A burst of lemon with the sweetness of powdered sugar make these Lemon Crinkle Cookies a favorite among our family and friends. We like to use these as Christmas cookies and add them to treat platters we make for friends (we make extra to account for those I eat as we put them together… they are one of my favorites as well!)
Shhh…. don’t tell that Lemon Crinkle Cookies are easy to make!
These are really quick to throw together and don’t take anything overly special. There’s a good chance you have the majority of the ingredients already in your kitchen. We often double the recipe as well, and cooked 6 dozen cookies the day we put this video together.
Tips for success
When zesting the lemon, make sure you only take the yellow layer of the peel. The white pith just under that yellow layer is very bitter. It also doesn’t have the oils in it that create the strong lemon flavor in these cookies. It takes a bit longer, but well worth it! I have had several questions on zesting, so made this video to help explain the process.
It is important to scrape the bowl as you mix additional ingredients into the dough to make sure you don’t miss any of them on the side of the bowl.
Slowly add the dry ingredients at the end to make sure they mix better and really combine with the dough you’re putting together. Too much at once just creates a could of flour in your kitchen!
Try to keep the balls the same size so they cook at the same rate. Too much difference and some are dry while others need to cook more. Also, keep them separated on the cookie sheet. Too close and they will form into a single cookie as they bake.
These cookies freeze really well. You can make them ahead of time and just pull them out when you’re ready for them. We package some as dozens in the freezer for sharing and some in smaller batches so I’m not tempted by a dozen at a time!
We made these and our Thumbprint Cookies for our holiday giveaways!
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy12
servings20
minutes10
minutes213
kcal30
minutesA burst of lemon with the sweetness of powdered sugar make these Lemon Crinkle Cookies a favorite among our family and friends. We like to use these as Christmas cookies and add them to treat platters we make for friends (we make extra to account for those I eat as we put them together… they are one of my favorites as well!)
Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 cup) Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
1 tsp Lemon Zest
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1-1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Soften butter in a medium mixing bowl. Add 1 cup sugar and mix until well blended.
- Mix in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and lemon juice, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure everything mixes
- Mix dry ingredients together, then slowly add them to the dough mixture while mixing
- Roll dough into 24 balls and roll the balls in powdered sugar
- Spray a baking sheet with a nonstick spray or cover with a silicone mat. Place dough balls on the baking sheet well spaced (I put about a dozen per sheet) so they have room to spread out as they bake
- Bake for 9-11 minutes, until bottom of cookie is just browning and cookie is baked through
- Allow to cool 3-5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack