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These award-winning cookies will make you a cookie addict. Lemon Crinkle Cookies are chewy, soft, and bursting with hints of lemon in every bite!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I made this Lemon Crinkle Cookie recipe for a recipe contest and won! Approved by all who taste them, these lemon cookies are soft, but still slightly crunchy, tart, but still really sweet. I bet you have all the ingredients too. Easy to make, made with simple ingredients, and done in 30 minutes, this recipe is made for the novice chef.
I think we all can agree that I am a lemon lover. I love love love lemon ridiculously. It’s in the genes. My Mom is the same way. Lemon and I are buddies, especially when it comes to lemon desserts–I have made a Lemon Cream Pie that’s to die for. Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake Muffins? Oh, mama. And traditional but Perfect Lemon Bars!
Ingredients Needed for Lemon Crinkle Cookies
As said above, Lemon Crinkle Cookies use simple, everyday ingredients to make the most delicious lemony treat. You should have most if not all of these ingredients already on hand.
- Butter – salted or unsalted butter-use your preference. Just make sure to use real butter, not margarine for these cookies. Some readers have had problems making these and it’s because they used margarine.
- Granulated Sugar – to sweeten.
- Vanilla Extract – this is a super nice complimenting flavor to the lemon.
- Egg – for structure and texture.
- Fresh Lemon Zest – a lot of commenters said that they’d prefer more lemon flavor, so feel free to add in more zest.
- Fresh Lemon Juice – If you can find Meyer lemons, use those, but you can use store-bought lemon juice if you like. It’s just not as fresh.
- Salt – balances out the sweet and sour.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda – this gives the cookies their rise and texture.
- All-Purpose Flour – this fills the cookie out and gives them some structure.
- Granulated Sugar + Powdered Sugar – rolling the dough in both of these sugars puts the crinkle onto these lemon cookies.
Variations
This post was originally posted in 2011! Since then I’ve received over 600 comments about how amazing these lemon cookies are. In some of these comments, I’ve noticed people putting their own spin on things, which I love! You are making these cookies for you, your family and friends so make it your way! I thought I’d share some of my favorite renditions of Lemon Crinkle Cookies below.
White Chocolate Chips. Add some creamy chocolatey-ness to your lemon crinkle cookies by mixing in white chocolate chips. Yum!
Gluten-Free. Yes, you can make these cookies gluten-free. Simply replace regular flour with your favorite, gluten-free flour blend (same amount needed). So easy, so thank you faithful and adventurous readers who did the experimenting for us.
Glaze. Either top with a simple vanilla glaze or with a lemon glaze. Mix together milk, powdered sugar and your choice of flavoring.
Different Citrus. You can use an entirely different citrus to make these cookies. Think of the possibilities. Lime, Orange, or Grapefruit flavored crinkle cookies.
How to Make Lemon Crinkle Cookies
As written, this recipe makes about 24 cookies. Feel free to double the recipe for gifting and sharing! For full recipe details including ingredient measurements, see the printable recipe card down below. Here is step-by-step instructions for making these award-winning cookies:
1. Preheat Oven + Prep Baking Sheets
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease light colored baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Or cover with parchment paper.
2. Make the Cookie Dough
In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla extract, egg, lemon zest and lemon juice. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again.
Switching to a rubber spatula, stir in the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder) slowly until just combined. Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again briefly.
3. Roll Cookie Dough Balls in Both Sugars
Pour granulated sugar onto a large plate. Pour powdered sugar onto a separate large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll it first in the granulated sugar and then in powdered sugar. Place cookie ball on the baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
4. Bake
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely golden brown and cookies look matte (not melty or shiny). Remove from oven and cool lemon crinkle cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Pro Tip: If using a non stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.
Storage Directions for Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Allow cookies to cool to room temperature. Place in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to 3-4 days.
Make Ahead: Luckily this cookie dough freezes super well. This is a great way to make Lemon Crinkle Cookies ahead of time.
To freeze the dough, simply follow the directions, including rolling the dough in powdered sugar. Don’t bake! Instead flash-freeze on a parchment paper-lined plate. After an hour, stick all the dough balls in a freezer-safe bag. You should be able to keep these in the freezer for about 2 months before you want to use them.
To bake from frozen, put them directly on the cookie sheet and pop them in your preheated oven. Sometimes the cookies need an extra minute or 2 to bake correctly, so check them often!
You can also freeze these cookies already baked. Allow to cool to room temperature and place in a freezer safe, airtight bag and into the freezer for up to 2 months.
FAQ About Lemon Crinkle Cookies
A common problem when making these Lemon Crinkle Cookies is that they flatten out way too much! Why?
Butter.
This recipe calls for softened butter, not melted butter. The best way to get softened butter is to plan ahead. A couple of hours before you make these cookies set 1/2 cup of butter on the counter. As it sits there is will soften.
But if you are in a pinch you can microwave butter to soften it instead. Microwave in 5-second intervals rotating your cube of butter each time. Please please please use caution when softening this way. It can easily go from solid to melted in seconds! And in turn, your cookies will spread way too much.
If you already used melted butter instead of softened butter, and your lemon crinkle cookie dough is sticky don’t worry! You have two options to fix this.
Pop your dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to solidify the dough a bit.
OR
Add in small amounts of flour until your cookie dough comes together better. Definitely use my photo of the cookie dough above to base your cookie dough off of.
A lot of you have mentioned to me that these cookies don’t spread. This problem happens because there is too much flour in your cookie dough!
Fluff up your flour, spoon it into your measuring cup and then level the top. That is the correct way to measure flour and how I measured it for this recipe. So be careful when measuring and you’ll have perfect lemon crinkle cookies.
More Cookie Recipes to Try!
- Soft Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Cookie Recipe
- Double Chocolate M&M Cookies
- Monster Cookies
- Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies
- Classic Coconut Macaroons
More Favorites from Lauren’s Latest
- Dry Turkey Brine
- Best Crepes Recipe
- Saltine Christmas Crack
- PB Energy Balls
- Strawberry Pavlova Dessert
- Best Ever Beef Stew
- Hashbrown Sausage Casserole
- Christmas Salad Pomegranate
- Parmesan Bites
The lemon lovers in your life are going to fall in love with these chewy lemon cookies! The printable recipe card is below. Happy Baking, friends! 🙂
If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would give it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
for the coating
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a light colored* baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Or cover with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla extract, egg, lemon zest and lemon juice. Scrape sides and mix again.
- Switching to a rubber spatula, stir in flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder slowly until just combined. Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again briefly.
- Pour granulated sugar onto a large plate. Pour powdered sugar onto a separate large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll it first in the granulated sugar and then in powdered sugar. Place cookie ball on the baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte (not melty or shiny). Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Just made them and they went flat. I’m not sure why. It could be my ovens close to breaking but I turned the heat up in the second batch to compromise but they still went flat. Taste delicious and still have a create texture
These are out of this world! I’ll be making these again and doubling the batch!
Oh wow! Definitely delicious with the first bite. Lightly crisp on the outside and a creamy lemon bite inside. Easy to pull together when you put the groups needed together before starting. I will be making these again soon.
These are really good! I wanted mine to taste very lemony so I added more zest and used lemon extract instead of vanilla.
Hi. I did it today without the extra sugar coating and w less brown sugar. I cook them for about 20 min! Also less lemon! My Little girl doesn’t like lemons, but loves cookies. It was a little dry, but I gave them 18 min!
delicious!
Easy recipe, yummy cookie.
Can I add lemon chips without changing the baking time?
Mine came out flat and super crumbly. The taste was fantastic, but I must’ve done something wrong. Any tips?
My favourite cookies… especially in Spring!
Laura, mine too! Thank you for your 5-star rating. 🙂
I searched for a lemon cookie recipe that didn’t require chilling the dough, & this was perfect. Easy, fast, and no specialized ingredients.
Can Stevia be substituted for the sugar?
This recipe is solid but I made several adjustments. 1 teaspoon of lemon juice/zest wasn’t enough lemon for me so I did a full heaping tablespoon of both and compensated for the extra liquid by adding 1/3 cup of flour. My dough was super sticky so I just sprinkled with powdered sugar and they came out perfect. Crunchy on the edge and super chewy and lemony in the middle. I let my dough chill in the refrigerator while the first batch baked and the second batch was solid enough to roll in the powdered sugar so try chilling if it’s too sticky! Soooo goood. Thanks!
Fabulous recipe! fresh out of the oven they DO taste like lemon bars! (But a million times easier!)
I double the zest and the lemon juice so the lemon flavor really comes through. I’ve also thought that King Arthur’s Lemon crumbles would be a great addition.
It doesn’t say how much of anything to put in, I had no idea what to do
Excellent recipe and great detailed info so I felt more informed making them! They are perfect and exactly what I was looking for! They are beautiful and so delicious! I made them for my daughter who is going to have her baby tomorrow- it will be a real treat for her to have some home baked cookies that are her all-time favorite! I was looking for a recipe too that would use butter rather than oil and I feel like I found the perfect one! Thank you for sharing!
I submitted a review below but forgot to mention one important bit A my grandson is allergic to nuts and seeds and I was able to make him cookies that he can enjoy too – none of the ingredients will bother him at all!
These were so good I licked the bowl CLEAN afterwards. The cookies came out really soft and tender. I put a bit too much sugar on the top so it was too sweet, even though I only added 3/4 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup. I also added 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and the zest of 1.5 lemons because I thought they weren’t lemony enough, and I probably could’ve just added the juice and zest of 2 whole lemons. They were still really good.
The only recipe I could find with measurements. They’re rlly good but it could do with slightly less flour. Other than that they’re awesome!
Novice baker here. What number cookie dough scoop should I use to get right size cookies?
Superb cookie!
I’ve made this recipe dozens of times and it’s always a hit.
Do you think it would still taste good with lime instead of lemon? Do you think it would still work?
Thank you so much!
This has become my go to recipe! They are delicious and the perfect temperature. For some reason, I don’t get the crinkle look which is fine but any idea what I could be doing wrong?
Can’t say enough how much I love these. Always a hit!
Ah-Ma-Zing!
Hi! Made this for the first time and liked the cookies but wish they were more tart. Made them a second time and added the zest of two large lemons and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and they were more lemony but still not really tart. Suggestions? Is tartness even possible in a cookie?
Thanks!
These cookies are amazing. They were lightly crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle. I added extra zest for more lemon flavor. They’re so easy to make and everyone loved them. It was hard to share!
love it
pretty tasty! would add more lemon next time – i like them a bit zestier. also needed to nearly double the baking time. first batch came out very raw, doubled the time for the second batch and they were still soft and chewy.
These cookies are Wonderful! I have made them a couple times now. The lemon flavor really comes though. My “other half ” can’t stop eating them. They are perfect with a cup of tea
Good cookies. The cookies weren’t as tart as I had wanted. Is it because I used Meyer lemons?
Can the cookies be made crispy instead of soft and chewy? I like my cookies crispy and crunchy. Will these cookies crisp up if baked longer?
Overall, it was a good recipe.
The cookies turned out soft, subtly sweet, and just the right amount of tangy. Instead of measuring it out i just used one large lemon for the zest and the juice. The cookies are great baked right away but even better after the dough is refrigerated overnight.
This recipe needs a lot of work. I used twice the amount of lemon and they still mostly taste like flour. They also look nothing like the picture. They don’t spread at all and it says if your cookies don’t spread its bc you used too much flour but using the amount listed makes a sticky mess very similar to peanut butter. They did not crinkle and I had to cook them for 15 minutes on a dark cookie sheet to get the center from being raw. A lemon glaze will be necessary to salvage these.
Love this recipe. Grandkids love them too. I used this recipe, pressed into a pie plate. 350 for 20 minutes. Topped with a lemon glaze and fresh blueberries.
Like this recipe. for the gluten free version do you use anthem gum in the flour or can you use it without? I’m thinking yes because the cookies would just crumble, right?
Love these cookies and they always great raves. I only change one thing. Instead of rolling in the icing sugar I bake them plain. Then once cookies have cooled. Mix 1 cup of icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice mix and put in small sandwich bag. Snip off a small corner of the bag and drizzle on. Let them set and enjoy.
Recipe was easy to do and the finished cookies were amazing. I doubled the recipe and added 1/2 tsp of lemon extract to the cookie dough and 1 tsp of lemon zest to the confectioner’s sugar. The recipe is a keeper