Soft and Chewy Lemon Crinkle Cookies
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Say hello to the only lemon crinkle cookies you’ll ever need.
This cookie recipe uses melted butter, which gives the cookies a tender, almost fudgy texture. It’s just so good! The lemon zest packs vibrant lemony goodness into every bite, and you’ll love the signature crinkle-cracked surface on top.
If you’re looking for another lemon dessert other than cookies, you’ll have to make this delicious moist lemon pound cake, lemon cheesecake bars, or these lemon brownies.
- Soft and chewy
- Full of lemon-y flavor in each bite
- Perfectly sweet
- Easy to make
- INCREDIBLY delicious
Table Talk with Tawnie
Don’t you find it frustrating when the powdered sugar melts into the cookies and they loose their crinkle look? One of my tricks to get the powdered sugar to stick to these crinkle cookies is to roll them in granulated sugar first, then in a heavy coating of powdered sugar. The granulated sugar creates something magical; a lightly crisp edge while the inside stays nice and warm, chewy, and soft. It’s truly a dreamy lemon treat!
Ingredient Notes
(For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card below)
- Melted butter: I love using melted butter in cookies when I want a tender, moist cookie. I use melted butter in my Sheet Pan Cookies and in my Really Good Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe too.
- Lemon Zest and Granulated sugar: rubbing the sugar and zest between your fingertips to create a lemon sugar helps release the natural oils and infuse more lemon flavor into the cookies. It’s my go-to trick when baking with zest in desserts. You’ll notice it in these Lemon Cookies, Sour Cream Coffee Cake, and in my Cranberry Bliss Bars.
- Lemon Extract: I like to use the extract to add more lemon flavor. Be sure to use pure lemon extract for the best natural flavor—avoid artificial versions, which can taste bitter.
- Flour: Measure carefully (ideally by weight or using the spoon-and-level method) to avoid dry cookies.
- Other ingredients needed: powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Step by Step Directions
(For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card below)
Lemony sugar!
Use your fingertips to rub the zest and sugar together until the sugar feels slightly damp and smells super lemony. It only takes a minute, but this small extra step makes a huge difference! It creates a bright, citrusy base that spreads evenly throughout the entire cookie, not just in pockets where zest ends up. So good!
Bring that dough together!
Add the rest of the wet ingredients, fold in dry ingredients, and voila, lemon cookie dough. This cookie dough does benefit from chilling in the fridge since we’re using melted butter. Ideally 2–3 hours or even overnight.
Roll in sugars
Crinkle cookies benefit from rolling in granulated sugar first, then in a heavy coating of the powdered sugar! I use this same method for my Fudgy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.
Bake and enjoy!
Look at those perfect crinkles! YUMMMM.
Success Tips
- Chilling the dough is really important with this recipe because it makes the dough easier to handle and helps the flavors develop. It also helps contribute to the soft, thick, fudgy textures of these cookies that don’t spread.
- If you’re having trouble getting the powdered sugar to stick to your cookie dough balls, one of the best tips I’ve learned is to coat the dough balls in granulated sugar first, then follow it with a heavy coating of powdered sugar.
- You’ll want to make sure to thickly coat the cookie dough balls with the powdered sugar so it creates almost like a crust and prevents the powdered sugar from melting into the cookies. This also helps the cookies stay bright white – if the powdered sugar layer is too thin, the cookies can get a yellow-ish appearance.
- Don’t over-bake these cookies! Under-baking them slightly is better with these cookies.
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Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp. lemon zest (or the zest from 2 lemons)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled for ~10 minutes
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 tsp. lemon extract
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar, plus more as needed
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Instructions
- Dry ingredients: in a mixing bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Set aside for now.2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt
- Rub zest and sugar together: add the sugar and zest to a large mixing bowl and rub the sugar and zest between your fingertips to create a lemon sugar. This helps release the natural oils and infuse more lemon flavor into the cookies.1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, 1 Tbsp. lemon zest (or the zest from 2 lemons)
- Whisk butter & sugar: whisk the melted butter and lemon sugar together until combined.1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled for ~10 minutes
- Add eggs and extract: add the egg and egg yolk, whisking until combined, and then add the extracts. Whisking until smooth.1 large egg, room temperature, 1 large egg yolk, room temperature, 2 tsp. lemon extract, 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Fold in dry ingredients: add dry ingredients to the sugar and egg mixture. Fold in until combined.
- Chill: chill the cookie dough for 2-3 hours, or overnight. If choosing the overnight option, it will firm up considerably. Set on counter a few minutes before scooping.
- Preheat and prep: when you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. For rolling the cookies, place the granulated sugar in one bowl, and the powdered sugar in another.
- Scoop & coat in sugars: Using a cookie scoop, scoop the cookies into about 1 ½-2 tbsp. sized balls, rolling them between the palms of your hands. Coat the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar first, and then in powdered sugar. Pro tip: double coat in powdered sugar to get the best crinkle look (highly recommend!) Then place them about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Place the cookie dough back in the fridge in between batches if it gets too warm.1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, plus more as needed
- Bake: bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are set, but centers are still gooey. Underbaking is always key since the cookies will continue to cook as they cool on the baking sheet, so removing them from the oven under baked a little is perfectly fine! PS: you can swirl a cup around the cookies when warm right out of the oven to make perfect circles if they look wonky at all or use a spoon to nudge them into place. If they’re not spreading very much, you can press down on them a little prior to baking. But as they cool they settle a bit 🙂
- Cool: after 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet, carefully use a spatula to place on a wire cooling rack lined with parchment paper.
- Last step: enjoy!!
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Kroll’s Korner can’t make any guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
This recipe was originally published July 2020, and was updated with a revised recipe and new photos April 2025. Feel free to comment below if you’d like the old recipe and I’d be happy to email it over to you.
📸 Photos by Sierra Ashleigh Photography
I’ve made your chocolate chip cookies and they were FANTASTIC. I was eager to try this recipe. I made a 3 ounce cookie baked it for 12 min it was SO dark on the bottom. Then I used parchment paper and tried it again. It didn’t get brown on the bottom but the middle of the cookie was wet. I tried it again and baked it for 13 min. I thought they were ok BUT they are still a little moist in the center. Should they be like that?
Hi! Thank you so much for making my cookie recipes 🙂 I am in the process of updating this recipe because somehow it’s already been 5 years since I published it! I re-tested the recipe last week, and I actually made no changes to the recipe ingredients, but I tested different sized cookies at different oven temperatures. I ended up loving a 2 Tbsp. cookie baked at 350°F for 8-10 minutes and found underbaking was key, because even just a little over baked resulted in a dry/super cakey cookie. As the cookies rest, the center gets more chewy and less wet in the center. I’ll be updating this post soon with new photos, but in the meantime I hope this helps! Thank you 🙂
Unfortunately I was super disappointed in these cookies. They spread A LOT and I had to test our many different baking times. Either too raw or burnt. More than half the dough went to waste 🥲
oh no, that’s so strange I am terribly sorry. Did you follow the recipe exactly? what kind of pan did you bake them on? with parchment? I haven’t heard this happening to others about this recipe.
ya, i used parchment on my metal sheet pan I always use for cookies. 🙁
strange. I will revisit the recipe soon and see if I can trouble shoot it.
Can I make this cookie into thumbprint cookies as well thst way I can get 2 different cookies from the same dough?
Good question! I haven’t tried, but that might work! Or I have this recipe: https://krollskorner.com/recipes/desserts/cookies/lemon-curd-cookies/
Hi, just a few questions as I am dying to try these but don’t want to mess them up.
I absolutely love lemon flavor, I do see a lot of lemon in your recipe (zest, extract and juice) my question is, does this cookie have a strong lemon flavor or a mild one? I want a stronger lemon taste but the reviews are mixed so I thought I would just ask you lol
Also I wanted to use my regular 1 tbsp scooper or 1.5tbsp scooper, how long would you recommend baking?
I also notice there is no chill time on these cookies whereas a chocolate crinkle requires chill time…is this a typo or does this cookie not need to be chilled at all.
Hi Jenna! Thanks so much for your questions, I hope I can help out! 1. Lemon flavor: I don’t think it’s super overpowering but you can certainly taste the lemon. A trick I’ve learned is rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar before creaming with the butter to infuse more lemony notes into the baked good. You can add 1 Tbsp. and should get a good noticeable lemon flavor. 2. Scoop size: all ovens can vary so much, you can try 7-8 minutes to start. 3. Chill time: you can certainly chill the cookie dough if you’d like, it’s just not a totally necessary step. I know some have mentioned the dough feels a little sticky so if that’s the case you can always chill prior to scooping, no issues with doing that! I am excited to hear what you think of them! thank you!!
Perfect thanks so much for your quick reply. Can’t wait to try these!!
The cookies are absolutely delicious!!! I love lemon baked goods but not too strong on the lemon. Just right and absolutely perfect.
SO yummy! My dough came out a little wet.. how do you measure cake flour? I’ve been scooping/leveling, but it’s seems clumpier than all purpose so I’m wondering if the measuring cup wasn’t full enough?
thank you!! i measure it the same way! I havent had an issue with it being sticky but you could always chill the dough for a bit to help combat that 🙂
Hi,
I was curious if you freeze the dough should u roll it in the sugars first or wait until before baking?
Hi Cat! Great question. Freeze the dough without rolling. When you’re ready to bake, take dough balls out of the freezer and thaw for 30 minutes, then roll in sugars and bake as directed 🙂 I hope you love them and can’t wait to hear what you think!
I have chronic pancreatitis and I am a type one diabetic. Is it possible to use artificial sugar, no stevia…yuck…?
I haven’t tested the recipe that way so I am unsure.
Didn’t have cake flour so just subbed all purpose, and it worked great. These cookies were pretty simple to make, and they’re delicious! I want to make the OG choc chip ones next.
they look great! thank you 🙂 cant wait to hear what you think of the chocolate chip cookies!
Made these for the second time tonight. They are SO good! I got about 20 palm-sized cookies out of the recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Beautiful! yayyyy 🙂 thank you sooo much!