Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Our Lemon Crinkle Cookies are light and fluffy on the inside, sweet and crunchy on the outside, bursting with lemon flavor and all dressed up in pretty pastel colors. And did we mention that they are not made with a cake mix?!
We love this Lemon Crinkle Cookie recipe … chock full of lemon flavor, dusted with powdered sugar, and tinted in the pretty pastel colors. This is the perfect cookie for an Easter Brunch, Spring Bake Sale, Summer Barbecue or any other day of the year. And don’t worry, this recipe is completely from scratch. No cake mix cookies for us! Light and fluffy on the inside, sweet and crunchy on the outside – we hope you love these cookies as much as we do. This is a great Crinkle Cookies recipe – and so pretty in these spring colors. And the lemon flavor is so light and refreshing. Your family will ask for these cookies again and again!
How to Prepare the Lemons
Step 1: Our Lemon Crinkle Cookies are flavored with the bright and fresh taste of lemons – you will need 2-3 medium-sized lemons.
Step 2: Use a Microplane or Zester to get 4 tablespoons of lemon zest.
Step 3: Squeeze enough lemons to get 4 tablespoons of lemon juice. Set aside the zest and the lemon juice to add to the cookie dough.
How to Make the Cookie Dough
Step 4: Add the sugar and the softened butter to the mixer. Cream until completely combined.
Step 5: Add the eggs.
Step 6: Mix until light and fluffy, approximately 2 minutes.
Step 7: Add in the lemon juice and the lemon zest, mix until thoroughly combined.
Step 8: Add in the Baking Powder and mix. Finally, mix in the flour, a third at a time.
Step 9: If you are not going to tint the cookies, refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
Coloring the Cookie Dough
Step 10: If you are going to color the cookies, separate the cookie dough into four equal portions.
Step 11: Color each of the portions of cookie dough and then refrigerate the dough for two hours.
We used Wilton Color Right food coloring to color the cookie dough. Here are the combinations that we used:
Pink – 3 drops of Pink
Blue – 3 drops of Blue
Yellow – 3 drops of Yellow
Purple – 3 drops of Pink and 1 drop of Blue
Baking Instructions
Step 12: Roll the dough into balls.
Step 13: Place the cookie dough ball in a bowl or plate of powdered sugar. Roll the cookie dough ball in the powdered sugar until it is covered. Keep the dough in the refrigerator between batches. The Powdered Sugar on the outside of the Lemon Crinkle Cookies will bake up nicer if it is applied to refrigerated dough.
Step 14: Bake the cookies in an oven preheated to 350 degrees oven for 9-10 minutes. You don’t want the cookies to get too brown around the edges so keep an eye on them the last few minutes in the oven.
Step 15: These Lemon Crinkle Cookies will be crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside! Yum!!!
Step 16: These cookies should be stored in an airtight container. They will stay fresh longer if they are completely cool before you pack them up. We usually add a layer of parchment paper between each row of cookies in our plastic container. They should stay fresh for 3-4 days. You can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Expert Tips and FAQs
We have not tried this but it should work. Since extracts are sometimes very strong we would recommend to start with 1/2 teaspoon or 1 teaspoon to start and then taste the dough to see if you need to add more lemon flavor.
You can, but you shouldn’t. Quite a bit of the lemony flavor comes from the zest. If you don’t have a microplane, you can use a grater.
Other Cookie Recipes You Will Love
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Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Our Lemon Crinkle Cookies are light and fluffy on the inside, sweet and crunchy on the outside, bursting with lemon flavor and all dressed up in pretty pastel colors. And did we mention that they are not made with a cake mix?!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter (softened) (Salted Sweet Cream)
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 4 Large Eggs
- 4 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 4 tablespoons Lemon Zest
- 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 4 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- Wilton Color Right Food Coloring - Pink, Blue, Yellow
- 1/2-1 cup Powdered Sugar (to roll the cookie dough in)
Instructions
- Cream the softened butter and sugar until completely combined.
- Add in eggs and mix until the dough is fluffy.
- Add in Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest and mix until fully incorporated.
- Add in the Baking Powder.
- Mix in the flour, a third at a time.
- Split into four portions and use food coloring to tint the cookie dough pink, yellow, blue, and purple.
- Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
- Roll dough into balls and roll in powdered sugar.
- Bake in a 350-degree oven for 8-10 minutes.
Notes
Food Coloring Formulas
Pink – 3 drops of Pink
Blue – 3 drops of Blue
Yellow - 3 drops of Yellow
Purple - 3 drops of Pink and 1 drop of Blue
Storage Instructions
These cookies should be stored in an airtight container. They will stay fresh longer if they are completely cool before you pack them up. We usually add a layer of parchment paper between each row of cookies in our plastic container. They should stay fresh for 3-4 days. You can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Did you Make this Recipe? Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @twosisterscrafting on Instagram so we can see it!
I made these Saturday for our family Easter Celebration. I made them per your recipe until it came to the lemon juice and peel. I then divided the dough into four equal parts. I put one portion back into the mixer with yellow food coloring and 1/4 of the lemon juice and peel. I did this to all 4 portions but with the pink food coloring I added strawberry extract, I then did an orange food coloring with orange juice and peel and the last one I did turquoise with almond extract. They all turned out delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe!
These cookies turned our great.
Good flavour.
I like lemons so i might add little bit of more lemon in it next time.
We also gave some cookies to my daughter kinder Teachers.
Good easter cookies.
These came out delicious. Just the right amount of lemon flavor. My only issue was they didn’t come out the pastel color even though the dough before they baked was very pastel and pretty. Do you think it was because the food coloring I used was gel? They came darker colors, like fall. Lol
These turned out really cute! I made them for Easter tomorrow…the colors are so cool and they are so soft❤❤
These turned out amazing! Light and fluffy. I substituted OJ and orange zest and 0.5 tablespoon of vanilla to make a creamsicle flavor! So good!
These turned out amazing! I split mine into 18 cookies and baked each batch for 23 minutes. Thank you sm 🙂
These turned out great! Just the right amount of lemon and not too sweet. Nice and soft. Was very pleased with the color outcome. A new Easter favorite!
I made these last year for Easter and they are delicious! I’ve made the Cocoa crinkles and these are my second favorite. (Sorry,nothing beats chocolate for me. Lol.)
I made these for Easter and they were delicious! Very lemony and soft.
We love them too! Pretty and yummy, our favorite kind of cookie!
First time making these and always wanted to. I was pressed for time so popped them in the freezer for 30 minutes. Think I could have reduced the butter by a few tablespoons. Not sure they look as good as yours and a testimony to the too much butter, but they were yummy. Could probably sub vanilla or almond for the lemon if you wanted too.
Hello… gonna make the cookies tomorrow… I love lemon but my kids don’t…can I just use vanilla
Sure. Or Almond extract.
Hi. What is the approx size of your crinkles after they were baked? Thanks
They were about 2 1/2″.
Can you make these ahead of time and freeze them?
I’m sure the cookies would taste fine but I don’t know how well the powdered sugar on the outside of the cookie would hold up during the defrosting process.
My cookies turned out just like your picture. They weren’t as flavorful as I expected, a little bland. Maybe I should double the lemon?
We purposefully kept the Lemon flavor subtle but I’m sure a little more lemon juice wouldn’t hurt the batter.
I made these last evening for Easter. They turned out wonderful! I followed the recipe exactly. My husband and son love them. I had powdered sugar everywhere but I don’t care. I thank you for a wonderful recipe. They are pretty and delicious!
I only have a hand mixer will that do? I’m not sure on the mixing part and baking makes me nervous. How do you cream butter and sugar? I’m guessing the butter should be soft but still cool and then mixing the sugar in with the mixer? If I can just mix everything with a spoon let me know please.
Thanks, Jamie
Hi Jamie – a hand mixer will be fine. The butter ideally should be room temperature. Mix the butter and the sugar with the hand mixer until it is mixed and almost fluffy. You can mix with a spoon but it’s a little more work. Good luck!
I assume you do not grease baking sheets
Hi Diane – no we do not grease the baking pans but we do usually line the sheets with parchment paper or a silpat liner.
Do you roll the balls in powdered sugar before baking? Is that what the white is on the baked cookie?
Hi Sarah! Yes, you roll the dough balls in the powdered sugar before you bake them.
Your ingredient list says baking powder but you directions still say baking soda.
Hi Linda – yes it is Baking Powder. Sorry for the confusion.
What else can you use as flavoring, if you can’t have lemon?
We’ve tried Almond and Peppermint, they both tasted great.
The ingredients list baking powder and the instructions mention baking soda. Which one should be used?
Thanks for the heads up. We fixed the typo. It is Baking Powder.