Lemon Cookies

One of the things I love most about living somewhere with four distinct seasons is that each season has distinct foods and flavors that I crave.  Late summer: peaches and ripe, ripe tomatoes.  Fall: pumpkin anything, soups, stews, chilies.  Winter: cocoa, lattes, peppermint.  Spring: berries and anything citrus-y.  While I would never turn down a rich, gooey slice of cheesecake, in these warmer months, I tend to prefer desserts of a lighter variety.

These cookies were another gem found on Pinterest, and the moment I saw them I knew that they were the perfect late spring/early summer dessert.

 
Recipe: (from LDS Living via Pinterest)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease light-colored baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Scrape sides and mix again.

Stir in all dry ingredients slowly, until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar.  Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.

Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar.  (I did skip the rolling in powdered sugar portion as it seemed a fairly optional step, I didn't have any, and the name of the game these days is 'use up what I have' not 'buy more ingredients for fun recipes.')

Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms barely begin to brown and cookies look matte (not melty or shiny).

Allow to cool completely on wire rack.

Makes: 2-3 dozen

Verdict:
I made just over 3 dozen cookies.  I stuck pretty much to the heaping teaspoon size for quite awhile and those cookies are very tiny.  Towards the end I got a bit lazy efficient and my scoops were about 2 teaspoon size.  They don't spread much when cooking, so if you like tiny cookies, you might get close to 4 dozen.  If you want them more than bite size, you'll be closer to 2 dozen.

I loved the way these cookies turned out.  They were light and fresh tasting.  Definitely sweet with a slight citrusy tang that felt just like springtime.  I envision them as the perfect accompaniment to fresh fruit as a light dessert for a springtime event: Mother's Day, Easter, bridal/baby shower etc.  In fact, they really do remind me of Vera's Lemon Cookies from Maggiano's, which we did have at my bridal shower last spring.

The recipe does make a decent amount.... But they don't seem to last long since they are so light you can easily eat two or three or a half dozen (ahem) without quite realizing it....  This is definitely a case of 'betcha can't eat just one!'