These high altitude lemon crinkle cookies are full of fresh lemon flavor, moist and chewy on the inside with crisp edges, and coated in powdered sugar.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for chocolate crinkle cookies, lemon bundt cake, and iced lemon curd linzer cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Make. The dough comes together quickly and easily with just a bowl, whisk and spatula. No mixer needed for today’s recipe!
Fresh Lemon Flavor. There’s fresh lemon zest and juice in these lemon crinkle cookies, for plenty of bright, lemony flavor.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness to the cookies, and helps them to spread as they bake.
- Lemon. Get a fresh lemon, not bottled lemon juice, since you’ll be using both the zest and juice.
- Lemon Extract. Just a little lemon extract helps to enhance the flavor.
- Eggs. Adds moisture and strength.
- Butter. Adds moisture and a richer flavor.
- Flour. Use plain, all purpose flour to give the cookies structure and strength.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, helping the cookies to puff up in the oven.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances flavors.
- Powdered Sugar. This is what you’ll use to coat the cookie dough balls. As the cookies bake, they will spread and crack, creating the crackled, crinkled look that lemon crinkle cookies are known for.
- Food Coloring. This is totally optional, but a drop or two of yellow food coloring will make the color a little more vibrant.
Instructions
Make and Chill the Dough
- In a bowl, combine the granulated sugar and lemon zest. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers, until moist and fragrant.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, lemon juice, lemon extract and food coloring, and whisk until smooth, then whisk in the melted butter.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir everything together with a spatula until combined.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the cookie dough for 2 hours to chill and rest.
Baker’s Tip: I chilled the dough for 2 full hours, and my cookies are very thick and puffy. If you want flatter cookies that spread more, try a shorter chill time, from just 30-60 minutes.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, position a rack in the center of the oven, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (@1 1/2 tbsp capacity) to scoop 20 balls of dough. Roll the dough balls in the powdered sugar until they’re thoroughly coated.
- Space the cookies 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. For moist, chewy centers, bake the cookies for approximately 11-12 minutes, until puffed and crackled. For a dryer, more cake-like cookie, bake for 1-2 minutes longer. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
After cooling the cookies completely, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Surprisingly, no, the powdered sugar does not melt as the cookies are stored.
If your crinkle cookies aren’t cracking, it’s likely due to too much flour, preventing the dough from spreading enough. Be sure you are using the “spoon and sweep” method to measure your flour, by lightly spooning it into the measuring cup, then leveling off the top. Also, if you don’t use enough baking powder, or your baking powder is expired, your cookies won’t have enough leavening action to puff and spread. On the flip side, too much sugar in the dough will cause excessive spreading and flat cookies.
Yes, you can freeze leftover cookies. Be sure they are completely cooled, since you don’t want any moisture from steam trapped in the container, which will melt the powdered sugar. Freeze cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
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High Altitude Lemon Crinkle Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp freshly grated lemon zest
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk (save the extra white for another use)
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 2 drops "lemon yellow" gel food coloring (optional)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Make and Chill the Dough
- In a bowl, combine the granulated sugar and lemon zest. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers, until moist and fragrant.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, lemon juice, lemon extract and food coloring, and whisk until smooth, then whisk in the melted butter.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir everything together with a spatula until combined.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the cookie dough for 2 hours to chill and rest.Baker's Tip: I chilled the dough for 2 full hours, and my cookies are very thick and puffy. If you want flatter cookies that spread more, try a shorter chill time, from just 30-60 minutes.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, position a rack in the center of the oven, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (@1 1/2 tbsp capacity) to scoop 20 balls of dough. Roll the dough balls in the powdered sugar until they're thoroughly coated.
- Space the cookies 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. For moist, chewy centers, bake the cookies for approximately 11-12 minutes, until puffed and crackled. For a dryer, more cake-like cookie, bake for 1-2 minutes longer. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Made 2 batches of these (super easy even for a novice baker like me) and brought them to a bbq in cookie boxes with clear lids. They looked beautiful…even bakery quality. All evening I heard “Amy made them” as one person after another asked who brought the amazing lemon cookies! Thanks, Curly Girl!
I’m so happy everyone loved them!