Thursday, January 13, 2011

Lemon Drops for Button Boy

Button Boy's favorite thing to make with me in the kitchen is sugar cookies. My usual go-to recipe, from the original Martha Stewart cookbook from 1995, is a time-consuming affair that usually takes us a couple of days to complete. I typically only make them for holidays or birthdays. I have been tinkering around with the same recipe, making a few adjustments, to create a simple drop cookie frosted with lemon icing. My friend Dawn inspired me to make the recipe simpler by removing several steps. Here is what I have so far:


Lemon Drops

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp.  baking powder
1 tsp.  salt
½ cup 2% milk
1 tsp.  pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the following with a whisk: flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Mix the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat eggs into butter mixture, one at a time until fully incorporated. Add vanilla to the milk and take turns adding the wet and dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Mix until all the flour is fully incorporated.

Scoop the dough out and roll into 1 inch balls on a cookie sheet. Squish them down just a little and bake for 9 minutes. Let cool on a rack or wax paper. Frost with lemon icing.


Lemon Icing

1 stick of unsalted butter
3 ½ cups of powdered sugar
¼ cup 2% milk
Zest from 1 lemon

Beat all 4 ingredients until smooth.

The cookies have a soft center and the icing has a subtle essence of lemon. It is not tart at all. Button Boy and Daddy approve. If you try the cookies, please let me know what you think of them.

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