If you love lemon and cookies, then you’ll absolutely love these Vegan Lemon Crinkle Cookies! Fresh, zesty and best of all, easy to make!
Guys, I finally made Lemon Crinkle Cookies! It’s been long in the making but they’re finally here and I promise it’s been worth the wait!
Lemon is one of my favourite flavours of all time and I love how gorgeously zesty it is, and how fresh it makes any dessert (especially cakes, cupcakes and cookies!).
I know what I like when it comes to cookies, but doesn’t everyone – haha! I prefer thinner cookies to be crisp on the outside and slightly gooey on the inside. When it comes to thicker cookies like these, I still like to have that crispy outside, but with a slightly denser, cake-y middle. These cookies have both of those, along with delicious crispy lemon sugar on the outside which reminds me of a lemon drizzle cake.
I know you’ll fall in love with these little clouds of lemony goodness. They’re like a cloud of lemon sunshine on a cloudy day!
Speaking of lemon drizzle, you NEED to check out my popular Vegan Lemon Loaf!
What is a crinkle cookie?
I’m quite new to crinkle cookies myself and did lots of research before making this recipe. Crinkle cookies are basically ‘cake meets cookie’. Crinkle cookies are usually thicker, given that cake-y texture along with their distinctive crackle top. That is made by rolling the cookie dough in icing / powdered sugar before baking so that when they’re in the oven, the sugar ‘breaks’ apart as the dough expands. Pretty cool isn’t it?!
You can make all different types of crinkle cookie, but I just love these colours – the pale yellow cookie colour which contrasts against the white powdered sugar!
How to make Vegan Lemon Crinkle Cookies?
- It all starts off with a delicious, zesty dough. This dough takes minutes to whip up and is one bowl too (we love an easy recipe around here!!)
- Cream the dairy-free butter in a bowl along with the icing sugar until pale & fluffy.
- Add in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Whip to combine, then add in the flour, baking power and bicarbonate of soda. The dough should start to come together. This is a time you’ll want to add the turmeric or yellow food gel. I ended up using a little bit of both for a bright yellow colour, but either works great! The turmeric is great as a natural yellow food colouring, but if you don’t mind using yellow food gel, use that!
You can either go natural with turmeric or use yellow food gel, both ways are perfect!
- Bring the dough together with your hands. It should be ever so slightly sticky, but forms a smooth dough. If it’s too sticky, add a tiny bit more flour until it’s a smooth dough. You don’t want to add in too much flour though as this can make for a very dense and dry cookie.
- Grab some of the dough (40g each) and roll into a ball. Repeat for the remaining cookies.
- Coat each dough ball in icing sugar. I actually squeezed a tiny amount of lemon juice over each cookie then rolled it in the icing sugar. Doing this makes for a well coated cookie. Repeat for all of the cookies.
- Allow the cookies to stand for 20 minutes. During this time, the cookie will absorb some if the icing sugar, meaning you’ll need a second roll in sugar. doing this will create for a really crackly outside to the cookie.
- Re-roll each cookie in the icing sugar then place, spread out, on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. You’ll want to make sure the tray is fully lined with greaseproof paper, as the sugar melts while baking, meaning the cookies could stick to the tray if un-lined! ALWAYS line your tray! Oh and also, before placing into the oven, lightly press the tops of the cookies down, this makes them a little flatter and makes them cookie evenly.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes at 180 degrees c fan and watch the magic happen.
- Once baked, don’t touch them too much as they’re very delicate straight out of the oven. Allow them to cool down on the lined tray until cool, then transfer them to a wire rack.
They’re honestly super easy to make, and the outcome is mind-blowing! They’re addictive- haha!!
Make sure to ‘PIN’ the photo below to your favourite Pinterest board!
You can’t go wrong with lemon, and crinkle cookies are simply delicious. The combination of the two is a match made in heaven.
These Vegan Lemon Crinkle Cookies incorporate everything I love in a cookie:
- Sweetness
- Chewiness
- Zesty lemon
- Crinkles
- Easy to make
- Vegan (obviously)
- Takes less than 15 minutes to bake!
If you make these cookies, make sure to tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #thelittleblogofvegan.
Looking for more Lemon recipes? Look no further:
Tips and Tricks
- Use softened butter- Remove the block of dairy-free butter from the fridge and allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before using. If you live in a hot climate, only leave it at room temperature for a few minutes to slightly soften. Doing this helps with the creaming process and takes less time out of the preparation.
- Roll the cookie twice in icing sugar- Doing this, makes for the perfect crinkle effect (it also adds sweetness which tastes amazing!)
- If you want a vivid yellow colour, use a few drop of food gel. If you want a natural colour, use ground turmeric. Both ways work perfect!
- To get evenly sized cookies, weigh out the dough using a set of kitchen scales to 40g per cookie before rolling into balls.
- To help the icing sugar to stick, squeeze a tiny bit of lemon juice over the cookie dough balls before rolling in sugar! Just make sure not to over do the lemon, as this can make the cookie very soggy. Just apply the right amount for the icing sugar to stick.
- Do NOT use gluten-free flour! This recipe only works with wheat based flour!
- Allow the to cool fully before serving, as they are very delicate when first out of the oven! Use a spatula to help lift the cookies off of the baking tray and on to a cooling rack or serving plate.
- Store them in a sealed container to keep them fresh and delicious!
Vegan Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These are THE BEST Vegan Lemon Crinkle Cookies! It’s a strong statement which I stand by 100%. You need to make them! They’re fun and easy to make, perfect for afternoon tea.
Ingredients
- 185g of icing sugar
- 60g of dairy-free softened butter*
- 4 tablespoons of lemon juice
- Zest of 1 large lemon
- 200g of plain flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric or 2 drops of yellow food gel*
Instructions
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees c fan, and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
- In a bowl, add in the icing sugar and softened dairy-free butter. Whisk / whip to combine until it turns smooth and pale in colour. This will take a few minutes. You can either do this by hand or use a electric hand whisk / stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
- Add in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Whip to fully combine.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and turmeric / a few drops of yellow food gel. Mix this to combine into a thick dough. If the dough is too wet and sticky, use a bit more flour to get it to a smooth, yet slightly tacky dough. You don’t want the dough to be dry so mind how much extra flour you add.
- Once the dough is ready, scoop approximately 40g of dough, roll it into a ball using your hands, then roll it in some icing sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes. Repeat this step for the rest of the dough balls. You’ll want to leave them for 10 minutes in the first roll of icing sugar, this helps with the crinkle. To help the icing sugar to stick, squeeze a few drops of lemon juice onto each cookie dough ball then roll in the icing sugar, this will help the sugar to stick (don’t add too much lemon though, as this can soak up all of the icing sugar, which won’t give you a crackle effect).
- Once they are all coated, re-roll them in the icing sugar for a second time then place onto the lined baking tray ready for baking. Space them out as they do spread slightly.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes. They will have puffed up and have a crackle on top.
- Once baked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool on the lined tray. The sugar will have melted slightly onto the paper, so be-careful when lifting off the cookies.
- Store in a sealed container at room temperature. Best eaten within 3 days making.
Notes
What food gel to use? My favourite food gel is from Rainbow Dust! They’re food gels are vegan and high pigment, meaning you don’t need as much in your bakes to get your desired colour!
What dairy-free butter to use? My favourite vegan / dairy-free block butters are ‘Naturli Vegan Block’ or Flora Plant Based Block Butter Alternative (salted or unsalted).
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 12-15 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
Already made!! And can honestly say they were so easy to make and tasted really lovely of lemon. Cakey on the inside with the crinkle outside which was more crunchy. I made mine just with turmeric and they looked great. Would highly recommend.
Is there US measurements? I can’t seem to find them.
at the top right corner of recipe you can choose measurements in M or US
Just made them and they are amazing! They have the perfect amount of chewiness.
How much would the zest of a large lemon be? Would be around a teaspoon or a tablespoon?
Beautiful recipe. Turned out perfect!
This looks so good! Can I use this batter to make other flavors?
Author
Hello, You sure can! I have made orange ones before- really delicious xx
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
While I was searching to replicate a crinkle cookie with red hots, I found your excellent recipe. I subbed vanilla for the lemon and added some almond milk to allow for not adding lemon juice. I will definitely save and make as written in the future, but this recipe provided an excellent vegan base for using red hot candies which i crumbled in mortar and pestle and added to the mix. Not sure if red hots are truly vegan, probably not the correct sugar, but they were definitely delicious.
Thank you
These are 100% the best cookies I have ever had in my life! I’m talking non-vegan and vegan, store bought and homemade – these are the best I’ve had!!!
The texture is perfect, and the lemon comes through beautifully.
I’ve been vegan for 7 years, and I was yet to find the perfect cookie…but now I have!
Highly recommend! 💛
I make these constantly, they’re so good! I took a massive batch of them to uni and everyone asked me for the recipe and has been making them. I also adapted the recipe and made double chocolate chip ones that tasted great too. One of my favourite recipes ever, thank you for sharing!!
Do we need all 185 g of icing sugar for the dough
Decent. I like the simplicity. I used all the icing sugar when creaming with the butter. At first it appeared too dry and crumbly but it did eventually cream on high speed.
my cookies mostly retained their shape, slightly more spread than the photos here so they didn’t retain that perfect round ded edges look. Overall though they looked good and the crinkle worked.
I would say the type of butter is what has caused too much spread for people. You need a vegan butter in a block not a spreadable type.
They are very sweet, as you’d expect with so much sugar. The lemon flavour was good.
I wish I saw the comments first, the cookies look great and have an amazing taste, but they are super sweet. I wanted to cut on the sugar but was very scared of them not having the correct texture. Besides that, great recipe.
Very good! The lemon flavour was excellent. I used the becel block plant based butter in a block. They spread out quite far. Next time I would spread across two cookie sheets and maybe try a different plant based block butter (maybe miokos) so they don’t bake into each other. I also used the tumeric but it wasn’t the right colour. I will try the food colouring next time.
I tried to make these with gluten free flour but they spread out into one big flat sticky mess – any idea why?
Author
Hello,
I stated in the recipe post, this recipe is not suited for gluten-free. It only works with wheat based flour lovely! Ill recipe test a gluten-free version!!! xx Stay tuned!
Delicious! Be patient with the dough, it looks crumbly at first but on high speed it comes together eventually. It has to stick together but not be sticky per say, if that makes sense. I made a batch and they were sooo good. I had run out of vegan butter and lemons to make a second batch, so I used real butter and clementines. Wow. This recipe will be on regular rotation!
Will it work with coconut oil instead of vegan butter?
These are absolutely delicious. Served these to guests and normally quiet people were vocal about how good they are. It’s the most lemony make I’ve tried. Husband said they almost have a meringue like texture because of the crunch and chew. My 13 year old daughter made these. You are genius!
can I freeze the dough?
Author
You sure can! Just make sure to thaw it before using x
the flavor with 1 tsp of turmeric came out a lot on the initial taste test, but after letting the cookies sit overnight, it ends up mellowing out and is quite yummy!
These were amazing I made it for my sister who has multiple food allergies. I used gluten free flour and spreadable vegan butter. For me these changes turned out great. My sister loved them. The only thing is it didn’t crinkle as much as the photo. Overall great recipe.