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Friday, June 1, 2012

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

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Cooking, baking, and consequently blogging are hobbies of mine, rather time consuming ones, but they are definitely not my livelihood. My "real" job couldn't be more different than what I do here on The Sweets Life, although I suppose you could say certain skills carry over (namely those related to time management and organization). Thus, when I was asked to prepare 200 desserts for a wedding a few weeks ago, I got a little nervous. Granted, last October I made 300+ cookies for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's wedding, but they're family...which means even if I royally screwed up the cookies, they'd forgive and forget (or at least forgive). Thankfully I survived that experience, but as I mentioned in my pumpkin oatmeal scotchies post, I NEVER could have done it without my mom and my grandma.


This time, however, I was all on my own. Even Ryan managed to escape the weekend I tackled this project, meaning even clean up duty was left to me. The bride's mother wanted the Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars as well as "something lemon", a special request from the groom. I did a bunch of searching online for an appropriate lemon recipe (I was unsure how well my lemon bars would freeze) and kept coming back to this recipe, which several other bloggers had made and raved about. The decision was made.

Now would be an appropriate time to yell at me for attempting a new recipe for the occasion...I DID intend to change my plans if I made a batch and they weren't wedding-worthy, but I can assure you that these were perfect. They practically melted in your mouth, with a touch of lemon flavor. I ended up making 4 batches of the below (done in two double batches), which yielded just over 150 cookies (note-they are bite-sized, probably 1-inch across). Both these and the Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread bars froze beautifully and I hear both were a big hit at the wedding!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
from Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:
-1 stick butter, softened
-1 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1 whole egg
-1 tsp lemon zest
-1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/8 tsp baking soda
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, egg, lemon juice, and lemon zest, mixing until well combined. Stir in dry ingredients, just until combined (EXCLUDING POWDERED SUGAR).
2. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
3. Place powdered sugar in a small bowl. Roll dough into heaping teaspoonful sized balls and roll in the powdered sugar to cover. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte (not shiny!). Remove from oven and allow to cool on pans for a few minutes before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely.