Lemon Sugar Cookies
Sweet, soft, and sugary… sounds like a bite of heaven. As far as cookies go, it is! I have always loved to cook, but I rarely bake. It’s not that I don’t like to bake. I actually enjoy it. My problem is that after a day of baking, I am surrounded by temptation. I love sweets, and if they are in my house, I will eat them all. One by one I will consume every cookie, every cupcake, and every brownie in sight.
And you know what? Yesterday, I did just that. And it was amazing! Happy Valentine’s Day to me ;o)
I got this outstanding recipe from A Year in the Kitchen. I was completely enamored by the beautifully decorated cookies. Ashlee used royal icing, which gives cookies and cakes its impeccable appearance. Royal icing is on my to do list, but until then I will just stick with regular ol’ icing.
I made my cookies rather thick (1/2″) ensuring that they would turn out soft and moist. I’ll be honest, I was initally worried about how the cookies were going to turn out. 5 cups of flour seemed like a lot, but it really wasn’t that bad. The recipe called for a lot of butter, so I adapted it by using butter high in Omega-3s and yes, I used splenda instead of granulated sugar. Dabbling in a few food blogs, I have come to realize that a lot of foodies do not like subtitute sweetners. I don’t blame them. Raw, organic sugar is far healthier than Splenda, but I made these cookies on a whim, and what I had was Splenda. (And it cut over 700 calories from my batch. Yes. 700 calories!)
And because it’s fun, here is a picture of the cookie that my husband made. It is our puppy Noodles. Awwww… too cute!
Lemon Sugar Cookies
(Yields about 18, 1/2″ thick cookies)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (or sugar substitute)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tbsp. lemon zest
5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Powdered sugar, for rolling
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cream butter and sugars in a mixer for 5 minutes.
Add in eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly.
Add in vanilla, almond, and lemon zest.
Beat for 10 seconds.
Add in baking powder and salt, beat again.
Add in flour 1 c. at a time, mix for 15 seconds between each addition.
Do not over mix, this process should take about one minute.
Chill dough for up to a week in the fridge, or roll out and cut right away.
Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet for about 7 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom.
