I strongly recommend to avoid using any metal utensils for this recipe. Metallic flavor easily seeps into lemon flavored desserts. Set out your butter and egg to come to room temp. If you don’t have the time or patience like I do, then put the stick of butter in your pocket and the egg in warm (not hot) water.

In a small bowl, combine your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.

In a medium bowl, add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and freshly grated lemon zest. Using your hands, rub the lemon zest into the sugars until it looks like wet sand (1-2 minutes).

In that same bowl, add the stick of butter (I slice it into smaller pieces first). You can either continue mixing by hand or use a stand mixer with non-metallic whisks. I just use my hands and squish the butter into the sugars until there’s no butter clumps left and it is well combined.

Into the wet mixture, add in the egg yolk and vanilla, then mix to combine. On this step I switch from using my hands to using a rubber spatula.

In the same bowl, add the dry ingredients and fold slowly using a spatula. Stop mixing once it is combined (until no flour streaks remain). Don’t overmix or it will affect the texture of your cookie.

I recommend chilling the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes so your cookie dough can firm up (chill in fridge covered in plastic wrap). You can skip this step to save time but if you’re cookie dough is too soft it will spread too much.

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Scoop your cookie balls using a small ice cream scooper (about 1 1/2 inch in size) and form into balls. Roll in sugar if desired and place onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Keep the balls apart by 2 inches.

Bake 9 - 11 minutes. Do not bake any longer than 11 minutes, the centers will look soft but will continue to cook on the hot baking pan.

Let cool and enjoy! Store in an air tight container or freezer.