This recipe for gluten free lemon crinkle cookies is one of our most beloved recipes. These easy gluten free cookies are light, bright, lemony and sure to become a family favorite!
You know what I like? Easy recipes.
Ones without excessively long ingredient lists. I made one recipe recently that had about 30 ingredients and was made over the course of two days.
It was totally worth all the trouble, but now I’m in the mood for something ridiculously simple. These gluten-free lemon crinkle cookies are just that!
If you have a few leftover egg whites, this is a great use for them. I occasionally make a favorite drink of mine, German egg liqueur, and always have so many leftover egg whites.
I know that angel food cakes use a lot of egg whites, but they use too many – my egg liqueur recipe (which is way more delicious than it sounds!) only calls for 8 eggs.
For this recipe, you need two egg whites, which you beat and combine with the flour mixture. I normally groan when I see a recipe calling for beating egg whites, but it’s actually quicker and less fussy than beating butter.
The dough will be a regular thick cookie dough, so you don’t have to worry about the eggs deflating or mixing a little too much.
Ingredients for Gluten-Free Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Almond flour: Plain, blanched almond flour is the foundation of this gluten-free cookie recipe
- Granulated sugar: Basic white granulated sugar does the heavy lifting in sweetening this recipe
- Lemon zest: This recipe calls for two tablespoons of lemon zest, which is, give or take, the zest of two medium to large-sized lemons
- Salt: You’ll need just a pinch of salt to balance the tartness and sweetness of this recipe — I suggest Kosher salt for baking
- Egg whites: You’ll want your egg whites at room temperature for best results
- Lemon extract: Lemon extract adds so much flavor – don’t skip it!
- Powdered sugar: Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl where you can roll each cookie before baking
How to Make Gluten-Free Lemon Crinkle Cookies
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. To a medium size mixing bowl, add almond flour, sugar, salt, lemon zest. Mix to combine and set aside.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment), beat the egg whites at medium speed until soft peaks form. Add the lemon extract and gently fold to combine.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the egg whites. Mix to combine. The dough will be very thick but not overly moist.
5. Form into balls, roll in powdered sugar and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned.
What Kind of Flour to Use for Gluten Free Lemon Crinkle Cookies
This recipe calls for blanched almond flour, which is a flour made from almonds that have had their skins removed. Almond meal and non-blanched almond flour typically have brown flecks from the almond skins.
I originally made these lemon crinkle cookies without the lemon zest and extract, thinking they’d make some fine almond cookies, but they just tasted bland. You definitely want to add some kind of extract!
These cookies are almond flour-based, which is a pretty bland flour to begin with, so without the extract and zest, these crinkle cookies are a blank palate.
Gluten Free Cookie Recipes Variations
I love the idea of using lime zest, coconut extract and rolling these cookies in toasted coconut next time for a tropical version! Doesn’t that sound so good?!
By the way, you don’t have to roll the cookie dough balls in powdered sugar.
They taste just as good without. The only difference is that they don’t crackle.
More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes
- If you don’t have almond flour on hand, try these lemon ricotta cookies for something different! They’re a perfect lemony treat.
- These gluten-free chocolate chip pumpkin cookies are perfectly delicious all year long.
- Our gluten-free peppermint cookies are a favorite gluten-free Christmas cookie.
- This gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe tastes as good as the classic version you know and love.
- Our 3 ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe is naturally gluten-free and so good.
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Gluten Free Lemon Crinkle Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Blanched Almond Flour 200 grams
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar 200 grams
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Zest
- pinch of Salt
- 2 Egg White Room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Extract
- 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar For rolling, 29 grams
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the almond flour, granulated sugar, lemon zest and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites at medium speed using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer until soft peaks form. Stir in the lemon extract and then stir in the flour mixture. It’ll be a thick dough.
- Roll into balls, about 1 1/2 tablespoons in size, and roll in the powdered sugar. Place the cookies 2” apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the tops have crackled and the bottoms of the cookies have lightly browned. Let cool completely on the baking sheet. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Michelle
Saturday 23rd of November 2024
I've made these many times & they are delicious, just found out I'm sensitive to Almonds. Can gf flour be used?