Chewy Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Bright, chewy little bites of lemon goodness!

Winters around here are grey. Dull and grey. The seemingly endless greyscale days, desaturated and devoid of colour, make me crave bright colours, bold flavours and loud music. Lucky for us, the fruit in season this time of year is citrus! Navel oranges, heavy with sweet promise, are at their very best. Lemons and limes are plentiful and perfectly juicy.

Chewy Lemon Crinkle Cookies: Betcha can't eat just one!

I set out to make a simple, lemony treat; but I didn’t have very many ingredients. It was gross and rainy outside so I didn’t want to leave the house. Or change out of my pyjama pants (don’t judge!). These wee little lemon cookies are loaded with lemon flavour, yet sweet enough to satisfy your sweet tooth. They use just a few, basic ingredients. If you have a lemon hanging about the kitchen, you could probably make these right now!

Chewy Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Based on this recipe at LDS Living

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
Zest from one lemon
Juice from one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
3. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until just blended.
5. Spread icing sugar onto a plate. Take rounded teaspoonsful of dough and roll into a ball with your hands, then roll around in the icing sugar, completely coating dough ball.
6. Place dough balls 3” apart on prepared cookie sheets.
7. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until bottoms begin to barely brown.
8. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Makes 2-3 dozen.

This column first appeared in Stimuli Magazine. Check out my column

'Just Desserts' for more sweet and delicious recipes!