Lemon crinkle cookies
Lemon crinkle cookies are the fresh, bright cousin of chocolate crinkles, with a soft, tender pale yellow center and a gentle lemon fragrance. The powdered sugar coating cracks as they bake, leaving snowy white patches over the golden cookie. The lemon zest is rubbed into the sugar first so its fragrant oils soak into every grain, giving a clear lemon flavor without harsh sourness.
- Difficulty
- Very easy
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Rising or chilling
- 1 hr
- Total time
- 1 hr 37 min
- Method
- Oven-baked
Ingredients
Dough
Powdered sugar coating
Instructions
Step 1
Put 200 g sugar and 8 g grated lemon zest in a bowl and rub them together with your fingertips for about a minute. This releases the oils from the zest so they cling to the sugar. The sugar is ready when it's slightly damp, pale yellow and smells distinctly of lemon.
Step 2
Add 115 g softened butter to the lemon sugar and beat with a mixer on medium speed for about three minutes. Creaming the butter with the sugar gives the cookies a light, tender center rather than a dense, chewy one. The mixture is ready when it's fluffy, pale and feels smooth when rubbed between two fingers.
Step 3
Add 50 g eggs, 30 g lemon juice and 3 g vanilla extract and beat on low speed until combined. The lemon juice adds a light tang, while the vanilla softens the sharpness of the lemon. The mixture may look a little curdled at first but will turn smooth again after about thirty seconds.
Step 4
Whisk together 230 g all-purpose flour, 5 g baking powder and a pinch of salt, add to the bowl and fold with a spatula just until no dry flour remains. The baking powder makes the cookies puff quickly in the oven, and that puffing is what cracks the sugar coating. The dough is ready when it's soft, slightly sticky and an even pale yellow.
Step 5
Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate the dough for about an hour. Cold dough keeps the cookies from spreading too much and gives deeper cracks. It's ready when it has firmed up and can be rolled into balls without sticking to your palms.
Step 6
Preheat the oven to 175°C, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour the powdered sugar for coating into a shallow bowl. Getting everything ready lets you shape the cookies quickly while the dough is still cold. The oven is ready when the heating light goes off for the first time.
Step 7
Divide the dough into balls about the size of a small lime, roll them smooth, then roll each one thoroughly in 60 g powdered sugar until it's covered in a thick layer. Only a thick coating is enough to keep from melting away completely as the cookies spread in the oven. Each ball is ready when it's evenly white with none of the yellow dough showing through.
Step 8
Place the balls about five centimeters apart on the sheet and bake on the middle rack at 175°C for 10 to 12 minutes. Lemon cookies should stay light in color, so don't wait for the tops to turn golden. They're done when the cracks have opened wide, the bottoms are just turning golden and the tops are still slightly soft.
Step 9
Let the cookies rest on the sheet for about ten minutes before moving them to a rack to cool. Hot cookies are very soft and firm up as the heat escapes. They're ready when they don't bend as you lift them and the white cracks stand out clearly.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Mixing bowl
- Hand mixer
- Spatula
- Kitchen scale
- Plastic wrap
- Wire cooling rack
- Refrigerator
Tips
- Grate only the yellow outer peel of the lemon, since the white pith underneath tastes bitter.
- You can swap the lemon for orange or lime for a different flavor.
- Drizzling a thin lemon glaze over the cooled cookies makes the lemon flavor stand out even more.
Storage
Cooled cookies stay soft in an airtight container at room temperature for about four days. Dough balls that haven't been rolled in sugar can be frozen for up to two months; to bake, just thaw them for ten minutes and roll them in sugar as usual.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The cookies spread thin and the cracks are faint.
- The dough wasn't cold enough or the butter was too soft when creamed. Chill the dough longer, and put the tray of dough balls in the fridge for another ten minutes before baking.
- The lemon flavor is too faint.
- The zest wasn't rubbed into the sugar, or the lemons weren't fresh. Use freshly bought lemons, zest them right before baking and rub the zest well into the sugar.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
