Butter Lemon Cookies with Glaze

As I have mentioned before, my love for lemon-anything does not stop with Lemon Bars or Lemon Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting. Why not try a little lemon zest on a classic sugar cookie recipe? The secret to the addiction behind these cookies is merely a bit of lemon zest and a bit of lemon juice. These cookies are so easy and fun to make and a whole batch can make up to a hundred cookies (depending on what size you make them). My mom used to make these cookies for almost any celebration in elementary school-Christmas, Easter, and even Valentine's Day-and all of my classmates loved them instantly. My friends and I once baked them for a visit we made to an orphanage and the bright smiles on the kids faces were priceless. Today was one of those summer days where you're so bored you just wanna eat. I must confess I almost ate the whole cookie dough and ended with a stomach ache afterwards. As a request from my brother, I decided to make these cookies and top them with a rich, sweet glaze (although I personally like them better with the lemon glaze at the end of this post). I ended up making a third of the whole recipe posted below-a total of 18 cookies-and in a matter of hours, he literally ate six. Now that is what I call success.

Butter Lemon Cookies 
Baking Time: About 12 minutes at 350 degrees
One-third of this recipe makes about 18-20 cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 sticks of butter
• 1 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 cups of all purpose flour, sifted (More might be needed)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Directions: 

• Beat together the butter and the sugar until creamy
• Add in the eggs and lemon zest and continue beating
• In another bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the rest of the mixture while beating
• Roll the dough and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, or make round balls of dough with about 1 tablespoon 
• Place the cookies on a greased baking sheet
• Bake for approximately 12 minutes at 350 degrees

  

 

Glaze #1:

 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup of confectioner's sugar
• 4 teaspoons of milk
• Food coloring

Directions: 

• Add the milk to the confectioner's sugar until it has a thick-ish consistency and add food coloring
• Add the glaze to the cookies once they are cool

For a cookie with a more lemony flavor, top the cookies with the following glaze:
Glaze #2: Lemon Glaze:

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 1/4 cups of confectioner's sugar

Directions: 

• Add the lemon juice to the confectioner's sugar and add the glaze to the cookies once they are cool