These Lemon Crinkle Cookies are unbelievably moist and chewy with a perfectly crispy outside and filled with zesty citrus in every bite. Rolled in powdered sugar for a delightfully sweet and citrus blend.
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It's crinkle cookie time!
Over the past few years, my crinkle cookies have been among my most popular posts. At Christmas time, you guys go wild for these Peppermint Chocolate and Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies. Don't worry; I can't help myself either.
But because we should be eating crinkle cookies year round, these Lemon Crinkle Cookies had to be introduced. They are wonderful spring cookies that make a great addition to your Easter menus or Mother Day gifts - a bold sweet and citrus cookie that is chewy, soft, and melt-in-your-mouth good.
Let's take a closer look, shall we?
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
Crinkle Cookies are those incredibly delicious, fudgy, chewy cookies that are covered in powdered sugar. When they are baked, the powdered sugar splits and creates a beautiful crackle crinkle top giving it the cookie’s name.
Here is everything you need.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Vegan Butter - Look for a high-quality non-hydrogenated vegan butter. I recommend either Earth Balance or Miyoko’s.
- Granulated & Powdered Sugar – Check out my guide to vegan sugars and healthy sugar alternatives.
- Lemons
- Applesauce – The applesauce acts as the binder for these cookies. You can’t taste the applesauce but if you would prefer a different kind of egg replacer, check out my complete guide on replacing eggs to get a few more ideas.
- Vanilla Extract - Use pure vanilla extract for flavor
- All-Purpose Flour – I have also made these cookies with 1:1 Gluten-Free Flour Baking Blend (<<affiliate link) with great success.
- Baking Powder
- Salt
How to Make a Vegan Crinkle Cookie
Step One - Mix the Dry Ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. That's the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Step Two - Beat the Butter and Sugar
Whip the sugar and butter until they are thick and creamy. Next, add the applesauce and vanilla extract. The applesauce acts as the binder (egg replacer). You can’t taste the applesauce but if you would prefer a different kind of egg replacer, check out my complete guide on replacing eggs to get a few more ideas.
Once the applesauce is added, the dough will start to look curdled. Don’t worry about this. When the dry ingredients are added, the dough will sort itself out. So, let’s add those dries, mix until just combined, and remove from mixer.
Step Three – Bake The Cookies
Roll the dough into balls about 2 tablespoons big. I recommend using a cookie scoop for this recipe as the dough will become difficult to handle as it warms up.
Coat the cookies in sugar and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the crinkle cookies for 12 minutes until the outside begins to crisp up but the center is still slightly underdone.
Pro Tip: Remove from the oven when the edges have just started to set and the centers are still slightly underdone. This is key for the chewiness of these vegan cookies.
Let the cookies cool 10 minutes on the baking tray before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
Serving And Storing
Store Cookies: Once cookies are completely cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Raw dough can be frozen for up to 2 months.
Freeze Cookie Dough: If you only want to make only a few at a time, you can store the remaining dough in the freezer. To do this, roll all the dough into balls. Place them on a baking sheet in the freezer to freeze all the way through. Once frozen, transfer your cookie dough into a large ziplock bag and return to the freezer. You can store the cookies this way for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to bake, remove from freezer and bake!
Tips and Tricks
- These cookies have a great lemony flavor but if you LOVE lemon, you could make it bolder. Add up to 2 tablespoons of lemon zest for a bold citrus cookie.
- When rolling your crinkle cookies, roll them in granulated sugar first before rolling them in powdered sugar for the PERFECT crinkle every time.
- Vegan white chocolate chips make a great addition to this cookie. You can buy them online here (<<affiliate link).
- Pull cookies out when they are slightly underdone. I found 10 minutes to be the perfect baking time. They will continue to harden as they cool, giving you a crispy outside with a deliciously fudgy and chewy center.
Getting The Perfect Crinkle
Friends, I’m going to let you in on a VERY exciting secret.
A couple of years ago I learned a great little trick, thanks to Cook’s Illustrated. To get the PERFECT crinkle on your cookie, first coat the cookie in granulated sugar. This allows the cookie’s surface to dry out quickly before the interior sets, creating more of those beautiful crinkly cracks. The extra layer of sugar also prevents the powdered sugar from melting into the cookie for that stark white on black (or yellow, in this case) visual.
You can read about the science behind all. It’s pretty interesting stuff and I was thrilled to see the difference when I started making my crinkle cookies this way.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Double Chocolate Chewy Cookies
Chewy Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp . salt
- 1 cup vegan butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- zest of 2 large lemons, optional
- ½ cup apple sauce
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup granulated sugar, for rolling
- 1 cup powdered sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- In a stand-up mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat together vegan butter, sugar, and lemon zest (if using) on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add apple sauce, lemon juice, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides as necessary. Mix until fully combined. Turn the speed to low and slowly add dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Place the rolling granulated sugar and powdered sugar into two shallow bowls. Roll one rounded tablespoon of dough into a ball. Toss it in granulated sugar until completely coated and then cover it in powdered sugar. Place the cookie on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the cookies are rolled. Bake cookies for 10 minutes until edges are firm. The cookies will be light in color and should look a bit underdone. They will continue to cook when cooling.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack to allow cookies to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- These cookies have a great lemony flavor but if you LOVE lemon, you could make it bolder. Add up to 2 tablespoons of lemon zest for a bold citrus cookie.
- When rolling your crinkle cookies, roll them in granulated sugar first before rolling them in powdered sugar for the PERFECT crinkle every time.
- Vegan white chocolate chips make a great addition to this cookie. You can buy them online here.
- Pull cookies out when they are slightly underdone. I found 10 minutes to be the perfect baking time. They will continue to harden as they cool, giving you a crispy outside with a deliciously fudgy and chewy center.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
B.Kime says
5 stars for flavor and chewiness, but 3 stars for them spreading out like pancakes. I did bake the last batch after freezing them for about 30 minutes with no change in the spreading. I followed the recipe and directions exactly, might try again with a little more flour.
Kelly Vollmer says
Just made these for the first time no problems with the dough. And delicious. I will make these again
Adriana Chan says
I found the dough very wet as well, just like many other reviewers. I'm trying 1/2 a batch with solid coconut oil and another 1/2 with vegan margarine. I just stuck it in the fridge - hope it'll be workable in a couple of hours. Wish I had read the reviews 🙁 But hopefully it will still work. Next time I'll add more flour.
Ga says
Hi. I faced a problem of too runny daugh... Maybe you have any idea why? I tried to keep it a little in a fridge, but cookies are runny while baking. I added a little more flour.
Aaeesha says
Plz can u tell m how many eggs should b replac replaced in this recipe 1 or 2 for m know
If i want 2 use somthing else than applesauce thank u
Lovely greetings from Morocco and Germany
Sarah says
About 2 eggs. And I can't wait to go to Morocco someday. It's on my list! 🙂
Elizabeth J says
These cookies are absolutely delicious. However I also had issues with the dough being too wet to handle.
In the end I had to add an additional 2 cups of flour (with an extra 2tsp baking powder btw) which still gave me a really soft dough. Otherwise the recipe was as given above and it turned out perfectly.
I converted the volume measures for flour butter and sugar to weight (125g flour/250g butter/220g sugar to a cup) and used nuttelex for the vegan butter.
Stacey says
Aw, we love lemony stuff, but avoid sugar (white/cane/and the like). Would stevia and/or date sugar substitute alright in this recipe?
Andrea says
These turned out quite nicely. But you need to up the ante to get a real lemony flavor.. I added more lemon juice (and the pulp) than called for and then added some pure lemon extract. They were mildly lemony, but tasty. I would make again with more extract.
La says
THank you so much for these cookies. They are sooo good. My only issue is that my cookies are not crinkly at all. They are flattening out almost completely, and absorbing the sugar. Help?
LIZA says
My cookies aren't flattening in the oven but I followed the recipe completely and that's the only problem I'm having. I'm baking them for longer to see what happens. Do you know why this could be?
Sarah says
When you pull them out of the oven, immediately tap the baking sheet against the counter a few times. That should do the trick.
Joy says
I just wanted to let you know that even if your dough becomes sticky (due to overmixing - which is what I think happened with mine!), the cookies still turn out great. All I did was stick the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours, and it was still a bit sticky, but workable. The cookies turned out amazing! I may add more lemon zest next time for a more lemony cookie, but that's just personal preference. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Candice says
I realize this recipe is several years old, but for those wondering about making them gluten-free, you absolutely can. I used Bob's Red Mill 1/1 flour (this stuff: in place of the regular flour and otherwise made as written. Amazing. So so so good. If you love lemon you'll love these.
KN says
Hello! What system of measurements did you use? I'm in New Zealand and a cup here is 250mls, a tablespoon is 20ml. Will that work with the recipe? If not, what should I convert the recipe from?
Bettina says
I was wondering if I could substitute coconut oil for the vegan butter?
Sarah says
It will change the consistency but it should still work.
Ashley says
Really good! My first vegan cookie recipe, it tastes like lemon bars or lemon cake in cookie form with a nice outer crunch and soft center
D says
Without a paddle attachment is it best to mix with a spoon?
Sarah says
That would work!
Fran says
I too came out with way too sticky and running batter and impossible to form into balls. I tried making them twice....once with hardened coconut oil and then with earth balance. Both times measured correctly both times batter not usable. Tried fridging the batter but they didn't bake properly.
Did you leave out using baking soda for a reason? I checked non vegan recipes and they require baking soda along with baking powder.
I would love to make them vegan...but have had no luck with this recipe.
Sarah says
I'm really not sure why that was your experience. There is only 1/4 cup of liquid in the recipe and it shouldn't come out sticky. People seem to have a lot of success with the recipe and so it's hard to know what when wrong here. Since this hasn't worked out for you, my best suggestion is to find another lemon crinkle cookie recipe and substitute the eggs according to my egg replacer guide here: http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/11/29/replacing-eggs/
Amber K says
These were amazing! I'll let you know what I subbed.
- whole wheat flour for flour
- earth balance non-soy butter for coconut oil (it's too warm in FL to keep solid coconut oil, lol)
- mashed banana for applesauce (I didn't have any apples on hand)
- cane sugar for powdered to roll in (I didn't have any on hand)
That zest was awesome in this! I hope people give this a try. Delicious and chewy cookie!
Sarah says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!