Crinkly Crackly Lemon Sugar Cookies

These one-bowl, no-mixer, lemon sugar cookies have a melt-in-your-mouth texture, lots of crinkly cracks, super-crisp, sugar-coated exteriors and moist, chewy insides! There's also a burst of sunshiny lemon flavor with every bite!

Oh my goodness, if you enjoy the bright sunny flavor of lemon and you don't mind incredibly delicious cookies with a crisp melt-in-your-mouth texture, you're going to LOVE these Crinkly Crackly Lemon Sugar Cookies! Pair that with a super easy recipe that requires just one bowl, no mixer and calls for ingredients you most likely have right now in your pantry, and you've got a WINNER!

It seems that recipes that feature lemons are fashionable and popular all year long, unlike many other seasonal ingredients. Although lemons are generally harvested in the winter months, I love that they're readily available any time of year.

Butter and oil

The first time I ever made a cookie recipe that called for both butter and oil, I was a little skeptical. It was actually 40 years ago (the original version of this recipe), WAY before I got the crazy idea of starting a food blog. I had been gifted a plate of cookies from an older woman and loved them so much, I requested the recipe.

But, as I said, when I saw that it called for butter AND oil, I thought perhaps there had been a mistake. I went ahead and tried it though and... WOW, they were so good! Since then I've found a few other cookie recipes that call for both ingredients and each one has resulted in incredibly delicious cookies with a super light (haha, not in calories), tender texture, crisp exteriors and nice chewy insides. I've become a believer!

Testimonies

Speaking of a huge hit, we shared little gift bags full of these Lemon Sugar Cookies with some neighbors. One of them called that evening, after discovering them in the mailbox, and reported that they were the best cookies he had ever tasted. He said:

"These are amazing, my search is done for the perfect cookie!"

Another recipient texted:

Woah! So delicious! Thanks so much! Nicole (his wife) is not eating sugar in January so they’re all mine!

Gift them away (or not)!

I think you'll have the same response when you taste or share these Lemon Sugar Cookies. Everyone who's tried them has loved them. They make such a lovely gift that we've created a pretty label to add to your plates, bags or boxes of gift cookies.

If you'd like to receive a free printable PDF for these gift labels, just let us know by scrolling to the bottom of the comment section beneath this post and leaving a comment letting us know you'd like to receive the labels. We'll email you the PDF along with instructions on how to use it and links for the ribbon and gift boxes shown in the photos.

I've got grandkids coming to spend the afternoon so I'm going to run. I just made another batch of these delicious cookies to share with them. What's a visit to Gigi's (that's me) house without some yummy cookies, right?

Make a batch soon! Hide a few for yourself as I'm pretty sure yours will disappear as quickly as mine will today... faster than you or I can say Crinkly Crackly Lemon Sugar Cookies!

Café Tips for making these Crinkly Crackly Lemon Sugar Cookies

• You'll need a microwave-safe bowl to make the dough for this recipe. What is a microwave-safe bowl? It's a bowl made from glass or material that won't melt, get too hot, cause damage to the microwave or release chemicals when exposed to microwave rays. If you look at the bottom of a bowl, it should say "microwave-safe" or have the microwave symbol.
• I love this large microwave-sage measuring bowl with a handle that never gets hot, no matter how long you're cooking something in the microwave. This one is particularly nice because it comes with a lid.
• This recipe calls for cream of tartar. It's part of what makes the crinkles and crackles in these cookies. We recently shared another delicious recipe for these Snickerdoodle Scones that calls for cream of tartar. It's not a super common ingredient but it's one that is super easy to find in the spice section of just about any grocery store. Don't worry about buying it and it going bad as cream of tartar has a shelf life of at 5 years unless it's been left open and exposed to moisture.
• When making one-bowl, no-mixer cookies, I like to start with a whisk. A good whisk will last forever and is an indispensable kitchen tool. Once everything except the flour has been whisked together, I switch to a sturdy spatula to mix in the flour. I love these silicone spatulas with wooden handles and use them ALL the time. Mine have been through the dishwasher a zillion times and still look like new.
• Another wonderful tool to have when making cookies is a retractable cookie scoop. I use a two-tablespoon scoop for the medium-large cookies pictured in the post. A scoop like this makes portioning out cookie dough super easy and produces consistent sized cookies.
• These cookies are rolled into balls before baking and then rolled in sugar. You can use regular granulated sugar,
• These cookies have a nice burst of lemon flavor. If you want a more intense lemon taste, add 1 teaspoon of lemon extract along with the vanilla extract.
• I use salted butter for these Lemon Sugar Cookies. In fact, in contrast to conventional baking wisdom, I use salted butter for all of my baking. I know that most baking recipes call for unsalted butter but I agree with Christopher Kimbal, the founder of both Cook's Illustrated and, more recently, Milk Street. You can read his thoughts on it in this article.
• If you like cookies with soft interiors, don't bake these cookies too long. Remove them from the oven when they're light golden brown. If you bake them longer, they will still be delicious but will be crips all the way through.
• The flour measurement for these Lemon Sugar Cookies is 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons which might seem a little odd. When testing these cookies, I found that 2 cups was not enough but 2¼ cups was a little too much.

Thought for the day:

For God, who said,
“Let light shine out of darkness,”
has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6

What we're listening to for inspiration:

Behold Him

If you enjoy any of these recipes, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It’s so helpful to other readers to hear your results, adaptations and ideas for variations.

4.96 from 22 votes

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Crinkly Crackly Lemon Sugar Cookies

These one-bowl, no-mixer, lemon sugar cookies have a melt-in-your-mouth texture, lots of crinkly cracks, super-crisp, sugar-coated exteriors and moist, chewy insides! There's also a burst of sunshiny lemon flavor with every bite!

Author: Chris Scheuer

Course: Cookies, Dessert/Cookies

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Crinkly Crackly, Lemon Sugar Cookies

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins

Servings: 24

Calories: 141 kcal

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter I use salted butter
• ½ cup neutral flavored oil ie canola or grapeseed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• finely grated lemon zest from 2 large lemons
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• sugar for rolling You can use regular granulated sugar or a coarse sugar like sanding sugar or Turbinado sugar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Place butter in a medium size, microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high power for 40-50 seconds or until most of the butter is melted. Add the oil and sugar and whisk well to combine. Add the egg, vanilla and lemon zest and whisk again.
3. Sprinkle the cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda and salt over the butter mixture and whisk until well combined.
4. Add the flour and mix just until all of the flour is incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
5. Place ¼ cup of sugar in a small shallow bowl for rolling. Set aside.
6. For consistent size cookies, use a retractable cookie scoop to portion out the dough into 2-3 tablespoon portions. Roll each portion into a ball in the palm of your hands then roll each ball in the sugar bowl to coat. Place the sugar coated balls on the cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between.
7. Bake for 13-15 minutes OR until cookies are a light golden brown. Don’t overtake if you like soft chewy interiors. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Repeat baking for 2nd sheet. Store in an airtight container or freeze. Thaw before serving.

Recipe Notes

See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.

If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.

Recipe makes 16 large cookies or 24 medium-size cookies.

Calories 141kcal

Fat 8g

Saturated fat 2g

Trans fat 1g

Polyunsaturated fat 1g

Monounsaturated fat 4g

Cholesterol 14mg

Sodium 122mg

Potassium 53mg

Carbohydrates 17g

Fiber 1g

Sugar 8g

Protein 1g

Vitamin A 97%

Calcium 11%

Iron 1%