over the Top Cookies are definitely the best bakery cookies I’ve ever had. If you are in the Salt Lake area, you need to stop by and try them. My friend tells me their mint cookie is fabulous too.
If you’re a lemon lover, you need to make these cookies asap.
Over The Top Lemon Drop Candy Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 ⅓ cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 4 ounce package lemon drop candies, crushed
Glaze
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 drop of Lemon Yellow gel food coloring optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- Put sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed 30 seconds.
- Add butter; mix until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in eggs one at a time; add vanilla and lemon extract. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Stir in crushed lemon drop candies.
- Roll into 1-inch balls (I used a #40 ice cream scoop), flatten slightly and bake on parchment-lined baking sheet for 10-12 minutes until edges start to brown and center is almost set. (The cookies spread quite a bit, so I only baked eight cookies per sheet.) Let cool slightly on pan 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to cooling racks; let cool completely.
- Make a glaze by mixing powdered sugar with lemon juice; then spread over cookie tops.
More lemon cookies you might like:
Lemon Bar Cookie Cups, Barbara Bakes
Lemon Shortbread Cookies, Barbara Bakes
Light and crispy Lemon Oatmeal Cookies, Your Homebased Mom
Lemon Crinkle Cookies, Recipe Girl
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Jill
How do you crush your lemon drops? They are really a pain and I don’t want to use lemon heads candy. So sticky.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Jill- I usually use a Ziploc bag and a meat tenderizer to crush them.
Carol
What a treat! Lemon is a favorite around here so I know these would be a hit. They’re so pretty with that sunny yellow glaze and colored sugar too. How fun that you could recreate a bakery cookie you love-now you can enjoy your favorite treat any time!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Carol! I hope you’ll give them a try 🙂
Carol
Anybody know of crushed lemon drops for sale? Thanks.
Linda
Buy Lemon Heads, they are around $1 per box, then you can crush then in your food processor. I used twice the rec’md amount. Brach’s Lemon Drops cost about three times as much.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks for sharing that tip Linda!
Deb Rinehart
OMG!!!! You rock this recipe!!…I made these last week & they were a total hit..My daughter brought home some lemon drops, so when I found your recipe, I couldn’t wait to make them! I’ve posted your recipe on my page on FB.. Your cookies are too good not to share…Easily the best lemon cookie recipe ever! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Carly
So I have been craving Over the Top’s lemon cookie, decided to see if I could try to find a recipe like it online and I found your site!! Thanks so much for this recipe!! And yes, “Over the Top Cookies” is the best, but hopefully I can satisfy my craving for that delicious lemony cookie whenever I want with this recipe 🙂
Justin
something tells me i'd love these
Red Couch Recipes
Barbara, I am sure my family will love this fun spin on lemon cookies. Joni
Mimi
A nice tangy lemon cookie, what could be more perfect on a summer day.
Mimi
Anonymous
I thought at the store they said it was crushed lemon heads. They really are great cookies!!
livestocreate
I'm puckering up even READING your recipe… thanks for sharing it!
Sue Sparks
Barbara, I love LEMON, and these are so perfect for summer! I love the photo with the lemon drops! BTW, when my youngest daughter was in T-ball, her team uniform was yellow and their team name was The Lemon Drops:)
Carrian
we always want to tyr those cookies but always manage to go when it's closed
AmyRuth
A great idea. Thanks for sharing
AmyRuth
Jamie
Tender, chewy, luscious and lemony are for me! Bookmarking this recipe! I love it!
Antonella-Vera55
that sounds really great and delicious!!!congratulations!!!enjoy your Sunday! A big hug from Italy
Kim
I have never heard of or seen a lemon drop cookie! How fun and delicious. I'm a huge fan of lemon and really want to try this recipe.
Kat
These sound so delicious. I love lemon so I am definitely putting these on my cookie list to bake. Thanks so much.
Nutmeg Nanny
These look amazing! I love the idea of crushed up lemon drops…one of my favorite candies!
Faith
What a great secret ingredient! I never would have thought to add crushed lemon drops — this sounds incredible!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
These sound great, I love all the old fashioned sweeties!