Lemon Crinkle Cookies
These Lemon Crinkle Cookies have lots of fresh lemon zest in the cookie dough for a bright lemon flavor, plus a hint of cardamom for spice. They’re one of my favorite Christmas cookies!
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Crinkle cookies are one of my absolute favorite treats for the holidays, and these Lemon Crinkles are one of my oldest recipes and most beloved cookies.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies may be the most popular of all crinkle cookies, but I like this lemon version the most. These cookies somehow manage to be both “different” and familiar at the same time, and I always like a good twist on a classic.
The texture is still the same as other crinkles, with a slightly crisp edge and a delicate balance of chewy and soft in the middle.
But the flavor is different! The lemon and cardamom are magical together. I wish I could bake you some!
How to Make Lemon Crinkle Cookies:
To make the cookies, start with the dry ingredients. Combine flour, baking powder, lemon zest, cardamom, and salt:
Now for the wet ingredients, start by creaming butter and sugar together until fluffy:
Add two eggs and a splash of vanilla, and mix until incorporated:
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until a cookie dough forms:
Use a medium cookie scoop to portion out the cookie dough, roll into a ball, then roll the ball in powdered sugar:
If it looks like there’s an obscene amount of powdered sugar on the cookie dough ball, that’s perfect.
Most of it will get absorbed as the cookie bakes, so you want a lot on there.
Bake for 13 minutes, until the cookies flatten out a little bit and the tops crinkle:
If you like chocolate more than lemon, these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are basically the same cookie, but in chocolate form.
You can see all of my cookie recipes in my Cookie Recipes section of my recipe index. Happy baking!
Can you freeze lemon crinkle cookies? Yes, with these cookies I honestly just freeze them after they’ve already been baked and cooled, but you could also freeze the dough balls, then roll into confectioner’s sugar right before baking. Add a few extra minutes to baking time if you bake straight from frozen.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 10 ounces all-purpose flour, by weight (2 cups, measured)
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- In a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, cardamom, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and granulated sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until fluffy and combined.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix on low speed until the flour is incorporated.
- Use a medium 1.5tbsp cookie scoop to portion out cookies, then roll the portioned dough into small balls.
- Place the confectioner's sugar in a bowl, and roll the cookie dough balls in the confectioner's sugar, coating generously. Place the balls on a sheet pan about 2 inches apart, 12 per half sheet pan.
- Bake the cookies for 13 minutes, until the surface of the cookies have crinkled and the cookies have flattened slightly. The cookies will not be browned. Cool the cookies on a wire rack and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Here are more cookie recipes that my food blogger friends have baked up to share:
Snickerdoodles from The Nifty Foodie
Fall Flower Cookies from The Decorated Cookie
Peanut Butter Cookies from The Bearfoot Baker
Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from Baked Bree
Apple Pie Wedge Cookies from Munchkin Munchies
Peppermint Crunch Sugar Cookies from The Domestic Rebel
Pecan Chocolate Fudge Chunk Cookies from Country Cleaver
Everything Cookies from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen
Chocolate Chip Cookies from LilaLoa
Apple Cinnamon Cookies from Dine and Dish
Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies with Sea Salt from A Farmgirl’s Dabbles
Fall Wreath Sugar Cookie from Tikkido
Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pie Cookies from A Southern Fairytale
Chocolate Turtle Cookies from Bake at 350
17 Comments on “Lemon Crinkle Cookies”
Oh, Joanne! They’re gorgeous!
I pretty much love everything lemon, and your cookies are calling my name. 🙂
i adore lemon crinkles and the addition of cardamom! WHOAH <3 I must give these a try this baking season <3 <3
Oooh…I think Reuben would love these – he’s a big lemon fan! They look scrumptious. 🙂
Oh gosh. My husband would LOVE these…he’s a lemon dessert fan, for sure!
I have to try these! ♥
These are so delicious… light, fluffy, and packed with flavor! Thank you so much!!!
YAY!! So glad you enjoyed them, Donna!
just in time for cookie season! Yes they are familiar to me as holiday cookies but also different, I prefer lemon flavored cookies and cakes over chocolate anyway, so thank you for this recipe!
Absolutely delicious.
I made two adjustments on a second batch, and the cookies were perfect! Although I love cardamom, I thought a teaspoon was too much because it gave it a slight peppery taste (but they were still very good). Secondly, I added more lemon zest; thus, in total I used three lemons. Beautiful lemon flavor. I will be making these for Christmas.
These cookies were extraordinary. I have a porch party with sorbet, champagne and these cookies. They were perfect and a huge hit with my friends.
Love the recipe but why was powdered sugar gone when they came out of oven?
Definitely put a ton on
How do you freeze them?
Thanks 😁
I tried this once with lemon (as written but added a half a teaspoon of cardamom more), and once with orange (exactly a small written). Lemon is definitely better, orange was too sweet. Gonna stick with the as written directions moving forward, definitely a keeper.
Hi. Can I use lemon extract instead of lemon zest? If so, how much? Thanks.
Mine didn’t have much of a crinkle, how do I fix this? Thank you
Do you want to try to send a picture? You can reach me via my contact page. Or add more description here and I can help troubleshoot, but I will need more information.