When the weather heats up, turn to these 20+ summer cookie recipes that highlight some of the best seasonal flavors. Whether you crave something fruity like strawberry biscuit cookies, citrusy like coconut lime cookies, or chocolatey like s’mores chocolate chip cookiesโthis list has you covered. Cookies are especially easy to stack, transport, and share, making them the perfect treat for all your summer adventures!
Favorite Summer Cookie Recipes
Let’s talk cookies.
Between the recipes on my website, the cookies chapter in Sally’s Baking 101, and those in my cookbook Sally’s Cookie Addiction, I’ve amassed quite a collection of trusted cookie recipes. Obviously they’re the star treat during the holidays (SO many Christmas cookies!), but what about in the summer months?
I often turn to cookies during the summer because they’re a relatively easy dessert to prepare and bake, perfect for stacking and transporting, and provide an opportunity for fun seasonal flavors. Plus, children, who may be in need of an activity, love to help make them!
Coconut lime cookies and strawberry biscuit cookies are two favorites. Or try these very lemon crinkle cookiesโdon’t they look like little rays of sunshine? And no summer is complete without a batch of cookie ice cream sandwiches!
If you have young bakers at home, these mini animal cracker cookies are one of my go-to kid-friendly baking recipes. Kids love dunking the cinnamon-spiced cookies in icing and topping with sprinkles!
My team and I collected 20 of our favorite summer cookie recipes and listed them below. These are our top favorites (out of every single cookie recipe I’ve ever published…) and each recipe is perfect for sharing at summer cookouts, 4th of July festivities, graduation parties, on a picnic blanket, around a campfire, or poolside.
Success Tip: Traveling with Summer Cookies
Transporting dozens of cookies without ruining them can be tricky, but my solution is layering them (after cooling) in a handy cupcake carrier. The cupcake trays are removable. And if you’re bringing along sheet cakes or bars, bake and transport them in a 9×13-inch pan with a lid, which could also work for cookies.
For more summer baking inspiration, here’s my entire collection of summer recipes.
20+ Summer Cookie Recipes
Sโmores Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe is a fun and easy way to dress up an ordinary chocolate chip cookie with the classic s’mores flavors we all know and love!
Strawberry Biscuit Cookies
Adapted from my biscuits and strawberry shortcake recipes, each buttery cookie is tender and flaky in the centers, packed with juicy strawberries, and topped with a sprinkle of crunchy sugar and sweet icing.
Very Lemon Crinkle Cookies
These zingy lemon crinkle cookies are soft-baked, coated in confectioners’ sugar, and made with real fresh lemon flavor, not extract.
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are the most popular cookies on my site, and theyโre guaranteed to be the most popular treat at any summer gathering, too.
Blueberry Muffin Cookies
Packed with blueberries and a hint of lemon, these cake-like cookies taste like muffin tops and are very easy to make.
Glazed Coconut Lime Cookies
These are my soft and incredibly flavorful coconut lime cookies. They’re topped with a sweet and tangy lime glaze that sets, which makes them perfect for stacking, storing, and transporting to all your summer events.
Toasted Sโmore Chocolate Chip Cookies
This toasty take on my favorite chewy chocolate chip cookies includes extra chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallowsโeverything we love about s’mores without the campfire!
Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Make your own cookie ice cream sandwiches at home using my quick no-chill cookie recipe and your favorite ice cream flavor.
Lemon Coconut Drop Shortbread Cookies
These easy two-bite lemon coconut drop shortbread cookies are buttery and light with a tender, yet crumbly shortbread texture.
Soft-Baked M&M Cookies
One of the first recipes published on my siteโand still a favorite for good reason! These rainbow M&M cookies are soft-baked style with extra chewy edges and tons of mini M&Ms packed in each bite.
Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
A great way to use some of summer’s bountiful vegetable, these zucchini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are extra soft with chewy centers, crisp edges, and oodles of melty chocolate chips.
Lemon Ginger Cookies
SO much flavor packed into these bright cookies! Citrus and spice make a balanced yet refreshing duo for these chewy summertime cookies.
Cookies & Cream Cookies
Two cookies in one, what could be better? These cookies packed with chunks of Oreos and sweet white chocolate chips, promising lots of flavor and texture in each bite.
Drop Sugar Cookies With Sprinkles
These are soft, chewy, sprinkle-loaded drop sugar cookies made from only 8 ingredients. No rolling pin or cookie cutters required.
Fireworks Celebration Cookies
I created these fun fireworks cookies using my base sugar cookie dough (with lemon flavoring) and royal icing recipes. The easy icing design is doable for cookie decorators of all skill levels.
Mini Animal Cracker Cookies
These simple 8-ingredient kid-friendly cookies are flavored with cinnamon and topped with icing and rainbow sprinkles.
Soft Cakey Sugar Cookies
Sour cream is the secret ingredient to this simple and delicious cake-like drop sugar cookie recipe. Don’t forget a generous swoop of frosting on top!
Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies
Featuring golden crisp edges, sweet soft centers, flecks of coconut, chunks of big buttery macadamia nuts, and a white chocolate drizzle, these cookies are always a popular choice in the summer months.
Lemon Blueberry Cookies
Sunny citrus meets bright blueberry flavor in these soft and thick, naturally flavored and colored blueberry frosted lemon cookies.
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
A bit of cream cheese takes regular sugar cookies to the next level. These cookies are uniquely soft, tender, and chewy with the most incredible flavor.
Strawberry Coconut Macaroons
These strawberry coconut macaroons are moist and chewy on the inside, slightly crisp around the edges, and bursting with fresh strawberry flavor.
Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
My reader-favorite cake batter chocolate chip cookies are a cross between soft-baked chocolate chip cookies and sprinkle-filled confetti cake. You can’t help but smile when you eat one!
Reader Comments and Reviews
I should’ve listened to my instincts and reduced the amount of butter by 25%; the cookies were greasy when I used the recommended amount of butter (2 C). Also, the only way that this recipe yields as few cookies as stated is if you make them 25% bigger than a #2 cookie scoop. I did, mainly to reduce the manual labor of inserting five almond slices in each cookie.
This is a high-effort, low-reward cookie.
My grandchildren & I went beachcombing for sand dollars a couple of weekends ago with great luck! Had to make these cookies. Easy to make without requiring to chill the dough. They turned out great & yummy.
Excited to try this recipe! Wondering if pecans can be replaced with walnuts as those are the only nuts on hand at the moment. Or would walnuts be too heavy? Can understand they won’t look as much like sand dollars, but do prefer the taste of walnuts.
That would be perfectly fine.
Like your other zillions of followers, it’s always wonderful to receive your newsletters displaying luscious and creative deliciousness. However, I found this summer cookie email especially wonderful as it reminded me of days of long, lazy summer days swimming and playing with friends. I plan on making several of these cookies for my grandkids so they too will have the sweet memories of summertime. Thank you!
Thank you, Deb! I can say from experience that many, if not all, of these cookie recipes are loved by little ones. Especially the frosted sugar cookies and s’mores cookies.