After my holiday overindulgence, chocolate and I are on a break. We just saw way too much of one another. You too? Great! You can satisfy that sugar craving sans chocolate with these lemon high tea cookies!
Please excuse the zest—I just can’t believe how perfectly these turned out!
They are petite, delicate and a mouth-watering meeting of sweet and bitter. Fit for a queen! Well, my cookies aren't quite worthy to serve to the Queen, but it’s easy to picture them being served at a British high tea or another posh gathering. (Or anywhere! These bites of heaven are perfect for fixing a little sweet tooth.)
What to expect:
This recipe from Glorious Treats is not a lemon—it is glorious indeed!
Don’t let their daintiness fool you—these cookies really pack a punch. The sourness of the lemon and the glaze of the sugar simultaneously come through in each bite (which could mean the whole cookie!).
The cookies turn out soft but dense.
What I recommend:
Use fresh lemon zest! Honestly, it took me a while to zest the lemon, but it’s totally worth it. Since you use the zest in the bake and the glaze, it makes the cookie taste fresher all around.
Make sure to flatten the tops of the cookies before putting them in the oven, because they won’t spread on their own like your classic chocolate chip cookie—we’ll save that for another day!
Since the glaze is pretty thick, it is easier to dip the cooled cookies into the glaze rather than trying to spread the glaze on top.
If the plain cookies turn out too sweet for your taste (is there such a thing!?), then I recommend simply reducing the amount of glaze.
Original Recipe from Glorious Treats:
For the cookies:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 Tablespoons (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
Directions:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch and salt, then set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar, and beat until fully incorporated.
- Add lemon zest, then, while mixing, slowly add lemon juice.
- While mixing (on low), slowly add flour mixture and blend until all of the flour is fully incorporated.
- Stop mixing and scrape down the sides of the bowl, then cover and refrigerate dough 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- When the dough has chilled, use a 1 tablespoon sized scoop to scoop out dough, then roll dough into balls and place on a parchment paper lined, or Silpat lined baking sheet. Press down on the dough balls just a bit to flatten the tops. Place entire baking sheet (with cookie balls) in the fridge or freezer while the oven heats up.
- Bake in preheated oven at 350°F. for 11-13 minutes, or just until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Cool just a bit on the baking sheet, then move cookies to a wire cooling rack.
- When cookies have been baked and cooled, make glaze.
- To make glaze, simply whisk together powdered sugar, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Add a bit more lemon juice as needed to reach desired consistency.
- Dip cooled cookies into glaze, then return to wire cooling rack (with a baking sheet below to catch excess glaze) and allow glaze to set up before storing cookies.
