Give me anything lemon anytime, anywhere. Right now I’m requesting these lemon crinkle cookies!
I especially love lemon in the cold, dark winter months. A burst of citrus and a bright colour is exactly what is needed to make a cold, dark day a little less depressing. And boy oh boy have the winter months here in Portland been awful. Between the city shutting down on a couple of occasions because of snow storms, to bitterly cold weather and nonstop rain, this winter has been one for the record books for all the wrong reasons.
One of the wrong reasons being that my dear friends and I weren’t able to celebrate Christmas and do our secret Santa gift exchange until earlier this month. Christmas in February is the new thing. That night involved Thai food, lots of these cookies, a bottle of wine so big it took two people to open it, boy talk and lots of uncontrollable laughter. It was the best kind of night and it was fun to celebrate Christmas at a different time. It might just be a new tradition for us.
Seriously, there is nothing better than best friends. It’s hard for us to get together because we’ve all got such different schedules and we can usually only get two or three of us in the same place at the same time. But the time we spend together is precious and important. Find your people and hold on to them, get together with them whenever you can for a night of wine and giggles, even if it means celebrating Christmas in February or Thanksgiving in April. Start new traditions and make time to be with the people important to you.
These bright, vibrant cookies were the perfect accompaniment to our girls night. Packed full of lemon flavour but not so much that it’s overwhelming, with the crinkle cookie look and powdered sugar. A dream cookie; perfect for brightening up a cold, depressing day. Given that it’s going to rain in Portland pretty consistently for the next two weeks, I think I’m going to need these cookies to brighten up my life.
We’re using three different types of lemon to give these cookies the perfect lemon flavour: lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract. So good. Head to the kitchen right now and whip up a batch of these bad boys, you won’t be disappointed.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 tsp. lemon extract
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Yellow food colouring (optional)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Step 2 Cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
- Step 3 Mix in the egg, then stir in the egg yolk. Add the lemon juice, lemon extract, vanilla extract and optional yellow food colouring, mixing until just combined.
- Step 4 Add in flour, baking powder, and salt and mix to combine.
- Step 5 Place powdered sugar in a bowl. Shape dough into tablespoon ice balls and roll in powdered sugar, then place on prepared baking sheets.
- Step 6 Bake for 10-13 minutes. Leave cookies to cool on baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
