Just like chocolate crinkle cookies, these lemon crinkle cookies are soft-baked and chewy, 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. I call them “very lemon” because there is so much natural lemon flavor!
This recipe is part of my annual holiday cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. Every year since 2013, I work on a handful of new cookie recipes and publish the 10 best ones for readers to enjoy. It’s the biggest, tastiest event of the year on my website!
I always love a variety of flavors on my assorted holiday cookie platter, and especially like to throw in something unexpected among classics like gingerbread cookies and peanut butter blossoms. In previous years, little lemon coconut drop cookies and apricot thumbprint cookies have been favorites! Today, I’m introducing a zesty (and festive looking!) sweet-tart lemon cookie to your annual lineup of Christmas cookies.
Here’s Why You’ll Love These Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Mouth-watering sweet-tart flavor
- Uses more lemon than other lemon cookie recipes
- No food coloring, no artificial flavoring
- Thick and pillow-soft
- Built-in beauty from the crinkly confectioners’ sugar coating—no icing or decorating
- Warm from the oven, these melt in your mouth
- Feel free to replace the lemon with another citrus fruit, or try using Meyer lemons
Like Chocolate, But With Lemon!
Have you made chocolate crinkle cookies or Nutella crinkle cookies before? Like the chocolate version, these lemon crinkle cookies are also thick and soft-baked, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture and iconic crinkle surface… but with the fresh flavor of citrus. Unlike these lemon ginger cookies or lemon coconut shortbread cookies, there’s no competing flavor today. This is a purely lemon-flavored cookie, and it’s sure to become a new favorite, no matter the time of year.
Why is it called a crinkle? While snowball cookies and peppermint snowball cookies get their sugar-snow dip after baking, crinkle cookies get a roll in confectioners’ sugar before baking. As the cookies bake, the powdery sugar coating cracks apart as the cookies puff up, leaving a crinkled surface. Hence the cute crinkle name.
What You Need & Why (Ingredients)
The recipe is based off of my coconut lime cookies, and you’ll be happy to find 1/4 cup (60ml) of lemon juice in the dough. Typical lemon cookies have half that amount. Get ready for flavor! Here are some key points about the ingredients you need:
- Flour: All-purpose flour provides the structure of these cookies.
- Cornstarch: The same magic ingredient for softness we use in chewy chocolate chip cookies; you only need a touch and it helps keep the cookies soft.
- Baking Soda: Makes the cookies puff up in the oven, creating that signature crinkle look.
- Salt: Brings out the flavors and balances the sweet.
- Butter: You need proper room temperature butter for this cookie dough, so it will cream nicely with the sugar.
- Sugar: Just the right amount to balance the tangy lemon.
- Egg: Binds the dough together.
- Lemon Juice: I recommend fresh lemon juice for the best flavor, but you can use bottled lemon juice in a pinch. Here is a wonderful juicer if you don’t have one and need a recommendation. And make sure you have a zester.
- Lemon Zest: Zest the lemon first, before you cut it and juice it. Much easier than the other way around!
- Vanilla Extract: For extra flavor.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: For rolling.
In Photos: How to Make Lemon Crinkle Cookies
After you make the dough, you’ll notice it’s quite soft and fluffy. That’s totally expected, and the dough needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. I know it’s a long time to wait, but your puffy cookies will be worth it! Go ahead and make the dough the night before if needed.
After chilling, the dough is much easier to work with. Each cookie is about 1 Tablespoon (20g, 5/8 ounce) of chilled dough:
Roll very generously into confectioners’ sugar:
And arrange on a lined baking sheet, and then bake:
#1 Success Tip: Chill the Dough
Chilling the cookie dough for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator is a non-negotiable. These lemon crinkle cookies contain extra liquid from the lemon juice, so the dough is very soft and sticky. The colder and firmer the cookie dough, the less they’ll over-spread. As you might remember from baking these chewy chocolate chip cookies, chilled cookie dough is not only easier to handle, it bakes thicker cookies.
Can I Use Other Citrus Flavors?
Yes! Try these crinkles with grapefruit, orange, or lime. You may also love these similar coconut lime cookies. Note that recipe has a shorter chill time because the dough is filled with coconut, which helps bulk it up.
Or if you can’t get enough lemon flavor, try my lemon thumbprint cookies next.
Their snowy exterior makes these perfectly festive in the winter months, but the zippy citrus flavor is refreshing year-round! They have become a favorite on my Summer Cookie Recipes collection page. I hope you love these too.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 35 minutes
- Yield: 40 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This citrus spin on a crinkle cookie is a lemon lover’s delight. Chilling the cookie dough is important because it helps the flavors to develop, prevents spreading, and makes the otherwise sticky cookie dough easy to handle. Make sure you have a citrus juicer and zester.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (225g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh or bottled lemon juice, at room temperature*
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest* (packed Tablespoon, it’s a lot of zest!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For Rolling
- 3 Tablespoons (35g) granulated sugar (optional, see step 6)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 1 minute. Add the egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Mixture will appear curdled and that’s ok. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Dough is thick, creamy, and sticky.
- Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this sticky cookie dough.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 3 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. This makes the chilled cookie dough easier to scoop and roll.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll in sugar: Scoop and roll balls of dough, about 1 Tablespoon of dough each, into balls. (Each dough ball should weigh about 20g.) Some readers have had trouble with the confectioners’ sugar melting/absorbing into the cookie dough balls, so to prevent that, you can roll the balls in the granulated sugar first. And then roll each ball very generously in the confectioners’ sugar. If you want lots of confectioners’ sugar to show on the baked cookies, roll 2-3x in sugar! Place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for 12–13 minutes or until the edges appear set and the centers still look soft. Tip: If they aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2–3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven to continue baking.
- Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will slightly deflate as they cool.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The dough can chill for up to 3 days, so this is a great make-ahead recipe. Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls (that are not coated in confectioners’ sugar) freeze well up to 3 months. When it’s time to bake the cookies, remove them from the freezer and thaw on the counter for at least 30 minutes. Roll into confectioners’ sugar as instructed and bake.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Citrus Juicer | Citrus Zester | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Sheets | Cooling Rack
- Granulated Sugar: 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons is an odd amount, but the cookies really benefit from a little extra sugar because of all the tart lemon juice.
- Cornstarch: If you don’t have cornstarch, you can leave it out. It helps maintain a thicker, softer cookie but test batches without it were still intact and delicious.
- Lemons: I usually need 1–2 lemons to yield 1/4 cup (60ml) juice and 1 Tbsp zest. Feel free to replace the lemon with another citrus fruit, or try using Meyer lemons.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Your recipes are always perfect. I am never disappointed. These cookies were so so good.
So far everything I have made on Sallys website has been absolutely delicious, the wheat bread and Angel Food Cake and now these cookies. I used myer lemons which perhaps may be sweeter than a regular lemon so they were not as lemonny as I had anticipated, but still so delicious. Thank you!
I forgot to do the star rating which is 5 star for sure.
I was nervous about making these for the first time because of the reviews that noted a lot of spreading. I followed the recipe exactly and chilled the dough overnight. I did freeze the balls for 15 minutes before baking and kept the extras in the refrigerator while baking the others. They turned out fantastic. I used the zest of 3 medium lemons and will probably increase that the next time for just a little extra lemon flavor.
These are FAB!!! Not usually a huge lemon person and these may have changed that.
I loved the taste; lemon is a nice change from my beloved chocolate everything! Problem is that these didn’t stay rounded and puff up like my chocolate ones did. I refrigerated the dough overnight (and half a day) and even put it in the frig while I was handling several dough balls. What would you suggest to keep them puffy? They weren’t totally flat, and were still a big hit, but I’d like to improve them.
Hi Teddy! Here’s all our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading for your next batch.
Thank you for the reply! I’m a novice baker, and your suggestions were a big help. The cookies were a big hit, but I really want them to look the part.
These may possibly be the perfect cookie. Soft, sweet, with a hint of lemon flavor. Everyone in my family loved them, which is quite a feat considering we all have very different tastes! Will definitely keep this recipe handy anytime I need to bring a dessert to something.
Are they the same as the Ooey Gooey Lemon Cookie recipe you used to have posted. It was my favorite and best loved recipe. I have been trying to replicate it ever since it was removed! This sounds sooooo similar! Lmk!
Hi Crystal, I wonder if you are thinking about another website? I have not published an Ooey Gooey Lemon Cookie recipe.
Loved this & look forward to more recipes to try!
Can I substitute the butter for oil to make this recipe dairy free?
Hi Sarah! We do not recommend using oil in this recipe. We haven’t tested it, but you may have better luck with a vegan butter, like Earth Balance.
These are amazing, and have been a favorite here for the past two years, but I want a bit more of a lemon “punch” to them. This year I doubled the lemon zest to 2 packed tablespoons, went to 90ml (3/8 cup) of lemon juice, and added an extra 1/4 cup of flour to offset the extra liquid. That got them to exactly where I wanted them.
Delightful recipe!
Super delish cookies. I added 2 tsp. Poppy seeds and used vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract as per Sally’s lemon thumbprint cookie recipe. I also found putting the cookies once they were formed and rolled in the sugar back in the fridge for 15 minutes before baking helped keep the confectioner’s sugar from melting (in addition to rolling in granulated sugar before rolling in confectioner’s sugar).
I also just found out King Arthur’s makes a non-melting powdered sugar. It’s made with dextrose, cornstarch, magnesium stearate, and palm oil. Haven’t tried it. I read on several baking sites online to add 1 tsp. of corn starch per quarter cup of powdered sugar to regular powdered sugar and that helps prevent the powdered sugar from melting when you use it for toppings. I did that the last time I made crinkle cookies only I used half the amount of cornstarch suggested and rolled in granulated sugar first, then powdered sugar with the cornstarch. Worked really well.
Well… not as expected but still delicious! I followed the recipe carefully, refrigerated for 24 hours, rolled on granulated and powdered sugar – and my cookies didn’t plump up and crackle at all. They spread terribly and were quite flat. After two failed trays, I adapted! To salvage the recipe, I dropped the size of the balls to 15 grams and upped the temperature to 375. Then to improve the look, I sifted powdered sugar on them once they were cool. They are delicious with a nice tart sweet lemon flavour.
My sister and I made these for her annual Christmas cookie making. Everyone that got them early loved them. She had to make more.
These were amazing. I tend to try out new (and old) recipes and then hand out to the neighbors (so I don’t eat them all) and they were all blown away. By far the best reception of any cookie I”ve made. Even the wife (who claims she doesn’t like lemon style candy/cookies/cake) put a serious hurting on our stash.
HIGHLY recommended.
Can I use oil instead?
Hi SL, butter is best here. You could try coconut oil (you’ll need a fat that is solid at room temperature so that it can be creamed with the sugar), but the intended outcome will be different.
Can these be frozen?
You bet! See recipe notes.
Baking these today using Meyer lemons. Hint: pick your lemons for zesting from the tree just before you need them.. Meyer lemon rinds get very soft and flexible over time, and are quite difficult to zest. Making them as very large cookies, so I will be pressing them down a bit. I want 3 inch rounds, versus the 1.5 inch shown here.
These cute cookies are delightful. So cute and lots of yummy lemon flavor.
I have been baking my cookies in my new Breville Smart Oven and baked these on the least amount of time. They came out perfect, not dry or undercooked.
Made the recipe that came out great ,
Great recipe, I put a lemon glaze on the 2nd batch, additional lemon flavor and it gave it a beautiful sheen
I made these for my company cookie exchange, and they were DELICOUS! I had several people ask me for the recipe. They really stood out amongst all the chocolate cookie options.
These have become our new favorite Christmas cookies! Also highly recommend this recipe as a way to use up flavored sugars. I was gifted huckleberry sugar, and didn’t know what to use it in. I used 1/2 huckleberry sugar and 1/2 granulated sugar and they turned out perfect! So tasty, sweet, and tart all at once.
This is a great recipe! Awesome directions. I made it easily gluten free too.
This recipe tastes so lovely. But mine came out thin and spread lots. Only made 2. What can I do to the rest of the batter to change it?
Hi Eloise, you can try adding a little more flour to the dough, and refrigerate the dough for longer before baking. Hope they turn out well for you!
You may need to dial back your oven by 25 degrees. Be sure to use middle rack and one sheet at a time.
I love your recipes!!!
There are three asterisks (*) in your ingredient list above, but they don’t point to anything. Why are they there? What do they mean? Thanks!
Hi Monica, the asterisks mean there’s a note about that ingredient below the recipe, in the Notes section.
Ah, makes sense. But there are still no asterisks in the Notes section, so I don’t know what they’re referring to … 🙁
These are my new favorite cookie to enjoy and gift! For additional powdered sugar, I sift powdered sugar through a strainer when the cookies come out of the oven.
I was really excited about these but they came out just tasting like sugar cookies even though I used fresh lemon juice and a heaping tablespoon of zest. I only baked up one tray so far, any suggestions to get it to have a lemon taste? Can I add more lemon juice now after the fact?
Hi Tara, You could also add more lemon zest or about 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract.
Any thoughts on making these vegan? ie with vegan butter and flax egg?
Hi Shelley, We haven’t tried these cookies with vegan butter, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you give anything a try!
Oh my gosh, these were delicious! Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe! Definitely will be baking these again. The powdered sugar exterior didn’t turn out quite as powdery as I wanted, but it didn’t matter. One of the best cookie recipes I’ve ever made, and my husband agrees! They will definitely be a Christmas regular.
Delicious! I’m a lemon fan (the kids change that to “freak”, but who listens to them?). At the hols especially it’s nice to have a flavour break from all the chocolate. I tried rolling in granulated before confectioner’s, double rolling in confectioner’s, and switching to convection bake – my cookies still drink the confectioner’s sugar right up. Still delicious, but not as pretty. Thoughts?
Hi Cindy, this happens. It doesn’t happen with every batch I bake, but I do notice it on particularly humid days. Unfortunately, I haven’t found the best fix beyond making the coating extra thick/heavy. Sifting confectioners’ sugar on the cookies after they cool does help though.