When the weather heats up, turn to these 25 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 cookies—this 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 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 cookies—don’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 25 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.
25 Summer Cookie Recipes
S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies
These s’mores chocolate chip cookies combine my recipe for soft chocolate chip cookies with toasted marshmallows, melted chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs. This is a fun and easy way to dress up an ordinary chocolate chip cookie!
Strawberry Biscuit Cookies
These strawberry biscuit cookies are made from real strawberries without the crutch of artificial flavor. 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
Just like their chocolate cousins, these lemon crinkle cookies are soft-baked, coated in confectioners’ sugar, and practically melt in your mouth. Lemon lovers will appreciate that the zingy flavor comes from real fresh lemon, not extract.
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are the most popular cookies on my site, and they’re guaranteed to be the most popular treat at any summer gathering, too. Melted butter, more brown sugar than white sugar, and an extra egg yolk promise the absolute chewiest chocolate chip cookie.
Blueberry Muffin Cookies
Packed with blueberries and a hint of lemon, these cake-like cookies taste like muffin tops and are so easy to make. Top with sparkling sugar and lemon glaze for a truly unforgettable cookie!
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 S’more Chocolate Chip Cookies
This toasty take on my favorite chewy chocolate chip cookies includes extra chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows. The cookies are easy to make and you don’t need a mixer for the cookie dough—or a campfire to enjoy everything we love about summer s’mores!
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. Dip the edges in even more mini chocolate chips for a classic look, or in rainbow sprinkles for a colorful variation.
Lemon Coconut Drop Shortbread Cookies
These easy lemon coconut drop shortbread cookies are buttery and light with a tender, yet crumbly shortbread texture. Top with lemon glaze plus a garnish of coconut or sprinkles to make a beautiful two-bite, melt-in-your-mouth cookie.
Soft-Baked M&M Cookies
One of the first recipes published on my site—and 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. A classic cookie that flies off the plate any time I share them.
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 and crisp edges. Loaded with chocolate chips, each cookie is flavored with brown sugar and a hint of cinnamon. Tasters will never know there are veggies hiding inside!
Watermelon Sugar Cookies
These watermelon sugar cookies are made from a buttery sugar cookie dough (watermelon extract optional) and are topped with pink, white, and green royal icing. Mini chocolate chips masquerade as the watermelon seeds, but sprinkles could work too!
Lemon Ginger Cookies
SO much flavor packed into these bright cookies! My lemon ginger cookies are made with crystallized ginger, a little ground ginger and allspice, plus plenty of lemon zest. Citrus and spice make a balanced yet refreshing duo.
Cookies & Cream Cookies
Two cookies in one, what could be better? Using a combination of butter and cream cheese, these cookies are extra soft and uniquely creamy-tasting. They’re 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
Fireworks displays and summertime go hand-in-hand! I created these fun fireworks cookies using my base sugar cookie and royal icing recipes. I add a little lemon extract and zest for flavor, and you can use a range of icing colors and sparkly sprinkles. They’re pretty easy to decorate, too!
Mini Animal Cracker Cookies
Turn my simple 8-ingredient best sugar cookie recipe into homemade mini animal cracker cookies! These kid-friendly cookies are flavored with cinnamon and topped with icing and rainbow sprinkles.
Soft Cakey Sugar Cookies
These soft cake-like sugar cookies are topped with a swoop of sweet buttercream and showered in sprinkles. Sour cream is the secret ingredient to this simple and delicious drop sugar cookie recipe.
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 coconut macadamia nut cookies are always a popular choice in the summer months.
Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Super soft, moist, and cake-like lemon ricotta cookies are topped with a tangy yet sweet lemon glaze. The glaze eventually sets, making these cookies easy to store and transport to your summer BBQs and pool parties.
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. Enjoy them plain or topped with a swirl of buttercream frosting and sprinkles.
Strawberry Coconut Macaroons
These strawberry coconut macaroons are moist and chewy on the inside and slightly crisp around the edges. Add a little something extra (and pink!) with fresh seasonal strawberries.
Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
This is the cookie recipe that inspired my first cookbook, and I still enjoy making and sharing them at summer gatherings each year. They’re like 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.