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.
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
I love everything with lemon. This recipe is super easy to follow and my first cookie turns out superb. I lessen the sugar to 3/4 added more lemon zest and it taste good .
These were delicious! But is there any way to cut down on the sugar/lessen the sweetness? My family loved them but did tell me they were quite sweet.
Hi Mila, you can definitely try it with a little less sugar, but the tart lemon flavor may be stronger. Try 3/4 cup sugar, or slightly more, and let us know how they turn out!
I was too quick with my review! I posted when the first batch came out of the oven. The second batch came out looking like the picture. My guess is that the batter needed to be out of the fridge longer. My apologies Sally, I should have known your recipe would be good.
These are so good, a friend of mine who doesn’t like Lemon anything, really enjoyed them and surprised himself. 🙂 Can you tell me what the *asterisk’s represent on the Cornstarch, room temperature and Lemon zest? There’s nothing at the end of the recipe that indicate what these represent? Thank you so much.
Hi Sheri, we’re so glad they were a hit! The asterisk indicate a corresponding recipe note, which can be found right after the written recipe. Hope this helps!
I made them today. Absolutely awesome. Nice treat in 112 degree Palm Springs weather. Thank you. So easy too.
I’ve been trying a few recipes over the last few days for lemon cookies, so far this is our favourite! It is currently “Summer” here in England so it’s slightly warm which I think has effected the spread of my batch. I chilled the dough overnight and rolled as fast as I could without waiting the 10 minutes which went well but the first tray spread a lot, luckily I’d rolled and put the next set of balls into the fridge for a bit while the first set were baking, this did help with the spread a little bit but next time I think ill put the balls back in the fridge for 30 minutes or so before baking. We cant wait to try the chocolate ones next but for now we are overloaded with lemon cookies from my trials!
How many does this make?
Hi Susan, this recipe as written yields 40 cookies.
Lovely recipe!
I very much enjoyed the cookie.
Would it work if I omit the baking soda as I prefer a slightly chewier texture rather than a cakey texture? Or would the crinkle not work?
Hi Haruna, we’re so glad you enjoyed the cookies! We do not recommend omitting the baking soda here. You might enjoy these chewy lemon cookies instead.
Works EVERYTIME with different citrus fruits
My husband liked these, I didn’t (at all) so that is why I am giving this recipe 3 stars. I’ve never rated one of Sally’s recipes this low (3 stars because my husband’s “like factor” upped what my rating would have been but…..
I did not care for the “texture.” To me it was more like a cake (1st batch) than a cookie. I prefer cookies that have a somewhat crunchy bottom but not a totally crisp cookie. I’m wondering if adding the cornstarch gave it a more cake like texture?
2nd batch – The cookies weren’t spreading (nor in batch 1) so I did as suggested & hit them on the counter a couple of times & with that most of the powdered sugar came off.
Because that didn’t do any good, I opened the oven & smashed them down with a spatula. Maybe the cookies weren’t out of the refrigerator long enough???
I would have preferred the lemon taste to be a little stronger. As someone suggested, I also added some zest to the granulated sugar, which helped some with the lemon flavor.
Lastly, I made 35. I think 40 would have been fairly small cookies.
Hopefully others who make this recipe will have the luck of just about all the other reviewers before me, & not end up with cookies like mine. I’d say I must have done something wrong.
BTW – I have been making cookies for years & every Christmas make about 7 different kinds each year, so I’m not a “newbie.” : )
How would you adapt this recipe to use key limes?
Hi Marsha, you can use the same amount of key lime juice and zest in place of the lemon juice and zest, with no other changes to the recipe. Enjoy!
Very good cookie. Next time I would double the amount of lemon zest. The lemon flavor was mild to my taste.
These are a new favorite! They have a wonderful lemon flavor and the perfect softness for a cookie. Everyone who has tried them has begged for more!
I was wondering if I could use less sugar to make these, maybe half or 3 quarters of what’s written in the recipe? I’m not a big fan of sweet sweet desserts but I also don’t want to change the texture too much
Hi Amanda, you can definitely try it with a little less sugar, but the tart lemon flavor may be stronger. Try 3/4 cup sugar, or slightly more, and let us know how they turn out!
Made them last night and they’re delicious! Super soft, nicely crinkled, and very lemony. I added 3/4 cup of sugar and extra lemon juice- they’re still quite sweet since I rolled them in granulated sugar and a ton of confectioners’ sugar to make sure it stayed white so I wouldn’t go more than 3/4 cup. I also had to stick the dough balls in the freezer (for around 10 mins) before coating in the sugars but it helped it not flatten out too much and made it so much easier to roll and coat. I can’t wait to share these with everyone!
I love these but would like to make giany cookies (about 5 inch) How much dough for each? Ant temperature change? How much time?
Hi Donna, you can certainly try making these larger. We’re unsure of the exact dough amount and baking time, but you can bake them at the same temperature.
Delicious cookie but no crinkles – only puffy cookies with zero visible powdered sugar after baking. I tried the suggestions (double-rolling, rolling in granulated sugar first) then tried King Arthur’s non-melting powdered sugar. None worked to create the effect like in the recipe’s pictures. But still a good cookie!
Cookies were okay. Could use more flavor. I zested 2 lemons and a whole orange to get 1T of zest. I may try again with some lemon extract added too. I rolled in granulated sugar first and then powdered and they had a nice crinkle. Not too sweet. Overall a fine cookie.
I followed the recipe (but did rub a little extra lemon zest into the granulated sugar). I rolled them in slightly smaller 1″ balls, which yielded about 60 cookies of a good size. Baked 9 minutes at 350 degrees. The cookies came out great! Tender and tasty! Will definitely make them again, but I’ll add about twice the lemon zest in the dough for a more pronounced lemon flavor. Thanks for this fine recipe!
I absolutely love these cookies! Their flavor takes me back to my childhood, reminding me of the meringue used to decorate a vanilla cake infused with pineapple juice.
These cookies are a must try! So simple yet so delicious. Even my chocoholic husband loves them. If you have a lemon lover you bake for these are perfect!
Wow! Melt-in-your mouth soft and oh-so fresh. It’s hard to keep myself from eating them all at once! I rolled them in granulated sugar then several times in powdered sugar and they turned out beautifully.
These cookies are sooooo good. I just finished baking them and just had to try one. Awesome lemony taste!!
This is such an easy recipe, pretty, delicious with a stay-tender crumb, and a delicate lemon flavor. I plan to try it with orange juice next time. A winner.
There are not words for how much I love these cookies. I followed the recipe exactly, rolled in granulated sugar and then powdered sugar. Most of them kept the powdered/ crinkle cookie look, but it honestly didn’t matter because they were SO delicious. I rolled them into balls and kept in the freezer, popped some in at 350 for 12 minutes and they were divine every time. Crispy on the edges, ooey and gooey in the middle with a nice bright lemon flavor. Make these.
i love these but mine came out gummy
These were okay but as others said not much of a crinkle.
Flavour was good but needed more lemon, perhaps adding a lemon extract would help.
Cookies were delicious but no where as yellow as the picture. Followed the instructions to the letter and the icing sugar did not stick . The cookies did crackle though so I dusted them with icing sugar once they were out of the oven. I will make them again.
best recipe out there for these cookies
Great job Sally, Your the best
my cookies didn’t get much of a crinkle but tasted delicious!
Loved these lemon crinkle cookies! Baking them again by request…