Lemon Crinkle Cookies

My Lemon Crinkle Cookies are the perfect choice when you want a treat that’s bright, sweet, and a fun change from your typical cookies. They’re soft, tender, packed with fresh lemon flavor, and topped with that classic crinkly powdered-sugar coating that makes them look so gorgeous.

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I love these cookies because they’re easy enough to make any day, but they also look beautiful on a cookie tray for holidays, parties, baby showers, brunches, or spring gatherings. The mix of tangy and sweet makes it hard to eat just one.

How to make lemon crinkle cookies

First, gather your ingredients.

Ingredients

For best taste, always use the highest quality ingredients you have access to. 

To make this Lemon Crinkle Cookies recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

• All-purpose flour
• Cornstarch
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Fine sea salt or table salt
• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• Large egg
• Large egg yolk
• Lemon juice
• Lemon zest
• Vanilla extract
• More granulated sugar (for rolling)
• Confectioners sugar (for rolling)

Given our diverse array of ingredients, you may want to add a few optional items, such as yellow food coloring to enhance the visual appeal, or even a pinch of extra lemon zest for those who adore a strong lemony flavor in their cookies.

Fresh lemon juice and zest really make these cookies stand out. Bottled juice just won’t give you the same bright flavor. Letting your ingredients come to room temperature helps them mix together smoothly, especially the butter, egg, egg yolk, and lemon juice.

The two-step sugar coating is worth it. Rolling first in granulated sugar helps keep the confectioners’ sugar from soaking in too much and losing that signature white crinkle look.

Cooking Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Lemon Crinkle Cookies is a straightforward recipe, laid out in simple steps that bring out the rich flavors and soft, chewy texture that lemon lovers adore. Here’s how you can prepare these wonderful additions to your baking repertoire:

Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the unsalted butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the egg and egg yolk, blending them into the mixture along with fresh lemon juice, fresh lemon zest, and vanilla extract.

Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients, forming a soft, chewy cookie dough.

Chill the dough (for at least an hour, up to 3 hours) to enhance flavor and texture. Then roll into small balls, coat them in granulated sugar, and finally, a generous layer of powdered sugar.

Place them on a baking sheet.

Then bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until they’re just right, golden brown but still soft and bursting with lemony flavor (about 10 to 12 minutes).

Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I hope y’all enjoy these lemon crinkle cookies as much as we do!

Leftovers

Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Always use common sense and good judgment when it comes to leftovers, though! If something looks or smells funky, don’t eat it.

I hope y’all enjoy this lemon cookie recipe! Let me know if you try it.

More Recipes Like This

• Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
• Lemon Blueberry Scones Recipe
• No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake

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Lemon Crinkle Cookies

My Lemon Crinkle Cookies are the perfect choice when you want a treat that’s bright, sweet, and a fun change from your typical cookies. They’re soft, tender, packed with fresh lemon flavor, and topped with that classic crinkly powdered-sugar coating that makes them look so gorgeous.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword lemon crinkle cookies, lemon crinkle cookies recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Refrigerate to chill dough 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Servings 45 cookies

Calories 94 kcal

Author Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy

Ingredients

For the Cookie –

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour spoon and leveled (327 grams)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
• 3/4 cup 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
• 1/2 cup lemon juice at room temperature (juice of about 3 lemons)
• 1 packed tablespoon lemon zest zest of 2 lemon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Rolling –

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup confectioners sugar

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. In a bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or using a bowl and handheld electric mixer) cream together the butter and sugar for 3 minutes on medium speed.

3. Add the egg and egg yolk and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix in the lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, and optional food coloring, mixing for 15 seconds just until incorporated. The mixture will look weirdly curdled at this point.

4. Add the flour mixture into the liquid ingredients and mix on low speed until the flour mixed through. Increase to medium speed and mix until a soft sticky dough forms.

5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough for an hour (or up to 3 hours).

6. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

7. Remove the bowl of dough from the fridge and scoop 1-tablespoonfuls of the dough and roll into balls. If the dough sticks to your hands, spray them with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

8. Roll each ball of dough into granulated sugar.

9. Then, roll each ball of dough into the confectioner's sugar. Don’t shake off excess confectioners sugar since it’s better to have more on the cookie than less, since some will melt in the oven.

10. Place each rolled dough onto the baking sheet, keeping each cookie 2-inches apart. You may need to return leftover cookie dough to the fridge while the first two pans bake, and then continue with prepping a third pan of cookies once they're out of the oven.

11. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until the edges are slightly golden and the center is puffed and looks slightly underbaked. The cookies will continue to harden and spread a bit as they cool.

12. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Notes

Notes:

• The dough is rolled in granulated sugar first, which prevents the butter from turning the confectioner’s sugar yellow.
• For a super-yellow cookie color, add 2 drops of yellow food coloring during step 3, when adding the eggs.

Nutrition Facts

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Amount Per Serving

Calories 94 Calories from Fat 27

% Daily Value*

Fat 3g5%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Trans Fat 0.1g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2g

Monounsaturated Fat 1g

Cholesterol 16mg5%

Sodium 21mg1%

Potassium 16mg0%

Carbohydrates 15g5%

Fiber 0.2g1%

Sugar 10g11%

Protein 1g2%

Vitamin A 106IU2%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 4mg0%

Iron 0.4mg2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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