These lemon crinkle cookies are a fun twist on classic chocolate crinkles! With crispy edges and soft lemony centers, they're an easy, fun summer cookie that everyone will love!
Crinkle cookies are like a cross between a chewy cookie and a snowball cookie! They're rolled in powdered sugar before baking so that when they spread, the cookies get that classic "crinkle" look on top!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few simple ingredients to make these lemon crinkle cookies!
Lemon extract - When you're baking, you never want to add to much acid because it can effect how your baked goods rise. This poses a problem with lemon desserts. The best way to get all the lemon flavor with none of the acidity is lemon extract! I prefer the paste, but you can also get it in a liquid form. You should be able to find it in the baking aisle at your local grocery store!
Lemon zest - This is optional, but I also love adding some fresh lemon zest for more flavor.
Yellow coloring - For a brighter yellow color, you can add a couple drops of yellow food coloring.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Lemon Crinkle Cookies
I recommend making the dough the day before you want to bake the cookies so that it has time to adequately chill!
Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together the softened butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest until smooth and creamy.
Add in the eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon extract and beat until light, fluffy, and pale in color. This should take 2-4 minutes which seems like a long time, but you'll see a huge difference in the texture afterwards. Then add in a few drops of yellow food coloring and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Gently fold in the dry ingredients until fully combined. The dough will be very soft and sticky.
Transfer to an airtight container, or cover tightly, and chill the dough overnight (or a minimum of 3-4 hours). Chilling the dough is not optional for these cookies! The dough will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Preheat then oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Add about ½ cup granulated sugar to one small bowl, and ½ cup powdered sugar to a second bowl.
Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the dough, roll into small balls. I like to use nitrile gloves for easy, mess-free rolling!
Roll each ball lightly in granulated sugar, then generously in the powdered sugar. Make sure to really pack on the powdered sugar for the best results!
Place about 3 inches apart on the baking sheet (I can fit 9-10 cookies on a half sheet pan).
Bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are fully set but the centers are still soft. The lemon cookies will should seem very soft and under baked, but they will harden slightly as they cool. If you cook them for too long, the centers won't be fudgy.
Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Why do I have to chill the dough?
Chilling the dough is super important for a few reasons!
First, letting the dough rest gives the flour time to hydrate. Eggs are the only liquid in these lemon crinkles and it takes flour a long time to absorb that moisture. When the flour is hydrated it helps contain the spread of the cookie so that you get a nice set edge and soft, chewy center.
Similarly, the butter needs to be as cold as possible before baking so that the cookies don't spread too much. But don't we want the cookies to spread? Yes, we do and they will. We just don't want them to spread too much because then you get a flat, dry cookie instead of one with a soft, chewy center.
Most importantly, the dough for these lemon crinkle cookies is super soft and sticky. So the cold dough is much easier to work with and roll into balls!
Tips for Perfect Cookies
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, crumbly cookies that don't spread.
Make sure your oven is the proper temperature! Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is exactly 350°F. If the oven is too cold, the cookies will spread too much and if it's too hot they centers won't bake all the way through. For example, my oven is about 20 degrees off. So I have to set the oven to 370°F in order to get it to bake at 350°F.
Use a lightweight, light colored baking sheet for best results! Believe it or not, a lighter pan makes the cookies bake more slowly than a dark pan, which helps keep them from spreading too much. My favorite pans for baking cookies are:
You also want to use either parchment paper or silicone mats on your cookie sheet to help keep the cookies from spreading.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time, on the center rack. This will ensure all your cookies cook evenly and the bottoms don't burn. Then let the cookie sheet cool completely between batches. This ensures the cookies cook evenly and don't spread too much by being put on a hot pan.
Always under-bake the cookies! If you slightly under-bake the cookies (so the centers are still soft when you remove them from the oven), they'll stay soft and chewy for days!
Do the cookie scoot! In order to get perfectly round cookies, use a large cookie cutter to gently scoot them around as soon as they come out of the oven!
Recipe FAQ's
Store the baked lemon crinkles in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also store the dough in the fridge for up to a week and bake a few cookies at a time, as desired.
Yes! After forming the dough balls, freeze in an airtight container for up to 2 months. When you're ready to bake, let them thaw for about 30 minutes then roll in the granulated sugar and powdered sugar and bake as normal. You may need to add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
Rolling the cookies in granulated sugar first, forms a barrier that helps prevent the powdered sugar from melting so that you get that perfect crinkled look!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract , optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 drops yellow food coloring, optional
Roll in
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- I recommend making the dough the day before you want to bake the cookies so that it has time to adequately chill!
- Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together the softened butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon extract and beat until light, fluffy, and pale in color. This should take 2-4 minutes which seems like a long time, but you'll see a huge difference in the texture afterwards. Then add in a few drops of yellow food coloring and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Gently fold in the dry ingredients until fully combined. The dough will be very soft and sticky.
- Transfer to an airtight container, or cover tightly, and chill the dough overnight (or a minimum of 3-4 hours). Chilling the dough is not optional for these cookies! The dough will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Preheat then oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add about ½ cup granulated sugar to one small bowl, and ½ cup powdered sugar to a second bowl.
- Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the dough, roll into small balls. I like to use nitrile gloves for easy, mess-free rolling!
- Roll each ball lightly in granulated sugar, then generously in the powdered sugar. Make sure to really pack on the powdered sugar for the best results!
- Place about 3 inches apart on the baking sheet (I can fit 9-10 cookies on a half sheet pan).
- Bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are fully set but the centers are still soft. The lemon cookies will should seem very soft and under baked, but they will harden slightly as they cool. If you cook them for too long, the centers won't be fudgy.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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