Lemon Sugar Cookies

Sunny afternoon greetings from The Warm, Sunny Happenin' West Valley............

We are going to the Brewer game (third-last Spring Training game) tonight, with Mr. and Mrs. Verrado. I see beer and peanuts in my immediate future. It will be 'chilly' tonight. I'll have to wear jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and A JACKET (horrors!). However, it will not be too chilly to relax with a few beers.

We went to a Brewer night game last week, and I would have bought hot chocolate had they been selling it. I would have had to unwrap myself from my blanket to do so.

I digress...............

Before I don my Brewer attire, I reminded myself to sit down and let you know about these cookies.

I found the recipe on one of my favorite food blogs: Baking Bites. It's a great site; check it out some evening while enjoying an Adult Beverage.

The dough, the dough. I ate at least five cookies worth of dough.

The taste, the taste. Light, refreshing; the lemon flavor is just a brush of a kiss. (Not a 'big' kiss like I give The Little Sweethearts.)

When you opened the blog, you saw my first efforts at jazzing up Restaurant Quality. Like it? I sure do. Fabulous Daughter #1 was my inspiration and tutor. the cutestblogontheblock.com was the conduit.

If I can remember what FD #1 showed me, there will be ongoing updates to what Restaurant Quality looks like.

Life is good........................


Lemon Sugar Cookies
Adapted from bakingbites.com

375 degrees About 4 dozen cookies


2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
1 cup butter, room temp
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 T. lemon zest
2 large eggs, room temp
3/4 t. vanilla extract

Sugar for rolling the dough


In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, blend sugar and lemon zest with your fingers until combined thoroughly.

I used a stand mixer for the following. A hand mixer will work out just fine. In large bowl, cream butter on medium speed. Add the sugar/zest mixture and cream until light and fluffy. About 4 minutes.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Add vanilla and blend.

Gradually mix in the flour mixture at low speed. If using a hand mixer, you may have to switch over to using a wooden spoon to mix in by hand.

Chill dough in frig for about one hour.

Set up to roll the dough in sugar. Here's how: get out a small baking pan, such as an 8" round cake pan; a pie plate. Put about 1/2 cup sugar in the pan. You're ready to roll.

Remove bowl from frig and shape dough into 1" balls.

Roll the balls in the sugar.

Place onto cooking sheets/baking pans, lined with parchment paper.

Bake 9-11 minutes. Cookies are done when set, but not browned.

Cool in pan for one minute; remove cookies from pan and cool on cooling rack.


My Notes:

When you are combining the sugar and the lemon zest, the aroma will be so enticing. The sugar will take on a slightly yellow hue. And, you'll feel like you are a pastry chef.

I use a cookie scoop. If you don't have one, consider buying yourself a 'prize', or put it on a birthday list. Been using one for about two years and cannot imagine making cookies without one. Advantages: cookies are uniform in size (more or less), speed in getting the cookies onto the pans.

When in the oven, I started watching the cookies at 8 minutes. Mine were finished at about 9 minutes.

When the cookies come off the pan, place the pan in the freezer for a couple minutes to cool off for the next batch. This gets the next batch in the oven in no time.