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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.
Lauren, what lemon is to you orange is to me! I make these exact same cookies, although I use zest from 2 oranges and orange juice. I roll mine into a ball, then with a glass dipped in sugar, I press them almost flat…Very good!
These were incredible! I’ve been searching for a recipe from scratch. I did make one change. To add a little extra lemon burst, I finished by drizzling a lemon glaze (lemon juice and powdered sugar) over the cookies! Yummy! These are my family’s new favorite cookie! Thanks so much for sharing!
[…] LDS Magazine. The winner of best cookie recipe was the Lemon Crinkle Cookie by Lauren Brennan from Lauren’s Latest. The cookies turned out fine, but if I make it again next time, I would add a little bit more […]
I cannot wait to make these!! I’m a big lemon lover too!! 🙂
Has anyone figured out the mystery of the non-flattening cookies? I’ve double checked measurements, I’ve checked oven temps, I’ve sifted the flour and yet…still not flattening out and just remaining balls…Still delicious though so I guess I have that going for me 🙂
Are you sifting before or after measuring? If they’re still not flattening, I’d reduce the flour by 1/4 cup.
I have tried making these twice now. Both times the cookie dough has been too thin to roll into balls. I have had to add extra flour and then they don’t bake out thin and chewy. They still taste good but I am disappointed with the recipe. I was very careful to follow instructions exactly and I’m not new to baking.
[…] Lauren’s Latest: Lemon Crinkle Cookies […]
I just made these and they are AMAZING!
I’ve made this recipe several times since I stumbled upon it over a year ago. These cookies are absolutely delicious! Thank you for posting the recipe.
Glad you like then Joyce!
Ah, just made these and when they came out of the oven the pan was one giant cookie, all spread together. What happened?
You probably didn’t add enough flour. Did you sift it first?
[…] and making cookies. Specifically crinkle cookies. My originals are the Lemon Crinkles. Those won a little contest and put me on the map. Then I did some Christmas Candy Cane Crinkles. […]
The lemon crinkles dough was very soft and hard to roll in a ball,so I refrigerated the dough and then rolled.Much easier that way!
I made these for an open house an they were a huge hit! Not one left. Need to make another batch.
These cookies are wonderful. They turned out perfect! Gave some away as a gift and the recipient repeatedly lamented how much she loved then and could not stop eating them, even though she feared weight gain. You know they are good when they are eaten with wild abandonment!! Will definitely make again. Thank you!
Hi Lauren! I was delighted to find a great lemon cookie recipe because I have a beautiful, abundant lemon tree and not enough recipes to use all those gorgeous lemons. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
If you can use a load of ORGANIC beautiful lemons, PLEASE feel free to allow me to send them to you, or to a P.O. box. I hate having to let them rot because I cannot use all of them. I have given away so many lemons, no one I know is interested any longer. Seriously, if you can pay for the shipping, I will send you at least 3 dozen or more…depending on what you would prefer.
Thanks again for the gorgeous recipes…I enjoy them all!
I made this on the 27th as part of a Christmas gift for my step-mother and they were amazing! The perfect amount of sweetness in contrast to the tartness of the lemon. I am getting ready to make another (double) batch right now. Thank you so much for the recipe! My only question is, did you flatten the cookies down a little after putting the rolled balls on the tray? Mine didn’t flatten out like the ones in the picture while i was baking them.
No, I didn’t flatten mine. How do you measure your flour? I fluff mine up before measuring…that might have something to do with it.
Thanks for your reply. After I posted this comment, I actually read an above comment about lessening the flour a bit. I did that and, VOILA! They flattened out like in the picture and look and taste just as amazing. Thanks again for this recipe. It will be used quite frequently in my home 🙂
I made these. Sadly they did not turn out for me I followed the recipe. I wonder what I did wrong… They were flat. The taste was good though. 🙂
Try adding in a little more flour. Flat cookies usually mean too much butter–that can be corrected with a little more flour. How do you measure your flour? Did you sift it? I fluff mine up a little before measuring.
The recipe makes 2 dozen and leaves 1 dozen for anyone who isn’t the cook! Yummy!
Oh my goodness… these are absolutely the best lemon cookies I have ever made! Made these last night and almost the entire first batch was gone by the time the second batch came out of the oven! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Will definitely be making these again!!!! 🙂
[…] Original recipe from Lauren’s Latest. […]
I tested 3 different recipes and this was the one my family liked best. I’ll be making these for the annual Christmas Cookie contest this weekend. I followed the suggestions of some of the other people who have left comments; zest of whole lemon and I used juice of half a lemon (it was a really juicy lemon). They came out with an incredible zingy flavor!
[…] Lemon Crinkle Cookies at Lauren’s Latest […]
These sound yummy! Does anyone know how long they keep or if they can be frozen?
[…] off this recipe by Lauren’s […]
[…] from Lauren’s Latest and Lahatchita […]
[…] stand. Needless to say, we came home with them….We opened some bubbly and started on the Lemon Crinkle Cookies….yes, I know, I make these ALL THE TIME (they’re just too […]
[…] second time I visited Connor, I made the infamous Lemon Crinkle Cookies. Lemon was requested, so I had to make these yummy cookies! I use at least 50% more lemon juice […]
[…] and I forgot to mention, I also made LOTS of Lemon Crinkle Cookies – my […]
[…] von hier […]
So good! I appreciate the comments and your responses to those that didn’t work, because I might have used margerine and didn’t since it appeared that might mess things up. The cookies came out exactly as described and are super yummy – thank you!
Yummy!!!! These are soo delicious :). Great recipe!
OMG!!!! Love these cookies! They are simply delicious 🙂
[…] A successful recipe from the kitchen of Lauren’s Latest (https://laurenslatest.com/lemon-crinkle-cookies/) […]
ummm the dough is VERY sticky and it won’t stop sticking to my fingers it’s horrible thx for this terrible recipe!!!!!!!!!!
Just put the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, it won’t be sticky.
My lemon was huge so I had to add about 1/2 extra cup of flour and 1/3 extra cup sugar but they still came out perfect! I didn’t have baking powder but I mixed baking soda and cream of tartar
[…] I got the recipe from a great looking site: https://laurenslatest.com/lemon-crinkle-cookies/ […]
I actually hate baking.. but i had lemons and an urge to make these after reading. They turned out to be AMAZING. Thanks for the recipe!
Glad to hear it!
Just made these- they turned out great! I got away with using a bit less butter than was called for and still got delicious Subway-textured cookies.
[…] two criteria and is a delightful morsel where you just can’t help having more than one. The recipe is by Lauren Brennan but I actually found her recipe on a different site for having won a cookie […]
Hey Lauren,
Loved the recipe! Can’t wait to try it out!!
Could you please mention the exact measurements of the ingredients.. in grams maybe?
Thanks a ton!
is it 1 1/2 cups butter or 1/2 cup butter?
1/2 cup.
[…] just the other day, one of these sisters sent me a message saying that her Mom adapted my Lemon Crinkle Cookie recipe, except she replaced the lemon with candy canes. Umm….what? I’m […]
I made these for our daughter’s graduation party so there’d be an alternative to chocolate cake. They were a big hit! Thanks for the recipe, as it is seemingly unique!
[…] original recipe came from Lauren’s Latest, but I’ve added more lemon and vanilla and cut back on some sugar. If you want a milder […]
Hi Lauren! I found your recipe and HAD to try them! I’m gluten intolerant, so decided to take a leap and try these with gluten-free flour (I use the King Arthur gluten-free flour mix recipe on their website). Halfway into the whole thing, I realized I’d used all of my white granulated sugar for hummingbird food a few days ago! Refusing to heat the oven again in this heat, I used packed light brown sugar. They turned out really well, despite all of my “tweaks”! I would definitely use the white sugar next time, though, as I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to sugar. 😉 I added a 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum to the flour mix. I also put the powdered sugar in a bowl and dropped the dough into it, as gluten-free doughs tend to be really sticky. I will be making these again (this time with the proper sugar)! Thanks for an awesome, solid recipe!
Just made these and my lemon-loving family was impressed! I added two drops of doTERRA lemon essential oil for an extra hit of lemon! Thank you for sharing, definitely deserved the win from LDS Living!
[…] Adapted slightly from Lauren’s Latest […]
[…] found this recipe on Pinterest from the blog Lauren’s Latest. The cookies looked divine and perfect, but I couldn’t help wondering if they wouldn’t […]
[…] you love lemon cookies as much as I do, you will want a copy of the recipe for Lemon Crinkle Cookies from Lauren’s Latest. They remind me of Snickerdoodles because of their appearance and […]
These came out of the oven about 5 minutes ago. One word: YUM! I only had small lemons on hand (not sure if they are Meyer Lemons) so I used the zest and juice of three. My family really likes their lemon desserts tangy, and this was perfect. Thank you so much Lauren-this recipe is a keeper!