Our house is split on lemon flavored baked goods. Two love lemon passionately. Two can give or take. One despises lemon, and this one also happens to be the one who can make things the most miserable for everyone else (no, it’s not me!) So when I do bake lemon flavored things, they tend to be special, tend to be good, and tend to be extra lemony.
These cookies are good and lemony. They are soft, light and refreshing. These are a great dessert for hot summer days, or when your last day of school coincides with the first day of summer. They are so light you have trouble stopping at a couple because you aren’t sure you ate anything. Kind of like cotton candy, but not so sweet or sticky.
The original recipe came from Lauren’s Latest, but I’ve added more lemon and vanilla and cut back on some sugar. If you want a milder cookie use the original recipe, add 1/4 cup sugar to this recipe, cut back on the lemon zest, and/or roll the cookies in granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar. My 4 year old will eat these, but leaves crumbs saying they are a little too lemony, meanwhile my 8 year old and every old lady who has tried them say they are perfect.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
adapted from Lauren’s Latest
Makes ~2 dozen.
Ingredients:
- 1 stick of butter softened (½ cup)
- 3/4 granulated sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- zest from 1 medium lemon (about 2 teaspoons)
- fresh juice from 1 medium lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
- ¼ teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoons baking soda
- 1-½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cups powdered sugar
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or 325 degrees in the convection oven (my preference). Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper, grease ’em up, or lightly spray with cooking spray.
- Cream the butter and granulated sugar. Add in the vanilla, lemon, lemon zest and egg and whip these up until light and fluffy.
- Add in the flower, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and without over mixing, mix until thoroughly combined.
- Put the powdered sugar in a shallow dish. Form the cookie dough into balls (about 2 tbsps) and roll the balls in powdered sugar. The dough will be soft and light and seem fragile, but its not too sticky to make it unpleasant. Place the balls on the prepared cookie sheet(s) spaced a couple inches apart.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes until the bottoms are just browned. If using the convection oven with multiple cookie sheets, bake for 10-12 minutes. If using darker non-stick cooking sheets, subtract a couple minutes from your baking time.
- Take the cookie sheets out of the oven and let the cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
