Lemon Crinkle Cookies

 Recently I was looking for something yummy and different in the way of Christmas cookies. As much as I love the usuals, I'm always interested in finding something new. So I thought, maybe instead of doing something involving chocolate (which is often the go-to), I thought maybe I'd see if I could find something a little lighter and fresher. Then I thought, hmm...lemon? And off I went, looking for lemon cookie recipes. It wasn't long before I found MANY different versions of a lemon crinkle cookie. TBH, I had never even heard of them, but they seemed pretty popular, so I went with it. I tried one recipe... tasty, but they didn't crinkle!!! They were as smooth as could be! I thought "ok, wait, how can I post a recipe for Lemon Crinkle cookies if they don't even crinkle??" Time to try something else. Again, I couldn't find exactly the right one. So I did what I often do! I took different parts of the recipes I liked, and put them together. And here we are!!
 The result is a VERY lemony, buttery, chewy cookie that DEFINITELY crinkles as you bake it! So good! I made them for some friends and got RAVE reviews! Add them to your cookie tray, include them in your next cookie swap, or just bake up a batch to have with a nice cup of tea. It makes a small batch, so you might wanna double it! I promise they won't last very long!


1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon extract
1 whole egg
1 tbs lemon zest
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar


 Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray, or line with parchment paper or silpat nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
 In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add lemon extract, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. In a separate bowl, stir together remaining ingredients except the powdered sugar. Slowly add to mixture, stirring until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again. Chill dough for 10-15 minutes. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until just set. Remove from oven and cool cookies for about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.

Tips:
Definitely chill the dough for a bit. It makes rolling it into balls so much easier! And after you coat them in the powdered sugar, roll them around in the palm of you hand to remove any excess sugar (not unlike the way you loosely hold dice and shake them in your hand before you roll 'em) You'll wind up with a prettier crinkled cookie. Otherwise you might end up with clumps of powdered sugar on your cookies, which is not exactly what you want. (Or maybe it is! You do you!)