Lick The Bowl Good's Lemon Cookies-Famous Fridays
Happy Friday to you all! Are you stressing out about the holidays yet? I've actually got most of my holiday shopping done, but I'm kinda stressed for another reason--during this season of holiday baking there are so many cookies and treats I want to share with you and so little time left! But today is a great, efficient and stress-reducing day because not only do we get to celebrate Monica Holland's fabulous baking cookbook, Lick The Bowl Good as part of my Famous Fridays series, but we also get to wax poetic about her easy-to-bake, chewy, delectable lemon cookies. If baking and eating things lemon is your thing, today's your lucky day!!
Sometimes I'm in the mood to bake chic, modern, avant-garde kinds of desserts, but mostly it's the classics that call out to me time and again and if it's classic baking you're after then you're going to love Lick The Bowl Good. It's full of solid classic recipes like these lemon cookies and other classics that have been tweaked just a bit, like Snickerdoodle Cream Cheese Blondies and Chocolate Salted-Caramel Pretzel Tart, both of which I intend to try in the near future!! Plus, there are gorgeous color photos and the recipes are clear, easy to follow and don't use a lot of hard-to-find ingredients. It would make a great holiday gift for someone who likes to bake!
And speaking of baking, I know everyone's extra busy now, so I'll keep this short and get right to the cookies! They come together so easily--you don't even need a mixer. And they're full of tart lemony goodness as there's both lemon juice and lemon zest in the batter.
They bake up in only minutes and I'm not sure if it's because of the lemon or the chewiness or the simplicity of these little crinkly-looking guys, but I find these addictive--as in I cannot be around them and not keep eating them and with most treats, I'm usually able to take a bite and walk away. I made these for a reading of one of my shows a while back and a room full of actors on diets, polished them off by the end of the first act!
These cookies may not scream out Christmas to you, but I guarantee that they will be immensely welcome on any holiday cookie platter! Move over gingerbread men!! Bake up a batch this weekend and you'll see what I'm talking about. And speaking of weekends, it's about that time, so pick up a copy of Lick The Bowl Good, bake something yummy and get some rest as we move into the holiday homestretch! See you Monday!
Lick The Bowl Good's Lemon Cookies-Famous Fridays
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes: Bake Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
The Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line 2 rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, stir the melted butter and sugar together. Then add in the egg, lemon zest and juice and vanilla and mix till well combined. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and stir together well until the flour is completely invisible and a dough forms.
3. Use a small ice-cream scooper or about 2 teaspoons to make little balls out of the dough, rolling them around in your hands, Place the balls on the cookie sheets about 2-3 inches apart.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet on the rack for a few minutes and then transfer to the rack itself to finish cooling completely.
5. Cookies keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from Lick The Bowl Good by Monica Holland. There's a lemon glaze that Monica includes as part of the recipe but I don't think the cookies need it. If you like though you just whisk together in a small bowl, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice and then spoon about 1/2 teaspoon over each cookie, allowing the glaze to set before you serve them.
