Lemon Crinkle Cookies

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Soft, tangy Italian-style lemon crinkle cookies made with fresh lemon juice and zest. These easy-to-make treats feature a beautiful powdered sugar crust and a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Prep Time30

Cook Time15

Chilling1 15

Total Time2

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Italian

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: cookies

Calories: 91kcal

Author: Nora from Savory Nothings

Ingredients

1 stick butter softened at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar divided use
2 lemons zest only
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1 large egg
1 lemon juice only
2-¼ cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled, if you scoop use 2 scant cups; or weigh out 282g
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar: 
Place the butter and ½ cup sugar into a medium mixing bowl, and either whisk by hand with a whisk or use a hand mixer with the whisk attachment until mostly smooth. Whisk in the zest of 2 lemons, the vanilla extract and the salt.
1 stick butter, 0.5 cup granulated sugar, 2 lemons, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 pinch salt
Add egg and lemon juice: 
Add the egg to the butter mixture and whisk on medium speed for 30 seconds (if whisking by hand, whisk well for 1 minute.) Add the lemon juice and continue whisking on medium speed for 30 more seconds, or until the lemon juice is fully incorporated.
1 large egg, 1 lemon
Make dough: 
Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture. Stir by hand using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon JUST until combined into a soft cookie dough (Note 1).
Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and either chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or freeze for 15 minutes (freezing works great here, but chill in the fridge if you need more time.)
2-¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder
Shape:
 Place powdered sugar in a shallow bowl, and ¼ cup granulated sugar in a second shallow bowl. Divide the dough into 30 equal portions (each about 18g or 1 scant tablespoon.)
Roll each portion into a ball, then roll each dough ball in the granulated sugar and then in the powdered sugar (do not discard powdered sugar yet.) Freeze for 15 minutes or refrigerate for 45 minutes (refrigerating works better at this step.)
0.25 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup powdered sugar
Prep for baking: 
Once ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a cookie sheet with baking parchment.
The cookies need to be baked in batches (do not bake two trays at the same time.) The more space the cookies have on the baking sheet, the better their rise and shape will be (I bake in 3 batches).
Final sugar dip: 
Remove the unbaked cookies from the fridge or freezer. Roll the cookies you are going to bake very generously in powdered sugar again (the bottom of the cookie doesn’t need extra powdered sugar, so it works best to hold it around the bottom and dip/roll the top part of the cookie to create a thick sugar layer.)
Place 8-10 cookies spaced evenly on your prepared cookie sheet.
Bake: 
Bake the cookies at 375°F for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325°F and finish baking for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are puffed up and crinkled.
Remove from the oven and immediately remove to a wire rack. Set the oven to 375°F again, dip the next batch of cookies in sugar and bake according to the instructions above.

Notes

Note 1: If your lemon yielded a lot of juice, you may need to add 2-3 more tablespoons of flour to make a coherent cookie dough (dough should be soft.)

Nutrition