Beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. (Pro tip: you can rub the lemon zest and sugars together between your fingertips to help release the natural oils in the lemon and infuse even more lemon flavor into the cookies).

Add eggs and extract(s), mix again.

Add the dry ingredients in a mound with baking soda on top.

Add the lemon juice on top of the baking soda, it will foam = activated.

Mix just until combined. Do not over mix.

You can refrigerate the dough now as is or scoop and roll into balls and then refrigerate. Balls will be about ~1 ½-2 tbsp. in size.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Add about ¼ cup granulated sugar into a bowl and roll the balls in the granulated sugar.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and place about 6-8 cookies at a time on a baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 min. DO NOT OVERBAKE. These need to be very soft and chewy.

Swirl a cup around the cookies when they come out of the oven (while they’re still warm) to make them perfect circles.

Rest on a cookie sheet for just 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. They will look puffy out of the oven but settle as they cool.

Sprinkle the tops of cookies with more granulated sugar for a sparkly look and lemon zest if desired.