Why It Works
- Rubbing the lemon zest with sugar helps launch the aromatic oil within the peel, producing a extra strong lemon taste within the cookies.
- Chilling the cookie dough permits the flour to hydrate, producing cookies with higher construction and a deeper taste.
- Freezing the formed cookies briefly earlier than baking helps solidify the fats within the butter, stopping extreme spreading when the cookies are baked.
Together with peppermint, shiny, zesty lemon is a necessary taste of the vacations for me. I usually spend Christmas at my mother’s in Louisiana and he or she has a lemon tree in her yard, which suggests her freezer is sort of all the time stocked with frozen lemon juice, prepared for use in her improbable lemon icebox pies and lemon bars. My complete household loves lemon desserts, and this yr I’ve one other candy so as to add to our repertoire: these bright-tasting lemon sugar cookies created by our Birmingham-based check kitchen colleague Jasmine Smith. The cookies are buttery candy, however not cloyingly so like some sugar cookies, due to the punch of shiny citrus taste.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
Most lemon desserts lack daring citrus taste and simply aren’t lemony sufficient—however Jasmine solves that subject by utilizing lemon juice and zest within the cookie dough, and incorporating the citrus juice into the glaze that tops the cookies, which she then garnishes with much more zest. To additional improve the fruit’s taste, she rubs the zest with sugar, which helps draw out the rind’s oils, releasing their shiny, citrusy taste and aroma. (It is a trick we make use of in plenty of our recipes, together with Genevieve’s lemon curd and Daniel’s spicy chile lemonade.) She additionally rolls the cookie dough log in a few of the lemon zest–sugar combination earlier than slicing and baking, which provides the cookie edges a beautiful lemony crunch. Since you’ll use juice and zest in a number of levels on this recipe, I like to recommend beginning by zesting and juicing all of the lemons known as for. You probably have juice or zest leftover, simply use it to make one thing else (this straightforward lemon French dressing, for instance).
One other tried-and true baking approach Jasmine employs in these tender, citrusy cookies is refrigerating the dough after rolling it into logs. Refrigerating the dough permits the flour to totally hydrate, which provides the ultimate cookies higher construction. Maintaining the dough chilly additionally helps preserve the cookies from spreading within the oven. In the meantime, because the dough rests, enzymes break down massive carbohydrates, which in flip produces extra flavorful cookies, as former Critical Eats culinary director and science nerd Kenji notes in his chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
After resting within the fridge, the cookies are sliced and positioned on a baking sheet, then transferred to the freezer for a fast chill. This time within the freezer helps stop the cookies from spreading an excessive amount of as they bake and produces good, neat round cookies.
For a remaining flourish after baking, you will unfold the cookies with a easy glaze of powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla, then high them with extra lemon zest. It is a simple, tangy, and good trying cookie that will be welcome at a vacation cookie swap or celebration. Personally, I can simply image a plate of them alongside a cup of tea in my mother’s yard on a sunny day in South Louisiana.
Editor’s Word
This recipe was developed by Jasmine Smith. The headnote was written by Megan O. Steintrager.
These Straightforward Sugar Cookies Style Simply Like Sunshine, Because of a 1-Ingredient Improve
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For the Cookies:
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270g granulated sugar (9 1/2 ounces; 1 1/4 cups)
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6g (2 tablespoons) packed grated lemon zest plus 1 1/2 tablespoons recent juice from 4 massive lemons, divided
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227g (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
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1 massive egg, room temperature
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5g (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
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320g all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 ounces; 2 1/2 cups)
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1/2 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity
For the Glaze:
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140g sifted powdered sugar (about 5 ounces; 1 1/2 cups)
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3 tablespoons recent lemon juice from 1 massive lemon
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1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
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Lemon zest, for garnish
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For the Cookies: In a big bowl, mix sugar and lemon zest, utilizing your fingers to rub them collectively till combination is aromatic, about 30 seconds. Switch 1/4 cup lemon-sugar combination to a small bowl. Put aside.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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Add butter to the big bowl with lemon-sugar combination and, utilizing an electrical mixer, beat on medium-high pace till fluffy and mixed, about 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides as wanted. (Alternatively, within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat lemon-sugar combination and butter on medium-high pace till fluffy and mixed, about 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides as wanted.)
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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Add egg, lemon juice, and vanilla; beat on medium-high pace till creamy and fluffy, about 15 seconds.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt to mix. Add flour combination to butter combination, and beat on low pace till simply mixed, about 20 seconds.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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Divide dough in half, about 14 ounces (397g) every. Place every half on a big piece of plastic wrap. Fold plastic wrap over to cowl dough, and, utilizing your palms, roll every portion of dough right into a clean 2-inch-wide log about 6 inches lengthy and wrap tightly, twisting the ends of the plastic to seal. Refrigerate till agency, at the least 1 hour and half-hour or as much as 8 hours.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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Modify oven rack to center place and preheat oven to 350°F (175ºC). Line 2 massive rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Take away logs from fridge. Unfold the reserved lemon-sugar on a big plate. Take away dough logs from plastic wrap, and roll in lemon-sugar combination to coat evenly, urgent firmly to assist sugar adhere evenly. Utilizing a pointy knife, trim off about 1/4 inch from every finish of dough log and discard or reserve for one more use. Utilizing a pointy knife, slice every log into 1/2-inch thick rounds; you need to have about 12 cookies per log.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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Place slices on ready baking sheets, leaving at the least 1 1/2 inches between every cookie. Freeze till agency, about quarter-hour.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time (leaving second sheet within the freezer whereas first bakes), till edges are set and starting to flippantly brown, 14 to fifteen minutes. Cool on baking sheets for five minutes. Switch to a wire rack, and let cool to room temperature, about half-hour.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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Put together the Glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract till clean and properly mixed.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
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To Assemble: Utilizing an offset spatula, unfold the lemon glaze (about 1 teaspoon per cookie) on the cooled cookies and garnish with lemon zest. Let stand till the glaze is about, about quarter-hour.
Critical Eats / Robby Lozano
Particular Tools
Electrical mixer, 2 massive rimmed baking sheets, parchment paper, offset spatula
Make Forward and Storage
Ready and sliced dough may be saved for as much as 3 months within the freezer. Freeze on a baking sheet till stable, then switch to a freezer bag or different hermetic container. Cookies may be baked from frozen in response to the instructions (step 8) above; add a couple of minutes to the bake time if mandatory.
Cooled cookies may be saved, separated by layers of parchment paper to forestall sticking, at room temperature for a couple of week.
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