Lemon Thins

I am embarrassed to admit that this is the first time that I have ever eaten a lemon cookie. 

Why??  I have no idea!

I love lemon everything.  The taste, smell, look...you name it.  The thought of making a lemon cookie has always been there and I have always wanted to try them...so now was the time.  ;)  I made these for Easter weekend and they were a huge hit.  I think they were different enough but yet familiar...if that makes sense.  Everything during Easter is so rich and sugary and these little babies are light and have just the right amount of sweetness.  The texture was perfect and they look really cute as well. There is nothing worse (to me) than a dry and hard cookie.  For whatever reason I just do not like them.  Just under-baked cookies are perfect in my book!

Like I said, I love me a soft cookie so that was what I was on the mission for.  A lot of the lemon cookies that I found looked like they were hard and try.  Who knows if they were but I was not about to make 4 dozen cookies to only have them go to waste.  I came across a lovely blog that I have grown to like in the last week or so.  The pictures were perfect and they sounded amazing just by the description.  Well...I am glad that I bake them and so were our friends!  I brought them with us to our Easter weekend away and they were scarfed up!

Light, sweet, soft, chewy! Perfect!

SOURCE:  Found on www.thepastryaffair.com (This is the blog that was mentioned above.)
Adapted from The Eating Well Dessert Cookbook

INGREDIENTS
 
1/2 cup sugar, (extra for sprinkling/rolling)
4 T. butter (softened)
1 egg white
1 t. vanilla extract
Zest and juice of 1 lemon (I did use a good amount more than this. 4-5 lemons)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 t. baking powder

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Beat in the egg white and vanilla until smooth.
Beat in the lemon zest and lemon juice.
Fold in the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder.
Take a teaspoonful of dough and roll it into a ball with your hands.
Roll in bowl of sugar and place on baking sheet, flattening slightly.   
Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the edges barely begin to brown (do not overbake if the edges do not brown; the cookies will be done).
Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.

NOTE: Original recipe called for sugar to be sprinkled on top but I did it differently.  I rolled the balls of dough in sugar and it gave them that sweet taste and shiny look. 

XoXo

Valerie