These Lemon Crinkle Cookies are light, delicious and very, very lemony. I’ve been making them since I was a kid but I confess, the older I got the more lemony the cookies became. I just kept adjusting the recipe to complement my evolving tastes. It doesn’t make them tart though, these sugar drenched cookies are a gorgeous treat.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies have been around for a long time and so has the recipe my late mom and I used for them when I was a kid. I’m not sure where it came from originally – Mom usually told me the stories behind any of the recipes she had, if there were any. I don’t remember her saying much about this one.
The wonderful thing about Lemon Crinkle Cookies is that everyone was loves them, from little kids right on up. They are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside with a delicious sugar coating that makes them extra special. I don’t know about you but I love lemon desserts and treats.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies are easy to make. Once the dough is mixed together, you roll it in small balls and then roll the balls in sugar. It’s a fun recipe to make with kids. Just be sure to allow space between the cookies on the cookie sheet for them to expand into gorgeous crinkly deliciousness!
Back in the day, my late mom and I used to add a drop or two of yellow food colouring to our Lemon Crinkle Cookies. It does make them look even more lemony but honestly I think they are more elegant without. I do prefer to avoid food colouring where I can. If you are a lover of all things sunshine yellow do feel free to blend a drop or two into the batter at the very end – but go carefully, you don’t need much!
Lemon Crinkle Cookies keep really well in a sealed container or good cookie jar. I’ve eaten them almost a week after baking and they still taste good, although they are best eaten within three to four days.
One of my go to desserts for dinner parties where I want elegance without stress is to serve Lemon Crinkle Cookies alongside lovely light Limoncello and Blueberry Syllabub. I serve the syllabub in pretty vintage tea cups or elegant cocktail glasses with a cookie alongside each one. I also put a big plate of cookies in the centre of the table because no one can eat just one. Try them and you will see what I mean!
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- a generous pinch of salt
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons softened butter
- 1 cup granulated or caster sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk beaten together
- the finely grated zest of one lemon
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup granulated or caster sugar to roll the cookies in before baking
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 165°C for fan ovens).
- Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. (You will need to bake the cookies in batches.)
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and 1 cup sugar together in an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the beaten egg and egg yolk along with the lemon rind.
- With the mixer on medium speed, add the lemon extract and lemon juice.
- Lower the speed on the mixer again and gradually add the flour mixture, blending the mixture well. Do not beat.
- Pop the dough in the refrigerator for ten minutes to make it easier to form balls. (If you are impatient like I am, you can do this straight away. It's just easier if you chill the dough a bit first!)
- Pour the ½ cup sugar into a bowl or on to a plate with raised edges.
- Roll the chilled dough into balls about 1 inch in circumference between the palms of your hands. Don't panic, you don't have to measure them, just be sure they are all roughly the same size. It's tempting to make them bigger but as these cookies spread it really isn't a great idea to do that!
- Roll each cookie ball and sugar and place on the baking sheets about two inches apart.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, watching the cookies carefully so they don't brown too much.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for five minutes before carefully removing them with a spatula and cooling completely on a wire rack.
- Use fresh baking parchment for each batch.
- When cool, store in sealed container at room temperature.
did you make this recipe?
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If you enjoyed this post you may also like Slice and Bake Cookies.
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Comments & Reviews
Manila Spoon says
I love the fresh lemony flavor in these delightful lemon crinkle cookies – perfect for my mid-afternoon sweet cravings!
April Harris says
Thank you, Abby 🙂
Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry says
Love, love, love lemon cookies and this recipe is not one that I have come
across before so pinning
April Harris says
Thank you, Bintu, and thank you for pinning too!
peter @feedyoursoultoo says
I love the crack that shows in these cookies. Perfect texture.
April Harris says
Thank you, Peter 🙂
justine @ Full Belly SIsters says
I love lemon desserts and can’t wait to make these!
April Harris says
I hope you enjoy them as much as we do, Justine!
Winnie says
These cookies will be a hit with my family! We all love lemon cookies
They look wonderful and hard to resist 🙂
April Harris says
I’m glad you like them, Winnie! They really are hard to resist 🙂
Platter Talk says
Looks to me that addiction can sometimes be a delicious issue to have; nice job with this cookies!! They look incredible!
April Harris says
Thank you, Dan!
nancy@skinnykitchen.com says
Yum! I love lemon cookies.
April Harris says
Thank you, Nancy 🙂
Patty Haxton Anderson says
These look fabulous!
April Harris says
Thank you, Patty 🙂
Madonna says
I love lemon cookies. I even crumble them for the crust when I make lemon bars for a little more lemon.
April Harris says
What a great idea, Madonna! I’ll have to give that a try!
Serena | Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch says
These look lovely! I can never pass on a crinkly lemon cookie!
April Harris says
Thank you, Serena 🙂
Sarah says
I adore lemon cookies and I love the crinkle in these! Pinning!
April Harris says
Thank you, Sarah, and thank you for pinning too!
Linda (Meal Planning Maven) says
These cookies are gorgeous April! Perfect for holiday parties and gifts!
April Harris says
Thank you so much, Linda, and thank you for sharing too!
Jess says
I’ve made something very similar…but these sound SO tasty! YUMMY! I’ve pinned it! 🙂
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
April Harris says
Thank you for pinning, Jess 🙂
Angela says
These cookies look just perfect April! I love using lemon in desserts so for sure I am going to LOVE these!!!!
April Harris says
Thank you, Angela 🙂
Erica (@Erica's Recipes) says
The best cookie recipes I have are the ones handed down to me by family too. LOVE these lemon cookies April, these look so seriously tasty. Will have to add them to the Christmas cookie plan and make them using lemons from my tree. I am very excited about this!
April Harris says
Thank you so much, Erica! I think it’s wonderful you have fresh lemons to make them with!
Kecia says
Oh April! These little lemon crinkle cookies look just fantastic! I love a lemony dessert, too. I must put these on the list~
April Harris says
Thank you, Kecia 🙂
Lisa says
Hi April! It’s been a while, but I thought I’d pop over and return your kind visit. 🙂 This recipe sounds delicious (printing it as I type…). Will be making these tomorrow! Thanks so much for sharing,
xo Lisa
April Harris says
Hi Lisa! Lovely to ‘see’ you again 🙂 I hope you enjoy the cookies as much as we do! Let me know what you think 🙂
christine says
I love lemon in my “sweets”, so vibrant. It’s so wonderful to go back and remake older family recipes.
April Harris says
Thank you, Christine 🙂
Claire says
April these look great. I am adding them to my ‘to make’ list. So lovely to have the memory of making with your mum too ???
April Harris says
Thank you, Claire! I hope you and yours enjoy them as much as we do. I love recipes with memories attached 🙂
Lou Lou Girls says
Oh yum! This looks so incredible! Pinned and tweeted. We love partying with you and we appreciate you stopping by! Please take a minute to stop by next week, so we can pin and tweet your new creation. The party starts on Monday at 7 pm! Have a great Monday! Lou Lou Girls
April Harris says
Thank you 🙂
Bethany @ The Happy Habit Blog says
These look amazing!!!! I think they might just be on my agenda this week. I love lemon. Lemon cookies? A whole ‘nutha level! haha Just stopping by from Simple Supper Tuesday! Nice to meet you! 🙂
April Harris says
Thank you so much, Bethany! It’s lovely to meet you too! I look forward to visiting your blog 🙂
swathi says
Love your lemon crinkle cookies, I need to try it.
April Harris says
Thank you so much, Swathi! I hope you and your family will love them!
Ahua says
Thanks for yummy recipe. I love sour lemon flavor. So I add lemon juice up to 4tabs.
April Harris says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Ahua. I love the flavour of lemon too and it’s good to know that a bit more lemon juice works well in the recipe 🙂
Mischa says
These were amazing! I didn’t have lemon extract so I used a little orange extract instead. Sifting the flour was key, so light and fluffy – like eating a cloud!!!! YUM! Only 3 left on the first pan and the second pan isn’t even out yet!!
April Harris says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Mischa! I like the idea of adding the orange extract. Thank you so much for your wonderful comment 🙂
irene rodriguez says
1 inch balls prior to baking, two balls takes up 12 the baking sheet as they spread to apx. 3 inches … poofs very nicely then the last few minutes flattens into THIN WAFERS …
TASTE – TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT …WON’T MAKE AGAIN
Afte all is said and done, I ended up with wafer thin ugly lemon cookies.
Irene Rodriguez
April Harris says
I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe, Irene. Those are certainly not the results I have experienced in years of making the recipe, nor have the family, friends and readers I have shared it with. As you can see from the comment above you, others have had better results too. It is impossible for me to say what happened as I was not there when you made the recipe, but how unfortunate you did not have the same experience others have had.