Since Easter is looming, I decided to go with flowery cookies, with pink sugar sprinkles in honor of spring. (I do have cookie cutters of sheep and bunnies and cows, but it’s hard work using them without mangling the poor little animals, so I though flowers were safer.)
Lemon Cookies
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 small lemons (the pink lemons are
very small, so I used more than two)
5 Tblsp butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, separated
1/2 tsp lemon extract
Instructions:
Note: This dough will need to chill for 3 hours. When you're ready to bake your cookies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift together the dry ingrdients.
Grate the zest from one lemon into a bowl (if you’re using a stand mixer, this can go into the big bowl. BTW, those lemons may look small, but one lemon produced a lot of zest!).
Squeeze three Tblsp lemon juice (more than two small lemon(s worth!) into another bowl.
Add the soft butter to the bowl with the lemon zest and beat until combined. Beat in the sugar gradually, then beat for one additional minute.
Add the egg yolk (set the white aside) and half the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
Add the lemon juice and, the lemon extract, and the rest of the flour mixture and beat until combined.
Form the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap or put in a plastic bag. Refrigerate for at least three hours.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven and line the cookie sheets (see above!) Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out to about 1/4-inch thick. (Note: when you start rolling, the dough will crumble and refuse to cooperate. Keep at it and it will all come together nicely.) Cut out your cookies and lay them on the parchment paper.
Whisk the egg white you saved with a dash of water, then spread in on top of the cookies. Sprinkle with decorative sugar or whatever you like.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. (Rotate the pans once while cooking.)
Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.
Find a helpful sheep and serve!
These have a great lemon flavor, and they’re not too sweet.
My latest book, Cruel Winter, has a wintry scene on the cover. I'm pretty sure you don't want to see that!
So I'll just throw everything at you and you can find a book that's set in spring. (Check my updated website for details.)
Have a lovely Easter!
