Glazed Lemon Cookies

It’s study week.  Adam has locked himself into his study room and I won’t see him again until Friday.  So trying to keep myself busy, I decided today would be a baking with Broadway kinda day.  Music always lifts my spirits and since I’m preparing for my fall visit to NYC where the Jacobs girls are going to see Godspell(!!!) I thought the Broadway mix would be my perfect partner.  My Aunt Chris had sent me a Lemon Cookie Recipe months ago that I have been wanting to try.  I’m on a Lemon kick of late.  On smitten kitchen they have these lemon blueberry pancakes that I am in LOVE with and dream about.  Who knew lemon could make that much of a difference.  So keeping in theme I decided I would bake with lemon.

As Wicked, Rent, Miss Saigon and numerous other musicals played in the background I began my baking.  This recipe is pretty simple.  Right away you can tell the dough is going to be very dry.  It only has 2 egg yolks and softened butter for moisture, so the dough is really crumbly.  The dough falls apart easily so forming it into logs is a little difficult.  I placed the dough on the wax paper and then tried to round it out as best as I could.  My log was a little lopsided, but good enough.

The one down side of this recipe is the wait.  You have to leave the dough in the fridge for at least 30 min, which wasn’t a problem today because I had nothing else to do, but usually I hate when you have to let dough cool because the recipe takes too long.  Not only am I a lazy baker, I’m also an impatient one! 

The lemon glaze is by far my favorite part of this cookie.  It is so tart, yet sweet.  For real, I licked the bowl clean.  With the combination of lemon juice and powdered sugar it is the perfect thickness to dip each cookie in and coat the top.  That being said.  I am not a huge fan of butter cookies.  And these are definitely butter cookies.  Butter cookies remind me of when my brother Adam was little and my mom used to keep him quiet by handing him those Nabisco Butter Cookies that looked like flowers with a hole in the middle.  My little brother would run around saying “tookie mommy tookie.”  But I never liked them and I must admit I don’t love these cookies either.  They are too crunchy and dry for my taste buds.  Yet, the lemon frosting does make up for them.  I don’t want you to think that I see these cookies as a failure, because believe me they will all be eaten, and quickly.  But they aren’t my favorite cookie of all time.  So if you are a fan of butter cookies then this is the cookie for you!  That being said I think I may use the glaze on a soft sugar cookie… now that would be perfection.

Glazed Lemon Cookies: Originally from RealSimple.com

(makes 38 cookies) 

Cookies:

¾ cup butter (at room temp. or softened a little)

¾ cup sugar

2 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

2 cups flour

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus more if necessary

I tsp grated lemon zest

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Add the yolks, vanilla and salt and mix until combined.  Gradually add the flour, mixing until just incorporated.  The dough will be crumbly as seen in above picture.  Then divide the dough in half and shape into 1 ¼ inch- diameter logs.  Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until firm, about 30 min (I did 45min).

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Take the logs out of the fridge and cut them into ½ inch thick pieces.  Back until lightly golden, about 16 min.  Transfer to cooling racks and cool completely before frosting.

In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest until it forms a thick but pourable glaze (add more lemon juice if necessary).  Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze and let set until glaze hardens.