Lemon Crinkle Cookies

A sweet and tart cookie bursting with bright lemon flavor, these Lemon Crinkle Cookies should be on your list to prepare soon.

Today was a snow day and I was bored, so I looked to the internet for some inspiration. I had lemons and cream cheese and these cookies looked amazing – and I now know that they taste great too! This is a very soft dough, so I used disposable gloves to roll these.

Why are my crinkle cookies not crinkling?

Because heat rises, the hottest part of the oven is at the top; if you bake two sheets at a time, the first tray shields the second from being exposed to this heat. Without that blast of heat, the second tray of cookies doesn’t create crinkles that look anywhere near as nice as the first.

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups (270 gram) of all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons (about 8 grams) of baking powder
• 1 (8-ounce/226-gram) package of cream cheese
• ½ cup (1 stick/113 gram) unsalted butter, softened
• 1½ cups (300 gram) granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons (12 gram) freshly grated lemon zest, from 2 large lemons
• 1½ tablespoons (22.5 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon (a few drops) lemon oil (I omitted this because I didn’t have any!)
• 1/8 teaspoon natural yellow gel-based food coloring
• 1 teaspoon (5 gram) kosher salt, or ¾ teaspoon of regular table salt
• 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup (120 gram) confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for rolling & dusting cookies

this For later use

Method

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder until well blended. Set aside.
2. Using an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or handheld electric mixer, cream together cream cheese and butter until well blended, creamy and smooth.
3. Beat in sugar, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, lemon oil, food coloring, and salt; mix until well combined, light and fluffy, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula when necessary. Add egg and egg yolk and beat in well until creamy and light, about 1 to 2 minutes on medium speed.
4. On low speed, gradually add flour mixture and mix until just fully incorporated.
5. The dough will be very sticky. Cover the work bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
6. Meanwhile, arrange the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
7. Place confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
8. Measure enough dough to roll into generous 1-inch balls, using a 1 1/3-inch spring-loaded cookie scoop (or by measuring a generous tablespoon of dough with a measuring spoon) making sure each scoopful is in equal amounts.
9. This is important for evenly baked cookies.
10. Roll dough between palms of hands to achieve a small rounded ball and then roll in confectioners’ sugar to lightly coat.
11. Place dough balls on prepared baking sheets at least 2 inches apart.
12. Bake in preheated oven until cookies have spread into round cookie shapes and are puffed and crackly, about 14 minutes. Do not overbake.
13. The cookies will still be soft in the centers. If they start to brown around the edges, they have baked too long.
14. The underside of the cookies should be only very lightly browned.
15. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack and allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for at least 10 minutes.
16. Then, carefully remove cookies from the baking sheet using a thin metal cookie spatula and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
17. Once completely cooled, transfer cookies to an airtight container. Repeat with remaining dough on prepared cookie sheets.

Recipe credit:  Stacy in her wicked kitchen
Tested by Mona