Bright, cheery and endlessly addictive, these Lemon Crinkle Cookies are so soft and chewy you will not be able to stop eating these once you taste the fresh lemon zest flavor! With their distinctive powdered sugar crackle coating on top, they look as good as they taste!
Citrus is one of the greatest flavor categories we have, at least in my humble opinion. Yes, I do love the chocolate crinkle version of these cookies too, but there is really something so appealing about orange and lemon in the world. It’s just so bright and summery!
If you are a citrus fan too, you can also give this grapefruit loaf cake or these orange cupcakes a try too!
Ingredients
I love how quickly these lemon cookies come together. You can have a batch made in minutes with less than 10 ingredients!
- All-purpose flour.
- Baking soda. Because we have plenty of acidity in this recipe, we can activate the baking soda on its own! No need for additional baking powder in this case.
- Melted butter. Similar to a brownie or blondie recipe, we use a melted butter base for an extra-chewy texture.
- Brown sugar. The molasses in the brown sugar also aids with our chewy texture!
- Lemon zest. Use fresh lemon zest! It is doing all of our lemon flavoring.
- Vanilla extract and salt. Always needed in baking to round out a recipe’s flavor. Otherwise you end up with a flat-tasting cookie.
- Confectioners’ sugar. The final topping on the cookie dough is a double coating of confectioners’ sugar.
Lemon Zest
Originally, I tested this recipe with both lemon juice and lemon zest. However, the lemon juice made the batter a bit thinner and they baked more like a whoopie pie cakey-cookie combo. And while that’s delicious in its own right, it wasn’t the texture I was going for with these crinkle cookies.
In order to get this soft and chewy, almost blondie-like cookie texture, I dropped the lemon juice (that wasn’t adding much flavor) and increased the fresh lemon zest.
To properly zest a lemon, a microplane is your best friend. I personally use this style of microplane because it works so well to finely grate off the bright yellow outer rind.
That bright yellow rind is the only part you want when grating lemons. The white pith layer below is very bitter.
How to Make Crinkle Cookies
Crinkle cookies are known to be similar in texture to a brownie, or in this case, blondie! They are so easy to make and are nearly impossible to make a mistake! Here’s a few tips and tricks below for easier crinkle cookies!
Use melted and cooled butter. Melted butter gives us that deep chewy texture, but we don’t want to fully melt our brown sugar. So allow the butter to cool while you gather the rest of your ingredients together.
Zest properly. The tips above will ensure you only zest the best part of the lemon and avoid any bitter notes.
Chill the dough. Chilling the dough will help it keep its shape and height when baking. Allow for at least 3 hours of chilling in the fridge. But this dough will keep well for 2 days before baking, so feel free to make in advance!
Double coat. This is the most important step! Double coating the confectioners’ sugar right before baking ensures you have a thick and gorgeous crackle on top. A single coat will soak into the dough and look a bit splotchy.
I like to roll all of the dough once in the sugar, then go back a second time and recoat. This allows the sugar a minute or two to “set” before the second coating.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store a zested lemon in the fridge for a few days until you are in need of some juice down the road (word of caution, store the lemon in something glass as the acidity can cause some plastics to discolor). You can also juice and freeze the lemon juice and thaw as needed!
Two coatings of sugar will ensure that you have a nice distinct crackle topping on your baked cookies. A single coating tends to melt into the dough in places leaving a muddled look.
I would avoid freezing the crinkle cookies once baked to keep the best texture. You can freeze the unbaked (and uncoated) dough in portions and bake as needed!
Looking for other Lemon Desserts?
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 150 g all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 56 g unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 80 g brown sugar packed
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon zest approx 3 lemons
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 56 g confectioners' sugar for coating
Instructions
- Whisk or sift together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.150 g all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- In the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand-mixer, mix together melted butter, brown sugar and lemon zest for 3-4 minutes on medium-high speed or until mixture is slightly thickened.56 g unsalted butter, 80 g brown sugar, 3 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
- Add egg and vanilla, mix well.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Slowly add flour mixture, mixing on low until dough just forms. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350℉ (175℃) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using standard cookie scoop, portion dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon balls. Coat each cookie dough ball in confectioners’ sugar once, then repeat a second time, allowing the first coat to set slightly.56 g confectioners' sugar
- Place evenly apart on prepared tray and bake for 11-13 minutes or until edges are firm and set and center is still soft.
Notes
- Unbaked cookie dough can be scooped and frozen without confectioners’ sugar coating. Coat immediately before baking. Do not thaw dough and add 1-2 extra minutes of baking time.
- Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Avoid freezing baked cookies.
Disclaimer: We test all recipes using the metric weights shown, we cannot guarantee outcomes when switching to US measurements.
