English Lemon Shortbread Strips are incredibly tender, buttery and moreish. The lemon in the shortbread and glaze is absolutely perfect.
English Lemon Shortbread Strips
It’s just amazing to me how flour, sugar, butter , and in this case lemon too, come together so quickly and easily to make the best cookies ever.
We start the recipe by placing two cups of softened butter in a large bowl. I know it sounds like a lot , but they’re shortbread cookies and shortbread cookies are made with lots and lots of “butta”. That’s what makes them so tender and delicious. This recipe is made in a jelly roll pan and it makes a lot of cookies, perfect for gift giving or holiday baking. If you don’t need that many cookies, make 1/2 the recipe and use a 9×9 inch baking pan, the baking time will be the same. Don’t forget to half the glaze recipe as well.
Add 1 cup of white sugar to the butter in the bowl.
One of the reasons these shortbread cookies are so decadent and lemony delicious is because there is lemon in the cookie dough as well as in the glaze that tops them. Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice plus 4 Teaspoons of freshly grated lemon zest to the bowl with the butter and sugar.
Beat the ingredients together with an electric mixer on medium speed, scraping the bowl often until everything is nice and creamy.
Add the flour to the bowl and beat the mixture on low speed until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Press the dough into a lightly greased jelly roll pan evenly. Bake 30 – 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely.
The lemon glaze that tops the shortbread cookies comes together very quickly. Place one cup of powdered sugar, two Tablespoons of softened butter and two Tablespoons lemon juice in a small bowl. Whisk it all together until it’s smooth.
Pour the lemon glaze over top of the shortbread and spread it with a spatula to cover every inch. Ok so I have to confess that I didn’t wait till the cookies were cooled to put the glaze on them. I have made many cakes that called for putting the cake glaze on the baked cake while it was still warm so it seeps into the top of the cake. That’s what I did with the cookies. I put the glaze on while they were still warm. Either way you put the glaze on , they will be incredible.
After you have glazed your English Shortbread Strip cookies, garnish them with one Tablespoon of lemon zest , then let them sit for 30 minutes to set, then cut them into strips. English Lemon Shortbread Strips are tender ,butter laden morsels that will have you begging for more.
PIN IT FOR LATER
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English Lemon Shortbread Strips
Ingredients
Shortbread
- 2 cups butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 4 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon zest for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Combine all shortbread ingredients minus the flour in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add flour; beat at low speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Press dough evenly into lightly greased jelly-roll pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely.
- Combine all glaze ingredients in small bowl with wire whisk until smooth.
- Spread thin layer of glaze over cooled shortbread; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lemon zest, if desired. Let stand 30 minutes to set. Cut into strips.
Looking for more shortbread cookies, try these from other bloggers.
Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips Shortbread Cookies
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Charlotte Moore
I love lemon!! It might not be good for me to have these in my house. My husband is not a lemon person.
Just going to say you better be glad you halved the topping on the Sweet potato cinnamon roll cake. By the second day it was just a soggy mess where the cinnamon was. I am so glad I gave lots of it away.
MonuTeena RecipesPassion
such an attracting shortbread cookies 🙂 lovely clicks ..
Sweet Joan
I also love shortbread, in any form! These sound luscious- well done!
Kelley Howell
Yum! Pinned 🙂
Karin Anderson
I love citrus-y pastry. Good idea to glaze the shortbread while hot, instead of having it just on top.
Lynn Huntley
My husband and I both love lemon:) Can’t wait to give these a try~ Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
April @ The 21st Century Housewife
I love lemony treats like this! Your English Lemon Shortbread Strips look like they would be perfect with a nice cup of tea 🙂 I’ve featured them in my Hearth and Soul post this week. Thank you for sharing!
beth duncan
I made these last nite to take to book club and they are good. Not too lemony (which I was worried about) and they taste fresh and like spring! thanks
Mary Bostow
Thank you ladies, these were so very good…uh dangerously good!! *SMILE*
Teresa
I made this recipe today. I had to double the icing for a 10×15″ pan, but the recipe was AMAZING!!! Loved it and will be making it again!
Chris
I just made these… they are excellent; I could have eaten the whole thing. I halved the recipe as Bunny indicated and used my Scottish Shortbread pan with thistle design… it worked out perfectly… thanks for this lovely addition to tea!
bunny
Oh I’m jealous Chris, I wish I had one of those pans! The cookies are exquisite!! You just have to keep going back for one more taste! ! Thank you for coming back to tell me you made them, I love that.
Denise
Do they need to be refrigerated?
bunny
No Gail, they don’t need refrigerated.
gigi
Those look fantastic! Right up my alley! Definitely pinning this one! Thank you!
bunny
Thank you gigi!
Linda
I really want to try making these. What size jelly pan did you use?
bunny
A jelly roll pan is 10×15, smaller than a cookie sheet Linda. Let me know what you think of the cookies!
Vicky
Hi Bunny,
I want to add these to my Christmas tray this year. Two questions: Do they freeze (with or without glaze) and/or how long will they keep if left in a very cold place (snow belt of Ohio, the garage doubles as a fridge during the holidays – LOL)
Merry Christmas, and thank you for all your hard work on the fabulous recipes you share. I use many, many of them regularly.
Morgo50
These were delicious! Just what I wascraving, a crunchy, lemony bite of goodness! Super easy to make. I will definitely be baking these again. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Mary Bostow
I’m so glad you liked the lemon shortbread strips!
Terrie Waterstraut
I baked these last night and my husband, who is NOT a lemon-lover, said they were fantastic. I loved the texture of the shortbread, and I doubled the glaze, which was heavenly. Thanks!
Mary Bostow
Oh Honey we converted a non lemon lover into a lemon lover! That’s fantastic!! These cookies are so dangerous, I could sit and eat the whole pan! Thank you for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it!