Name: Lemon and Raisin French Butter Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 48 min
Yield: 36
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: 100g or 3½oz plain / all purpose flour; 75g or 2½oz unsalted butter, room temperature; 100g or 3½oz regular sugar; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; Zest of 1 lemon; 2 egg yolks; 1 Cup raisins or sultanas

These Lemon and Raisin French Butter Cookies are similar to French Sable cookies, crumbly, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth little cookies. Delicious served with a cup of tea.

French Lemon and Raisin Butter Cookies. These French lemon butter cookies are similar to French Sable cookies, crumbly, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth little cookies. Delicious served beside a cup of tea.

Lemon and raisin buttery cookies are truly lovely! The small size of these cookies makes them a little elegant, so they're perfect to fit on the side of a saucer with your cup of tea, and equally delicious added to a scoop of ice cream.

These cookies I would say are a cross between a buttery shortbread and a French Sable biscuit or cookie, which is a type of sweet pastry. What makes these so delicious is their fine crumbly texture, yet when you eat them, they just melt away in your mouth.

You could also add a spread of lemon whipped frosting on top or in between 2 cookies to make cookie sandwiches, or drizzle some white chocolate over them if you wanted to make them fancy, or add some festive Christmas decorations on them if you're making cookies for Christmas.

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If you enjoy having a cookie or biscuit with a cup of coffee or tea, then you'll also enjoy our Vanilla Butter Ring Cookies as they were made for having with your coffee!

The flavors in the cookie are lovely. You of course get the lovely flavor of lemon throughout and a nice texture from the raisins or sultanas.

The texture of these cookies are light, crisp and once in your mouth, simply melt away. They don't last long so you may have to make 2 batches!

One word of caution when making these, the dough does need to be cold when handling, so if you’re making these in the Summertime or where you live is particularly hot, allow for chilling time. To speed things up, I pop the dough in the freezer for 10 -20 minutes so it’s pretty much rock hard for when I come to slicing the discs.

Table of Contents 📋 hide

7) What can you make with leftover Egg Whites?

8) Recipe Card

9) Lemon and Raisin French Butter Cookies

10) Butter Cookies

Prep time

10 minutes

Chill Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

8 - 10 minutes

Serves

Ingredients

100g or 3½oz plain / all purpose flour

75g or 2½oz unsalted butter, room temperature

100g or 3½oz regular sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Zest of 1 lemon

2 egg yolks

1 Cup raisins or sultanas

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F or 180°C

Prepare the raisins or sultanas by placing them in a bowl and adding the lemon juice and zest. Leave to soak for 10 - 15 minutes.

In a mixer, add all the ingredients EXCEPT the raisins or sultanas.

French Butter Cookies ingredients in bowl

Combine until the dough comes together. This will take around 3 - 4 minutes if using an electric mixer.

French Butter Cookies, showing texture during mixing

French Butter Cookies, showing texture when done mixing

French Butter Cookies, showing texture when cookie dough is ready

Now add the raisins or sultanas and combine.

TIP: If the dough is too stiff, use your hands to bring it all together.

French Lemon and Raisin Butter Cookies, adding raisins

Take a piece of plastic wrap and roll the dough into a sausage shape, so it is the diameter of a dollar coin in width.

French Lemon and raisin Butter Cookies, shaping cookie dough in plastic wrap step 1

Then twist the ends of the wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Tip: If it is particularly hot where you live, place in the freezer for 20 minutes. The dough needs to be quite hard so you can slice it and keep the shape.

French Lemon and Raisin Butter Cookies, shaping cookie dough in plastic wrap step 2

After chilling, remove the plastic wrap and slice thinly. About 5 mm in thickness.

Lemon and Raisin French Butter Cookies, showing how to slice dough

Place the cookie discs onto a baking tray. Leave a space between each cookie as they will spread about ⅓ in size.

French Lemon and Raisin Butter Cookies., arranged on cookie tray

Bake for 6 - 8 minutes until just golden.

French Lemon and Raisin Butter Cookies, baked

Remove from the oven and allow to rest on the cookie tray for 5 minutes.

Use a palette knife, and carefully transfer to a cooling rack until the cookies completely cool. As they cool, the cookies will become harder and crisp.

French Lemon and Raisin Butter Cookies, how to remove cookies from baking tray

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other ingredients? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

What can you make with leftover Egg Whites?

Amaretti Style Lemon Cookies - uses 4 egg whites (you can halve the recipe if you only have 2 egg whites to use
Amaretti Cranberry and Orange Cookies - uses 4 egg whites
Mini Meringue Cookies - uses 2 egg whites
Basic Meringue recipe - uses 4 egg whites. Again, you can easily halve this recipe to make less. *Meringues will keep for several weeks in an air tight container or bag.
Strawberry Angel Food Cake - uses 10 egg whites
Add the leftover egg whites to an omelette and it will be extra fluffy if you whip the egg whites first.
Egg Breakfast Muffins - uses 6 - 7 egg whites

Recipe Card

Lemon and Raisin French Butter Cookies

Yield: 36

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 48 minutes

French Lemon and Raisin Butter Cookies. These French lemon and raisin butter cookies are similar to French Sable cookies, crumbly, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth little cookies. Delicious served beside a cup of tea.

Ingredients

100g or 3½oz plain / all purpose flour
75g or 2½oz unsalted butter, room temperature
100g or 3½oz regular sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2 egg yolks
1 Cup raisins or sultanas

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F or 180°C
Prepare the raisins or sultanas by placing them in a bowl and adding the lemon juice and zest. Leave to soak for 10 - 15 minutes.
In a mixer, add all the ingredients EXCEPT the raisins.
Combine until the dough comes together. This will take around 3 - 4 minutes if using an electric mixer.
Now add the raisins or sultanas.
If the dough is too stiff, use your hands to bring it all together.
Take a piece of plastic wrap and roll the dough into a sausage shape, so it is the diameter or a dollar coin in width. Then twist the ends of the wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
After chilling, remove the plastic wrap and slice thinly. About 5 mm in thickness.
Place the cookie discs onto a baking tray. Leave a space between each cookie as they will spread about ⅓ in size.
Bake for 6 - 8 minutes until just golden.
Remove from the oven and allow to rest on the cookie tray for 5 minutes.
Using a palette knife, carefully slide underneath each cookie and transfer to the cooling rack until the cookies completely cool. As they cool, the cookies will become harder and crisp.

Notes

Tip: If it is particularly hot where you live, place in the freezer for 20 minutes. The dough needs to be quite hard so you can slice it and keep the shape.