Here’s something you should know about me: I am lemon obsessed. Truly!
So, it’s probably no surprise that as I’ve been in the mood to experiment in the kitchen, I baked these lemon crinkle cookies. Simple, sweet, and absolutely bursting with flavor.
Related: Brownie Mix Crinkle Cookies and The Best Cookie Recipes
I always know when I have a winner when my husband tries a new cookie recipe and gives me a thumbs up. Ha. These lemon crinkle cookies are thumbs up-from-the-husband approved. 🙂
You make the dough and then chill it for an hour (up to overnight), so these are fun to make ahead if you already know you’ll be in the mood for cookies tomorrow.
I also love the process of dividing up the dough, rolling into balls, and then rolling in a small bowl of powdered sugar. It’s like a fun little Play-Doh project before baking a batch of cookies. So this could be a fun one to do with kiddos too.
These are soft on the inside with a little crinkle crunch on the outside. If you like lemon even half as much as me, give these lemon crinkle cookies a try! Happy baking, Emma
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Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar (granulated)
- ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 lemon (zest and 2 tablespoons of juice)
- 1 ½ cups flour (all purpose )
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar (powdered)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, oil, and eggs. Use a box grater to zest as much of the lemon peel as you can, and then reserve 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or as much as you can). Stir the zest and juice into the bowl.
- Then, stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until a dough ball forms. Cover and chill for at least one hour or overnight.
- Divide into 12 balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place on a prepared baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 12-14 minutes until the edges just begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Can these cookies be frozen after baking?
Yes. You could also freeze the dough in balls and then roll in powdered sugar and bake when ready.
For those saying they were wet/sticky, I made mine in a metal bowl, used a hand mixer to mix and refrigerated for about 4 hours. The colder the dough, the easier it was to work with. It did get tacky as it warmed up but still came out great.
Thanks for sharing the recipe, Emma and for answering my question so quickly!
I followed the directions, and they turned out great..
the ratios are not right for the dough – it was incredibly sticky. ended up adding flour until it had the right consistency, but then the flavor was off.
I wish I had read the comments first, that being said, after baking the first tray, I added 3/4 cups of AP flour and ended up with something similar to the picture. Lofty with a crispy outside and chewy in the middle. I also add food coloring to make the yellow “pop”, otherwise they would have been pale yellow. Most importantly the taste was delicious and the family enjoyed them!
I made a vegan version using Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer and extra 2 Tbs water. These cookies are awesome. My whole family loved them and we will definitely make them again.
I came to join the choir of people complaining about something being off with the quantities. It definitely needs more flour. After a night in the fridge, the dough was still wettish and sticky af.
The baked cookies came out flat, and not very lemony. I would definitely adjust the 2 tbsp of juice to at least 3 times that.
Other than that, they are not yellow at all and did not crinkle (but maybe that’s on my not-yellow-enough ingredients and my baking technique), so now I have a bunch (30+ really) flat pale cookies which are overly sweet and don’t taste like lemon.
A (beautiful) mess, indeed.
Hi I have tried several variations of this recipe butter and oil. The overall view is trial and error. Most are too sticky. But keep at it guys
Hi, what method do you use for measuring flour? It would be great if you added what measurement you use in the post. Grams is more accurate. Thank you.
We make these cookies every summer. So easy to make and only need 1 lemon. Love how fresh and chewy they are.
This is my go-to for all potlucks. A crowd pleaser for sure
The dough was extremely sticky and difficult to work with even after refrigerating overnight. These were just okay. Another recipe I tried from another website was better. I won’t make these again. There are better recipes out there for these cookies.
I have made these multiple times and my 5 year old son goes crazy over them. Last time I made them we had guests over and he kept telling everyone, “My mom made these!” I figured Emma should get the credit for creating a great recipe?
I see there are a number of comments about batter being too wet. Pretty sure flour amount is in correct and should be 2 1/2 cups. Will you please confirm your original recipe amount.?
These are amazing after I tweaked with more flour and a bit of lemon extract to kick up flavor. Thank you for posting!
I think it means try to get 2 tbs of lemon juice but if you cant use what you get. Don’t think it means use more than 2 tbs of lemon juice. I am mixing up today for first time, will report how goes
Mixed up, definitely something wrong with recipe. I added 1/4 cup more of flour, will see. Checked similar recipes. Others have 1/2 cup of butter instead of oil, that could be the problem. Ive been baking cookies for more than 50 years, so not a beginner mistake occurring
Followed the recipe to a “T” and my dough came out wet and sticky, nothing what the picture looks like. Clearly, they followed a different recipe, as there are multiple comments with people having the same problem of wet dough with zero commentary from posters. I put in almost an extra cup of flour to offset the wetness, even after having the dough sit over night. The recipe is also too vague when explaining how much lemon juice you need. 2 tablespoons or “as much as you can get” aren’t the same thing, lots of variables including size of lemon. Disappointed to say the least.
I made these and they were delicious! I just added extra flour…
So I never saw your response re very sticky dough. I have mine chilling now but it was extremely sticky and I’m wondering it it’s too late to do something about it.
Thank you for please answering this.
It should be less sticky the longer it chills, but you can add a little flour/water to the batter if needed!
Thank you for responding. The dough was still sticky this morning albeit less so. I went ahead and baked them. They turned out perfect! I did get more then 12 cookies though–which was fine. I took off one star just for ease of working with the dough but the cookies are delicious.
These cookies are so beautiful and yummy. Mine are perfect . Followed recipe exactly. Thank you
My batter is sticky but I put the right amount of ingredients in. Any idea as to why?
Hi Morgan! How long did you chill the dough?
Maybe too much lemon juice ? Still waiting for an answer to my question on that…
The recipe calls for “1 lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of juice.” So is this the zest and juice of 1 lemon plus 2 additional tablespoons of lemon juice or just 2 tablespoons of lemon juice?
The receipt then goes on to say “Use a box grater to zest as much of the lemon peel as you can, and then reserve 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or as much as you can). Stir the zest and juice into the bowl.” So am i using the juice of 1 lemon but setting aside 2 tablespoons? Where do we use the 2 tablespoons of juice?
This is not clear and perhaps why there are reports by many of wet dough…
Hi! You’ll need to add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and the zest of one lemon. Sorry for the confusion!
So just 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for the whole recipe. Perfect! I can’t wait to make these!!
I followed the instructions and mine came out perfectly. I would just note that this makes 12 very large cookies (almost cafe cookie jar sized). You could easily make many more smaller cookies. I did half and half.
Hi! I just tried this recipe but the batter turned out to be sticky. I added a bit more flour but I feel like it’s still sticky. Is that normal?