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!
One reader, Marcia, commented: “Goodbye, favorite bakery. Hello, Sally’s Very Lemon Crinkle Cookies! These are quite possibly the best cookies I have ever baked. Thank you so very much for sharing your recipe. I think I might try this with orange or lime, too. ★★★★★“
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, Nutella crinkle cookies, or even chocolate raspberry crinkles 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. If you’re interested in learning more about this crucial step, here is my tutorial on how to cream butter and 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 and lemon shortbread cookies next. These lemon blueberry cookies are also favorites!
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.
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
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 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Made the recipe according to directions using fresh lemon. Only difference is I baked, using convection oven, for 14 minutes at 350 degrees. Rolled the chilled dough in granulated sugar them sifted confectioners sugar. Came out perfect. Will definitely make them again.
Very good. A nice twist on the classic crinkle. I found my bake time was 13 minutes and next time I would have made the cookies slightly smaller. I did have to ‘pan bang’ to get any spread.
Hi Sally, everyone loved these cookies! However, my icing sugar melted even though i rolled it several times in it. Any tips to keep it from melting? Thank you!
Hi Mo! Give them a light roll in granulated sugar before rolling in confectioners’ sugar. I don’t normally do that for these particular cookies, but enough readers have said the same that I am going to add it to the recipe itself. 🙂
Thank you, Sally!!!
tried these today and although they taste good, they are not lemony flavour and the “crinkle” didn’t happen. I had them in the fridge for the prescribed 3 hours and I gave them a very generous coating of powdered sugar. Not sure why they didn’t turn out as I usually have success with your recipes!
Hi Nina! Thank you for trying these. Did they puff up in the oven, or did they just spread out? Because if they over-spread, they won’t end up with the crinkled look which comes from puffing up and then falling a bit.
Hi Sally,
They did puff up properly and they came out as you said – set on the edges and slightly soft in the middle.
I should also mention that I had doubled the recipe so I wonder if the amount of lemon to use should be slightly more than just twice the amount? Also, I used bottled lemon juice since I didn’t have any fresh.
These were so yummy and easy to make. Mine did not crinkle the same or look as yellow though. Any tips for next time?
Hi Lisa! So glad you enjoyed them. If there was too much flour in the dough, it wouldn’t be able to expand correctly in the oven. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
These are easy to make and delcious, light and flavorful. I rolled the cookie dough in powdered sugar twice–I set each cookie aside while I finished the batch, and then covered them in powdered sugar again. The crackly effect was better than just a single covering of powdered sugar
It’s funny because the day before Sally published this, I was just thinking to myself how I wished I had a good lemon crinkle recipes – and here it is! Also, thank you for incorporating the lemon juice as well as the zest in your recipes, I never know what to do with the lemon if I only need the zest. Another 5 star recipe from Sally 🙂
These were a big hit and I’ve already had requests to make them again! Thanks Sally!
These smelled so great while baking but when I peeked they looked like a mess. They spread so huge! And powdered sugar appeared in clumps rather than a nice even coating. I had them in the fridge overnight and only left them out for 10 mins before rolling. Not sure where I went wrong here?
Hi Amy, it sounds like your butter may have been a bit too warm. Room temperature butter is cooler than you may think! This post on how to prevent cookies from spreading will also be helpful to review. Thank you for giving these a try!
These were very tasty but they weee very pale in color. Is there any natural way to get them more yellow in color?
Hi Jackie, I’m glad you enjoyed these! For a more yellow color, and I have not tested this, you could try using 2 egg yolks instead of 1 egg. And add some more lemon zest.
These cookies are amazing! I love lemon and they are perfectly flavored, light, fluffy cookies.
Sally, question. For the people who wanted “more lemon ” punch. Could you add a little cream of tartar to the cookies? I do this to lemon bars.
Hi Todd, I’m not sure I would add cream of tartar, though you can certainly test it. You could also add more lemon zest or about 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract.
Maybe citric acid?
My family and I loved these cookies- perhaps more than the chocolate ones! How well does this recipe double? I’m already anticipating needing more of these on hand!
Hi Michelle, this makes a fair amount of dough and I worry that if you double the recipe all in 1 bowl, it will overwhelm the mixer and be easy to accidentally over or under-mix. I recommend 2 separate batches. I’m so glad you enjoyed these!
Michelle, I doubled this recipe with no problem.
I loved this recipe so much- it’s simple and straightforward and the result is lemony delicious ! Plus sally gives great tips along the way to ensure a successful cookie!
Sally, your lemon cookie recipe is phenomenal. Just the right amount of lemony goodness.
Just made these today! So delicious! I have made many of your recipes and the results are always great. I tried when I saw them on cookie palooza!
Thank you Sally!!
Hi Sally, looking to make a great lemon cookie as a Christmas gift for my sister. I’ll need to ship it to her, however. Do you think these will hold up? Can they be frozen after baking? Thanks!
Hi Beth, You can freeze these cookies. Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. You might find our post about the best way to ship cookies helpful!
Can i use a mix of fresh lemon juice and a bit of lemon extract ??
Absolutely! You could replace 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract with the same amount of lemon extract.
I’m not a big fan of this particular recipe; the dough smelled so heavenly lemony and they just didn’t taste great. Wahhh!! Certainly not a throw out cookie, but a disappointment in flavor compared to the dough aroma. I’ll keep hunting for a lemon cookie that packs a punch (like lemon square flavor!)
Thank you for trying them!
I made these and the pecan sugar cookies! These are the best ones. Moist and chewy.
Loved the flavor of these! Very lemon indeed!
Tastes delicious, however most of the powdered sugar dissolved into the cookie while baking…what did I do wrong??
Nothing wrong at all! These cookies need a very generous roll in confectioners’ sugar for it to stay visible after baking.
I made these today and they turned out beautifully. Such a wonderful, fresh lemon flavor, not at all overpowering! And the texture is terrific, as well. They remind me of the cookies a dear friend of ours used to make every Christmas before she passed away♡ Thank you, Sally, for reviving those memories with this recipe!
Usually I like a “not to sweet” cookie, but these were just okay. Dough was difficult to work with even after chilling for 3 hours. It was hard to get it out of the scoop. The powdered sugar “crinkle” was not visible, so I ended up dusting them with powdered sugar after they cooled. I also ended up bumping the heat up to 375 to get a bit of color. I usually have success with all of Sally’s recipes, but this one didn’t work for me!
I look forward to trying another one of the cookie recipes for the holidays.
Cheers!
Hi Eva June! Thank you so much for trying these lemon crinkle cookies. They do need a generous roll in confectioners’ sugar. I appreciate the feedback!
Hooray for the 20g cookie instruction! I started keeping notes on how many grams of dough each cookie should be for various recipes so having this built in is fantastic. Thank you.
Same! I wish all cookie recipes had the weight included for the individual cookie before baking!
You’re very welcome!
Could you use lemon extract in place of vanilla extract?
Certainly! Though I would reduce the amount to perhaps 1/2 teaspoon, since there is so much lemon juice/zest already in the dough.
I notice that these don’t get rolled in granulated sugar prior to rolling in powdered sugar like the chocolate crinkle cookies do. Do you not find it necessary?
I made these as written and the powdered sugar seemed to sink into the cookies a bit. I plan to try them again and roll in granulated sugar first next time.
Could I use Tapioca Starch instead of Cornstarch? I am allergic to corn, but would like to keep the cookie softness that cornstarch brings to the recipe. Looking forward to making these! ~ Kim
Hi Kim! That substitution should be just fine.
I appreciate your question about subbing tapioca starch! I was about to ask the same one and was surprised to read about another corn allergy! Can’t wait to hear how it worked as I plan to make these in a week or so.
These were delicious! My husband was a little skeptical but even he found them incredibly moist and lemon-y!
I remember when lemon bars were a challenge recipe, people who tried subbing in orange said that the flavor wasn’t nearly as strong so the recommendation was to use orange juice concentrate instead. I bet that would work here too.
That’s a great idea! And/or increase the zest to 1 Tablespoon.
Could you substitute key lime juice to make these like a key lime cooler cookie? Thank you.
Yes!
I followed the directions to a T. Sticky, obnoxious batter even after refrigeration. Cookie was dry and not flavorful.