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Horizontal photo of a pair of Crinkly Crackly Lemon Sugar Cookies on a blue and white patterned serving plate.

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!

Course Cookies, Dessert/Cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword Crinkly Crackly, Lemon Sugar Cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Refrigeration time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 24
Calories 141 kcal
Author Chris Scheuer

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

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.

Nutrition Facts
Crinkly Crackly Lemon Sugar Cookies
Amount Per Serving
Calories 141 Calories from Fat 72
% Daily Value*
Fat 8g12%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Trans Fat 1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 14mg5%
Sodium 122mg5%
Potassium 53mg2%
Carbohydrates 17g6%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 8g9%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin A 97IU2%
Calcium 11mg1%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.