big lemon cookies

Right in the middle of shoveling and knocking down icicles yesterday, the picture of those Archway lemon cookies floated into my mind.  Have you ever had them?  Those and the hermit cookies were weekly staples in the grocery cart when my children were young, though I admit those weren't the only fingers snitching a cookie.  They were rectangular, and a quite hefty, as I remember.  


You know how it is when you get a bee in your bonnet, as my Mum used to say, so I looked up a lemon cookie I made years ago.  It was good, but I remember thinking I wished I hadn't used lemon extract, or quite so much cornstarch.  So I tinkered with the recipe and ended up with a tangy, 4 inch handful of cookie.  I waffled on the frosting, and ended up just drizzling a little lemon juice and confectioner's sugar icing on top.


Now that's a terrific cookie !


To make 8 or 9 four inch cookies ( or more using a smaller scoop):

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line a baking sheet with clean foil or parchment paper.

For the cookie dough:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) room temperature unsalted butter
1 and 1/4th cups confectioner's sugar 1 1/2 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of kosher salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
zest from a lemon - about 1-2 teaspoons



Stir together the flour, salt, cornstarch and baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Place the butter and confectioner's sugar in mixer bowl and mix on low until blended, then increase speed and mix a few minutes more.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Beat in the lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest, then switch to low while you add the flour/cornstarch mixture.  Mix until creamy .

Using a regular ice cream scoop, scoop cookies onto baking sheet, leaving 3 inches between cookies.  (I usually fit 6 cookies on each baking sheet).

Bake for 15 minutes, then let cool briefly on a cooling rack, then use a spatula to let them cool further on another rack - important it you want the icing to set.

To make the icing, just mix a cup of confectioner's sugar and fresh lemon juice to a medium consistency and either brush on the somewhat cooled baked cookies, or drizzle from a fork.  

Enjoy!

Remember the apple orchard?  Here it is in winter, where the trees are snoozing under a blanket of snow...