My Recipe Reviews

Recipe Reviews, Recommendations, Tips and Musings. Thanks for visiting!

lemon cookies

Glazed Lemon Braid Cookies

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Spring and Glazed Lemon Braid Cookies make the warmer days a little brighter!

Lemon Braids on a White Plate with Lemon Slices.

Another winner recipe from Esther Brody’s 500 Best Cookies, Bars & Squares.  This is the tenth recipe I’ve tried from this baking cookbook.

There aren’t any photos in this cookbook, but it doesn’t matter.  Whichever  recipe I choose from this book has an outstanding result.

Some of the favorites that I’ve posted previous are Cinnamon Oatmeal Biscotti, Dreamy Krispie Toffee Squares, and Lemon Blueberry Crumble Bars.

Lemon Cookies in a Blue Cup.

These amazing lemon cookies are a little chewy, but a little crunchy around the edges.

The best part?  The smooth, creamy lemon glaze!  Who knew two ingredients –  powdered sugar and lemon juice – could be so fabulous mixed together and simply brushed over a delicious little braided cookie?

Glazed Lemon Braid Cookies are easy to put together with ingredients I’m sure you have in your pantry.  Butter, sugar, flour, egg, and a fresh lemon along with powdered sugar for the glaze.

The braiding sounds fancy, looks pretty and is easy to do.  You’re only using two strands of dough and they’re gently twisted around each other.  

You’ll want to lightly flour your hands when rolling out the dough strands or they’ll be a little unruly.  Unruly = slidey all over the place.  The flour hands help a little and they’re really quickly done.

Close up of Lemon Braid Cookies

 

Refrigerate the cookies for 30 minutes, then put straight into the oven for 15 to 18 minutes until just browned around the edges.  They won’t get very browned, so don’t over bake them.

Brushing the glaze over the still-warm Lemon Braid Cookies makes this step a lot easier and less messy.  If you spoon or pour the glaze over them, you waste a lot of glaze and coverage isn’t as good.

For a final touch, I grated a little more lemon zest over the glazed cookies.  There’s also some zest in the cookie batter, but I don’t think you can ever overdo lemon flavor.  

These are delicious little lemony cookies that are great to eat for a grab-and-go snack or dunked in your afternoon hot tea.  I can’t wait to make them again.

Lemon Braids on a White Plate with Lemon Slices.

Glazed Lemon Braid Cookies

Yield: 16-18 cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Additional Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 8 minutes

Delicious vanilla-lemon cookies with a creamy lemon glaze.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 C butter
  • 1 C granulated sugar
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • Zest of one medium lemon
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 C all-purpose flour
  • For the Glaze:
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 1/2 C powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

  1. In a stand mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until combined and crumbly. Add the egg, lemon zest, and salt, again beating until combined.
  2. Gradually add flour, 1/2 cup at a time and mix thoroughly between additions. The dough will be soft, but kind of thick.
  3. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper (or spray with cooking spray).
  4. Scoop out about 1/4 cup of dough and divide that into two pieces. Lightly flour your hands and on a dry counter or baking marble, roll each piece into about an 8-inch rope.
  5. Twist the two strands together, gently but as tightly as you can without smushing the braid. Cut the braid in half (about 4" pieces) and place on the prepared pan.
  6. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Refrigerate braids for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350° while the dough is chilling.
  7. Place one of the cookie sheets on the middle rack of your oven, and the other sheet on a rack just below the middle. Bake for 15-18 minutes, just until the edges begin browning. Swap the baking sheets onto different racks half way through baking.
  8. Immediately remove the cookies to a cooling rack. While the cookies are cooling, make the glaze.
  9. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until the glaze is creamy and smooth.
  10. Place a big piece of waxed paper under your rack to catch the glaze dripping. While the cookies are still a bit warm, brush the glaze over the cookies with a pastry brush, covering the cookies completely. Let set for about 20 minutes.
  11. Store the cookies in a tightly sealed container for up to three days.

Notes

Don't be tempted to roll the dough ropes between your palms - they'll fall apart. Just roll it gently on a counter or marble and it will go quickly.

I finished my glazed cookies with a little more lemon zest, but that's optional.

Don't over bake the cookies - they'll still be fairly blonde when they're done.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 18 Serving Size: 1 cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 144Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 24mgSodium: 52mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 11gProtein: 2g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Esther Brody
Category: Cookies

John Thorne’s Lemon Icebox Crumbles

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Lemon Icebox Crumbles

John Thorne’s Lemon Icebox Crumbles are simple, soft, crisp around the edges and lightly lemony. It’s another classic recipe from Richard Sax’s Classic Home Desserts (an original recipe from his friend John Thorne).

I’ve made eight recipes from this book and all but one (don’t worry, I didn’t post that one on this site) has been terrific. One of my favorite is the unusual, delicious Lemon-Molasses Marble Cake.

I like this cookie because it’s easy and straightforward. It’s not an in-your-face lemon flavor like the wonderful Mellow Lemon Crinkle Cookies I made quite awhile back, but it’s a nice rather addictive cookie that’s great to snack on.

Lemon Icebox Crumbles

This is a small-batch recipe – it only makes 24, 2″ cookies. That’s a good thing for us since Bret doesn’t eat fruit-oriented cookies. Only fruit-oriented pies. Don’t ask.

The name of these Lemon Icebox Cookies implies they’re crumbly, but they’re really not. They hold together well and last a good 3 to 4 days if stored well-sealed.

Lemon Icebox Crumbles

You’ll enjoy John Thorne’s Lemon Icebox Crumbles. Try them out and dunk them in your morning coffee (yes, I have been known to eat cookies for breakfast) or afternoon tea.

Or eat one every time you walk by the kitchen. Any way you can get them. Just get them. I don’t know who John Thorne is, but I thank him for these little cookies!

Lemon Icebox Crumbles

John Thorne's Lemon Icebox Crumbles

Yield: 12 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 13 minutes
Inactive Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 58 minutes

Small batch of lemony cookies, soft with crispy edges.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
  • zest from 2 lemons
  • 3/4 C granulated sugar
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Combine the softened butter, flour and lemon zest in a mixing bowl and mix together with your fingers until mostly crumbles form.
  2. Add the sugar and egg yolks and continue mixing with your fingers until a dough is formed. Add the teaspoon of fresh lemon juice and gently mix in. Form into a ball, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly butter 2 baking sheets. Form 1" balls with the dough and place on one of the cookie sheets. Flatten each ball with the back of a fork, making a crisscross pattern with the tines. Bake the cookies 12-13 minutes, until edges are barely browned. Tops will not brown.
  4. Cool the cookies for about 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack. Place a piece of waxed paper under the rack and sprinkle cooled cookies with powdered sugar. Store in a sealed container.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

The original recipe calls for unsalted butter, but I used salted.

Be sure and move the cookies to the rack after 2 minutes or all that butter in them will kind of stick to the cookie sheet.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 131Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 13mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 1gSugar: 14gProtein: 3g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© sblades
Category: Cookies

Mellow Lemon Crinkle Cookies

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I’m still on a citrus fruit kick and have been looking for a good recipe with lemon flavoring.  Earlier this year I tried Lemon Scones and oh my, were they bad….even with coffee and I will eat anything if you pair it with coffee! 

Therefore, dear readers, I did not and will not post that recipe.  Sorry…it sounded good in theory.  However, I did come across a luscious Mellow Lemon Crinkle Cookies recipe by Lauren Brennan and they’re great!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

They remind me a lot of Archers Lemon Cookies – lemony without too much acid and sweet with a delicate texture. 

Bret’s not much on lemon so I made these while he was out of town and got to graze on them for almost a week.  

I definitely got my lemon fix from these delicious cookies.  I thought I’d be smart and do half of them rolled in powdered sugar as the recipe instructs (see photo above) and the other half in sparkly turbinado-like sugar (hmm, see photo below). 

Lemon Crinkle Cookies baked with turbinado sugar

I squeezed some left-over lemon juice into about 1/4 C. large-grained sparkling sugar, spread it out to let it dry, and then rolled the second batch of cookie dough in it.  

As you can see, these Lemon Crinkle Cookies didn’t turn out particularly pretty, but they were better this way with the lemony sugar crunch. Maybe next time I’ll just dip the tops of the rolled dough in it instead of coating the entire cookie.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Light and lemony - a perfect springtime cookie.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 C butter, softened
  • 1 C granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 drops lemon extract, (optional)
  • 2 drops yellow food grade coloring, (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 C powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
  2. Spray baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray or line with parchment paper and set aside. 
  3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, juice, lemon extract, and yellow food coloring (if desired).  Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and mix again. 
  4. In a medium bowl, combine the salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour. Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mixture and mix on low until just combined.
  5. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate.  Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball, roll in powdered sugar and place on prepared baking sheet.
  6. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies puff up.  Cool cookies on the cookie sheets about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Notes

For a more yellow cookie, add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring, but that's entirely optional.  

For a little bit more lemony flavor, you can add the lemon extract - just not too much or it will be bitter.  

These are similar to the popular cake mix crinkle cookies, but so much more flavorful and they don't taste like they have a bunch of preservatives in them!

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1 cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 109Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 69mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 0gSugar: 11gProtein: 1g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Lauren Brennan
Category: Cookies