Soft and Chewy Lemon Crinkle Cookies
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Say hello to the only lemon crinkle cookie recipe you’ll ever need.
I’m not kidding. 😉
And once you’ve become hooked on these lemon cookies, try these other delicious cookies: best ever chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodle cookies, funfetti cookies.
If you’re looking for another lemon dessert that’s not cookies you’ll have to make this dangerously delicious moist lemon pound cake!
These cookies really live up to everything you want in a lemon cookie.
- Soft and Chewy
- Full of lemon-y flavor in each bite
- Perfectly sweet
- Ultra thick and cakey
- Easy to make
- INCREDIBLY delicious
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 the 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 treat!
One of my favorite parts of these lemon crinkle cookies is that there is no need to chill the dough! I purposefully create my cookie recipes with no chill time because I’m an impatient kind of girl, haha!
Here’s the low down:
(For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card below)
- Cake Flour: (spooned and leveled): If you know me and my cookies, you know I love adding cake flour with all-purpose flour to make the perfect cookie!
- Corn Starch: key ingredient to making thick, big cookies.
- Fresh Lemon Juice: if you have bottled it’s OK, but try to use fresh when you can for ultimate flavor.
- Lemon Zest
- Lemon Extract (for extra lemon flavor): some people have made without and just added a little more zest and have had great results.
- Vanilla Extract
- Yellow Food Coloring (optional)
The process is very similar to most of my cookie recipes, like the funfetti and chocolate crinkle cookies. So if you’ve nailed that recipe down you’ll be a pro at this one!
(For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card below)
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl: All-Purpose flour, cake flour, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter. Then add in the white sugar and let the butter and sugar cream together until light and fluffy.
- Then add in the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, lemon extract, lemon juice, lemon zest and food coloring.
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients. Mix well.
- Shape dough into 8 large cookie dough balls (~5 oz. each), roll in sugars and bake for 11-13 minutes.
- Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
- If your cookies are turning out flat, try adding a little extra flour.
- Be sure you preheat the oven to 400°F first. Get the oven nice and hot while you prep the cookies.
- Use cold butter, not room temperature.
- Ungreased cookie sheets are key. If you bake your cookies on a greased cookie sheet they can spread like pancakes!
- Don’t flatten the cookies prior to baking, keep them in a ball.
- Be sure to not over bake the cookies. Slightly under baked is the way to go, and they will be dry if you over bake.
- Cool completely before freezing.
- Let the cookies rest: If your cookies are turning out too gooey, let them rest longer. I recommend at least 15 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. They are even better if you let them sit and enjoy the next day. Your cookies aren’t ruined, just let them rest!
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Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 cups Cake Flour
- 2 tsp. corn starch
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cubed (16 Tbsp.)
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp. lemon extract
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (4 Tbsp.)
- 2 tsp. lemon zest (add more for more lemon flavor!)
- 2-5 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Whisk together the All-purpose flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour, 1 1/2 cups Cake Flour, 2 tsp. corn starch, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt
- Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and secure the paddle attachement. Turn the mixer on the lowest setting. Let the mixer cream the butter for ~30 seconds, followed by the white sugar until light and fluffy. 2-4 minutes.1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cubed (16 Tbsp.), 1 1/4 cups sugar
- Then add in the eggs, egg yolks, extracts, lemon juice, lemon zest and food coloring. Blend until mixed. If any of the butter gets stuck on the paddle attachment use a rubber spatula to knock it off.2 large eggs, 2 large egg yolks, 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract, 3/4 tsp. lemon extract, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (4 Tbsp.), 2 tsp. lemon zest (add more for more lemon flavor!), 2-5 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
- Gradually add in the flour mixture. Mix until combined. Turn machine off.
- Measure out ~8, 5 oz. cookies (you can of course make smaller if you want!). In a bowl or shallow dish, roll the dough balls in granulated sugar first, and then in powdered sugar next. Place 6 cookies on 1 cookie sheet and 2 on another.1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes. Let them rest on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- You can make these cookies smaller in size. I’ve made them 3 ounces and bake them for 12 minutes.
- Let the cookies rest: If your cookies are turning out too gooey, let them rest longer. I recommend at least 15 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. They are even better if you let them sit and enjoy the next day. Your cookies aren’t ruined, just let them rest!
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.
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!
If I make smaller cookies would you recommend adjusting the baking temp? I saw in previous comments you suggested adjusting the baking time but wasn’t sure if the temp should be adjusted as well. Thank you!
Hi! Keeping the oven the same should be just fine 🙂 Keep an eye on them, all ovens vary so much!
Hi, if I replace lemon emulsion with the lemon extract. Do I need to adjust anything else?
Hi! I wouldn’t think so 🙂 The emulsions are more concentrated so they’ll give a stronger flavor!
Thank you! Sorry, fir the double comment. I didn’t think the first comment posted lol
Hello! What if I used room temperature butter vs cold butter?
You might need to refrigerate the dough prior to baking, I am not sure I only tested with the cold butter 🙂