Crystallized Ginger Lemon Cookies

Summer is a challenge for baking, as not only is my kitchen awfully warm, but I also don’t have as many options to share my baking with others. Refrigerator cookies are very appropriate, since I can take a few minutes to make the dough, stick it in the refrigerator, and then bake them up when I have time. Having to simply slice the cookies and bake them up saves me from having to be in the kitchen too long.

This recipe started as one of the possibilities to use up a large batch of basic cookie dough. The original recipe makes enough dough to create four different cookies. Thankfully, I was able to pare down to one fourth of the dough. Some recipes make it nearly impossible to divide! I made the abbreviated amount of dough and then added the crystallized ginger and lemon zest, and you are done.

When I buy crystallized ginger, it is already chopped quite small (it’s called mini) but I still find it a bit tricky to evenly slice the cookies. A couple of the cookies were crumbly, and I had to piece them together, but that isn’t an issue with this type of cookie. Some cookies are a little thicker, some thinner, but I found that baking them around 12 minutes worked. Some are just slightly softer! These cookies have a lovely ginger flavor, perfect with a cup of tea.

Crystallized Ginger Lemon Cookies
½ cup butter, room temperature
75 grams sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
150 grams flour
85 grams finely diced crystallized ginger 
Zest of 1 lemon
Additional sugar

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and salt. Mix on medium until well combined, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix again on medium to combine. With the mixer running on low, add the flour. Once the flour has almost disappeared into the dough, add the crystallized ginger and lemon zest. 

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and shape into a log about 2” in diameter. Roll in sugar and then wrap the dough log in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for several hours.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet (or two) with a silicone baking mat. 

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap. Slice the dough into 3/8” rounds and place on the prepared baking sheet(s).

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are golden and the edges are set. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from A Spiced Life

Blueberry Muffin-Top Cookies

I got this cookbook a while ago, and as soon as I got it, I looked through and marked recipes that I was interested in making. There are lots and lots of recipes that I marked! The author of this book is Australian, which I know means that there will be a few differences in the recipes, but they aren’t too difficult to navigate. All of the recipes list weight measurements, and I tend to use those already. The book calls for vanilla paste and hazelnuts, so I stocked up on those.

I decided to make these Blueberry Muffin-Top cookies first. I made only one small change. The recipe called for fresh blueberries, but I know that the blueberries I get at the store are giant, and I knew that wouldn’t work for this recipe. I suppose I could find huckleberries (although not easily) but the easiest substitute was wild blueberries, which are small, but also frozen. Thankfully, since so many people make fruit smoothies nowadays, frozen wild blueberries are easy to find. 

I made up the dough, and the first batch, with very frozen berries, turned out great. As the berries warmed, the dough became increasing blue. It didn’t impact the taste at all, but they did get messy! I also used too many frozen berries, but that’s ok. You bake these cookies for a few minutes then add the crumb topping and finish baking. These came out great, although they looked different depending on the batch. No matter, the taste is excellent and they do taste a lot like a (skinny) blueberry muffin. I can’t wait to make more recipes from this book!

Blueberry Muffin-Top Cookies
210 grams flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
160 grams butter, room temperature
125 grams brown sugar
100 grams sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla paste
Zest of 1 lemon
170 grams wild blueberries

110 grams flour
50 grams sugar
45 grams brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
70 grams butter, very soft

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the 160 grams of butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, vanilla paste, and lemon zest. Beat on medium until combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in the blueberries with a spatula.

Make the crumb topping: combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Add the butter and mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles crumbs. Set aside.

Shape the cookies into 30-gram portions and place on the prepared baking sheet. I placed 8 cookies per baking sheet, in case they spread. Bake for 5 minutes.
 
Remove the cookies after 5 minutes and sprinkle the cookies with the crumb topping. Bake for 10 additional minutes, until browned along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Some of My Best Friends are Cookies by Emelia Jackson

Lemon Blackberry Cookies

I was chatting with my friend the other day and she mentioned that she wanted to find a fool-proof recipe she could make that included blackberries, lemon, and mint. This fascinated me, and the last time that I searched for a recipe to fit a flavor profile, it was so enjoyable. I started searching and there are many blackberry and lemon recipes, and I also found a mint glaze that could be incorporated. I found quite a few recipes and wanted to give them a try.

These cookies do not contain mint, but I could have added a mint glaze. I don’t always want mint in my desserts; it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. Blackberries are in season right now, so I picked up a small package at the grocery store. This recipe originally called for partially thawed blackberries, so I did the opposite. I washed the blackberries, cut them in half, and then placed them in the freezer for a while. They were nearly completely frozen by the time I made the cookies. 

I made these cookies smaller than the original recipe, as the yield was 14 cookies and my batch made about three dozen. The cookies varied from batch to batch. I could tell at first the blackberries were frozen, so the berries were distinct. Later batches the berries were cold but not frozen, and the blackberries were more swirled through the dough. I liked both, but the ones with the swirled were better and looked more interesting. I loved doing the research to find this recipe, and am so pleased with the results. 

Lemon Blackberry Cookies
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg + 1 yolk
2-3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup blackberries, frozen

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the room temperature melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes. The mixture will become very creamy. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. When the dough almost disappears from the dough, remove from the mixer. 

Add the frozen blackberries to the dough and fold in with a spatula. 

Using a medium cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon), scoop the dough in rounds onto the prepared baking sheet, about 8 cookies per sheet. Flatten the dough slightly with the palm of your hand. Refrigerate the cookies and cookie sheet for 10 minutes. (Between batches, refrigerate the dough so it doesn’t get too warm.)

Bake for 14-16 minutes until lightly golden along he edges. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from Stephanie’s Sweet Treats

Lemon Poppyseed Cookie Bars

I had picked up several lemons recently at the store as it’s a great ingredient to have on hand. Several recipes that I was considering called for lemon juice/zest, and I just needed to select the right one. I was comparing a couple of recipes, but also being mindful of how many lemons I had. One other recipe I considered required more juice and zest, but I probably would have been ok. That recipe was from a British cook, and I have noticed that lemons in the UK are considerably smaller than the ones I buy locally.

The only atypical ingredient was the sanding sugar to top the bars. It’s a large-grained sugar, but there are lots of other options if you don’t have it on hand. (I had orange sanding sugar, but that wouldn’t really work.) You could use regular sugar or raw sugar, but I crushed up some pearl sugar that I had on hand. Use whatever is convenient for you.

These bars came together quickly, and I was happy that the pearl sugar that I used on top of the bars didn’t completely melt while baking. The poppy seeds weren’t original to the recipe but it had been suggested in the comments. I have made lemon poppy Bundt cake that I adored, so I thought that would be lovely. These bars have a soft texture, not quite as soft as cake and just a little chewy. This recipe was a tasty surprise and super easy to make, and I look forward to making these again.

Lemon Poppyseed Cookie Bars
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla 
¼ teaspoon lemon extract
2 ½ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Sparkling sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. 

In a large mixer bowl, mix the sugar and lemon zest. Mix on medium to mix the flavors and then allow the mixture to set for a few minutes. Add the butter on mix on medium for several minutes, until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon extract. Mix until well combined.

With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until the flour just disappears into the dough. Add the poppy seeds and stir on low to distribute throughout the dough. Press the dough into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the dough with sparkling sugar. 

Bake for 22-26 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool the bars completely before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Five Heart Home

Blackberry Lemon Meltaway Cookies

I have had this recipe saved for a long time- the cookies looked so perfect for when the weather starts getting nice. It’s a fairly simple butter cookie topped with an icing made from homemade strawberry syrup and lemon juice. The original recipe has you cook down fresh strawberries to make a syrup, which isn’t that hard, but I wasn’t looking forward to standing in front of the stove.

I remembered that I had some Blackberry Syrup in the refrigerator that we have used as a dessert sauce on a few occasions. I had purchased the syrup from Bateman Acres at a local farmer’s market. I figured that the blackberry syrup would work perfectly in place of the strawberry syrup. I did add some lemon juice to the icing, because it adds brightness that is always welcome. 

I made these cookies fairly small, but that seemed to work well. I shaped the cookies and then chilled them for about 10 minutes before baking. I’m not sure that was necessary, as the cookies don’t have any leavening and don’t change much while baking. The icing, with the blackberry syrup is fantastic. You do have to make the icing thick, but I still had a  couple of dribbles that I tidied up, but otherwise the icing stayed put. These are so tasty, the cookie just melts in your mouth and the icing adds the perfect touch of sweetness.

Blackberry Lemon Meltaway Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla 
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups flour
Additional sugar

2 ½ tablespoons blackberry syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat the oven to 325. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. 

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter until light. Add the powdered sugar and mix to combine. Add the cornstarch, vanilla, and salt. Stir until smooth. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour. Mix until the dough comes together; the dough may be crumbly. 

Roll the dough into 1 tablespoon balls, then roll the balls in additional sugar. Flatten the cookies to about ½” with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until barely golden. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a cooking rack to cool completely.

Make the icing: in a medium bowl whisk together the blackberry syrup and lemon juice. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and stir until the icing is smooth but thick. Spread the icing on the cooled cookies. Allow the icing to set before serving.

Recipe from The Café Sucre Farine

Lemon Pistachio Biscotti

I recently bought a small bag of lemons, as I was making a recipe that needed a decent quantity of lemon juice. I never know how many lemons I would need, so I bought a bag that would have more than enough. I was good, and ended up with a few lemons left. I went looking for recipes, and realized that I hadn’t make biscotti in a while. I like making biscotti as it comes together easily. 

Now, I will admin that I don’t like super dry, crunchy biscotti. When you make your own, you can adjust to your own taste! The baking times mentioned below are guides, and I tended to use the shorter of the baking times. That is especially true for the biscotti once they are cut into individual cookies. I think I baked the cookies about 6-8 minutes per side. They were crunchy, but not too crunchy.

I think that lemon pairs wonderfully with pistachios, and I was so happy I had recently picked up pistachios at the store. I always think that I have pistachios, but then I check and often I had already used them. For once I was proactive and stocked up ahead. While biscotti are never my favorite, I really like the pistachios in these cookies. They add a good crunch, with the biscotti themselves being ever so slightly softer. I have made a few recipes with lemon and pistachios, I should look and see what other recipes are out there. 

Lemon Pistachio Biscotti
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3  eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 cup salted pistachios

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

Heat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the lemon zest and whisk again; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, eggs, and sugar on medium until light. Add the lemon extract and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Fold in the pistachios with a spatula. 

Shape the dough into a log, about 4” wide and 1” tall. The length of the log will vary, probably 15” to 18”.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. 

Transfer to a cutting board and cut the log into ¾” slices. Place the cookies on the baking sheet cut side down. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, then turn the cookies and bake an additional 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool before icing.

Once cool, make the icing: in a medium bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice until smooth. If the icing is too thick, add additional lemon juice until the icing is the correct consistency. Allow the icing to set before serving. 

Recipe from Lord Byron’s Kitchen

Sicilian Pistachio Cookies

I had recently purchased a lemon for some recipe that I ended up not using, so I knew that there was some cookie out there that I could make. I had found this recipe a while ago, but when organizing recipes, I moved it up as something that I did not want to forget about. This uses lemon and is also gluten free, which I try to do once in a while. I find that the best gluten free recipes are the ones that use ground nuts or almond paste rather than completely relying on gluten-free flour mixture. 

I had everything on hand, although I wanted to double the recipe so I picked up additional pistachios. This recipe originally called for raw pistachios, and those are hard to find. I ended up using lightly salted pistachios, and I think they were good for this recipe. They sell pistachios in an astounding number of flavor varieties, which are interesting but probably not the best choice for this recipe. 

I almost doubled the recipe, although I was a little shy of the amount of pistachios I needed. Since you use the same amount of sugar and pistachios, this wasn’t much of a problem and I adjusted. While I have gluten in my kitchen, I do my best to reduce the chance of cross contamination. I use (disposable) parchment and I have separate measuring cup for gluten free recipes. These cookies are light as a feather and have a lovely crunch. Don’t be tempted to bake them for “one more minute” or they will get too browned on the bottom.

Sicilian Pistachio Cookies
150 grams pistachio nuts
150g grams sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
1 egg white
Powdered sugar

Place the pistachios in a food processor with 2 tablespoons sugar. Pulse until the mixture becomes a fine powder. Add the remaining sugar and process to mix. Transfer the mix to a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and zest and the egg white. Stir until it becomes a paste. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Shape the dough into 1” balls. Roll the balls in powdered sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets. Don’t crowd the cookies or make them too big as they do spread while baking.

Bake for 10 minutes. Allow them to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack.

Recipe from Cuisine Fiend

Lemon Blueberry Cookies

I think if I were to capture the flavor that best summarizes summer, it would be blueberries or some other type of fruit. We had blueberry bushes at the house that I lived in until I was 6 years old. I don’t remember a lot, but I do know that I like blueberries a lot. Baking with fruit of any type is challenging, but there are options.

For this recipe, the solution was to use freeze-dried blueberries. While this was once an unusual ingredient, freeze-dried fruit isn’t too difficult to find. There must be some sort of shortage as I went to get blueberries, and everything was stocked except the freeze-dried blueberries. I had wanted to make them sooner, but I just kept my eyes open until I was able to find them in stock at the store.

Using freeze-dried fruit removes the extra moisture you get with fresh fruit, but they still have great flavor. The blueberries are enhanced by lemon zest, that is combined with the sugars and allowed to infuse in order to strengthen the flavor. These cookies are soft, and remain soft after baking, so you must be careful not to use too much flour and to not bake them too long. If all goes to plan, you will get lovely soft cookies with the wonderful flavors of lemon and blueberry.

Lemon Blueberry Cookies
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
Zest of one lemon (2 tablespoons)
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups (280 grams) flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup freeze dried blueberries, chopped
Additional sugar

In a large mixer bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, and lemon zest. Mix the ingredients with your fingers to evenly distribute the zest. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes. 

Add the butter and mix on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla and stir until incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. In order to avoid over mixing, stop the mixer when a few streaks of flour remain.

Using a spatula, carefully fold the blueberries into the dough. Do not over mix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and roll the balls in sugar. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10minutes, until the cookies start to turn golden brown. Be careful not to over bake the cookies, they should still be soft. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Browned Butter Blondie

Lemon Crunch Oreo Cookies

I was looking around for cookies to make with our sunnier weather and I came across a couple of variations of this Lemon Crunch Cookie. The recipes vary a little bit, but most are flavored with lemon and white chocolate chips, then include chopped vanilla or lemon Oreos. That couldn’t possibly be bad, right? I picked this recipe and thought it would be great. I figured I might change the ratio of white chocolate chips and Oreos, but that’s not too significant.

This is a pudding cookie, which means you add pudding mix to the dough. The original recipe calls for lemon pudding, but there was a note in the recipe that lemon flavor may be difficult to find. That was true in my case, and I ended up using vanilla pudding mix and added the zest of a lemon. I guess I never look too closely at the variety of puddings available for purchase, but I suppose they are somewhat interchangeable.

This dough comes together easily, and I ended up using about a cup of white chocolate chips and 14 of the Lemon Oreo thins. I don’t know if they make non-thin lemon Oreos, but these were pretty good and I am happy to report that there are lemon Oreos left over for eating. The dough is soft and sticky, but that isn’t uncommon for a puddling cookie. These cookies browned quickly, so you do have to watch the timing, Other than that, they are a lovely cookie that makes a generous amount.

Lemon Crunch Oreo Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
3 ounce instant lemon pudding mix
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
14 lemon lemon Oreos, chopped
1 cup white chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until
incorporated. Add the pudding mix, salt, and eggs and stir again to combine. Stir in the vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and baking soda, mixing until the dough forms. Fold in the chopped cookies and white chocolate chips.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. Press additional chopped lemon Oreos to the top of the cookies if desired.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until lightly browned along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Shugary Sweets

Glazed Ginger-Citrus Shortbread

Sorry for the delayed post, we have been out of power for four days! We are so glad we have lights and heat again!

I tried making these cookies a bit ago, but I had some struggles with the recipe. I did use vegan butter in place of the traditional dairy-based butter, and I don’t think that was the best choice for a shortbread cookie. I use vegan butter occasionally, and it typically works great, but there are some recipes that just aren’t to be edited. My original batch were too browned on the bottom, but my husband/cookie taster said that they didn’t taste burned. Hmmm.

I wanted to have these cookies so I wanted to get these made. Even though I had to adapt a couple of ingredients, based on what I had, but the flavors sounded great. The recipe called for lemon emulsion, and I had lemon oil and I hoped that was close. I also used orange oil instead of orange peel or orange jammy bits. King Arthur Baking makes pre-diced candied ginger that is diced very finely. It’s the best as chopping candied ginger is very difficult!

So the cookies baked ok, it’s just one of those recipes that you have to watch carefully or they will burn. I figured the glaze would help me out, since that compensates a lot. The glaze was great and in the end the cookies looked just fine. You do sprinkle diced ginger to finish the cookies, which makes these very ginger-forward. I love that I hope that you do too!

Glazed Ginger-Citrus Shortbread
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon lemon oil
 2 3/4 cups flour
 2 tablespoons mini diced ginger
1/4 teaspoon orange oil
1/2 teaspoon ginger

2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
Additional diced ginger

Make the dough: in a large mixer bowl, combine the sugar, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Mix for about 30 seconds until the sugar is fragrant. Add the butter to the mixer bowl and mix on medium until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla, and lemon oil and mix for about a minute. The mixture may look curdled- don’t worry.

With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, diced ginger, orange oil, and ginger. Mix on low until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into two logs, each about 2” in diameter. Wrap the dough logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, two hours or overnight.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Unwrap the dough logs and slice into rounds, about 1/3”. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet once during the process. The cookies with be slightly browned along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze: in a medium bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. If the glaze is too thick, add additional lemon juice until you reach the right consistency.

Half dip each cookie in the glaze and wipe away any excess. Place on a lined baking rack (to catch any extra glaze) and then sprinkle with additional diced ginger. Allow the cookies to set before serving.

Recipe from King Arthur Baking

Lemon Ginger Cookies with Crystallized Ginger

At work we were having a celebration for one of my colleagues who is having a baby! I didn’t have too many specific requests but wanted to avoid chocolate if possible. I came across a couple of recipes and ended up choosing a lemon ginger shortbread that I had been waiting to make. Since I only needed to change the butter to vegan butter, I also made these dairy free (except for the egg). I made the slice and bake cookie dough and then baked the cookies, but they baked too long. They looked fine on top, but the bottoms were burned.

I had to go with Plan B, which is a cookie with crystallized ginger, and to honor the original cookies, I added lemon zest to the dough and added a lemon glaze to them. They don’t look the same, but they have the same flavors, and that’s good. This dough came together with no issue, and the cookies came out of the oven nice and crinkly, which was perfect. I could have left of the glaze, but I wanted to include more lemon flavor in these cookies.

You do need to be thoughtful when baking with vegan butter. For the most part it works just like butter, but I do think the original shortbread I made browned too quickly because the vegan butter acts just a little differently. For the glaze, I used the glaze from the original recipe. It called for lemon juice, but I needed to thin it a touch so I had purchased some non-dairy milk that I could use. When I dipped the cookies, I suppose that the glaze could have been thicker, but it still worked well.

Lemon Ginger Cookies with Crystallized Ginger
120 grams butter or vegan butter
200 grams sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
250 grams flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
150 grams finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 cups powdered sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Additional lemon juice or milk, as needed

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg and lemon zest and mix again to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ginger. Mix on low until the dough almost comes together. Add the chopped crystallized ginger and mix again, on low, until the dough is cohesive.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the cookies are set and beginning to turn golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze: in a medium bowl combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Whisk until a smooth glaze forms, thinning with additional lemon juice or milk if needed. Dip the cooled cookies halfway into the glaze, wiping off any excess. Allow the cookies to set on a wire rack before serving.

Recipe from Where is My Spoon? Glaze recipe from King Arthur Flour

Mini Treacle Tarts

I love making cookies in mini muffin cups, and when I came across this recipe, I knew that it was meant to be. I think I have had a treacle tart before, but I’m not absolutely sure. This is a smaller version, quite simple to make once you get past the somewhat fussy stage of shaping the dough into mini muffin cups. I divide the dough and then use a tart tamper to help coax the dough into the proper shape. It isn’t perfect, but I end up only having to do the smallest of adjustment to the dough by hand.

These are treacle tarts, but the main ingredient is golden syrup. Golden syrup is also called light treacle, but that’s still confusing. I get a lot of questions about what can be used instead of golden syrup. Golden syrup is sugar cane based, whereas corn syrup is corn based, so they are different. Honey isn’t a bad option, and I did end up having to use a tiny bit of honey to make up a cup of golden syrup. It’s still not the same, so if you can find golden syrup at the store, it is best to use that.

You add a small quantity of breadcrumbs to give the filling some structure, so don’t skip that step. It was odd for me as I hadn’t used breadcrumbs in ages and in one week, I ended up making two recipes that needed them! Lemon is the predominant flavor of these tarts, with a subtle flavor of the golden syrup added in. You can top these with a dollop of whipped cream on top, but they were so good they didn’t need that!


Mini Treacle Tarts

10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup almond meal
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup golden syrup
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/8 cup breadcrumbs

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Add the egg and mix again to combine. In a separate bowl combine the flour, almond meal, salt, and baking powder. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture until a dough forms. Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 2 hours (or overnight).

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Have a 24-indentation mini muffin pan ready.

Divide the dough between the 24 mini muffin cups. Press the dough into the cup, making sure that the bottom and sides are covered.
In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the golden syrup. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Once the butter is melted, allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the egg and heavy cream. Add the syrup mixture, lemon zest and juice, and breadcrumbs, mixing well. Transfer the filling to a vessel with a pouring spout.

Fill each dough cup about half full, any more than that and they will overflow.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the tarts are golden. Allow the tarts to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the tartlets and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Recipe from International Desserts Blog

Lemon Ginger Bakewell Slices

I planned to make these bars and I thought I was good on ingredients with the exception of lemons, so my husband and I stopped at the store and picked up some fresh lemons. I got home and I thought I had lemon curd, or something that I could use in its place. I didn’t have lemon curd, so I checked to see what I could use. I identified four possibilities, yes, I am well stocked! I had apple cinnamon curd, apricot pineapple preserves, lemon marmalade, and ginger curd. My husband thought that ginger curd would be good, and I agreed since I love ginger.

Since I used ginger curd, I decided to use a little less lemon zest to these bars. I didn’t add lemon to the base, and I just used the zest of one lemon in the filling. Perhaps I should have added some ginger to the base, but certainly it needed some salt. I did refrigerate my pastry base, but just for 15 or so minutes. It had firmed up but didn’t become so hard that I couldn’t shape it. In retrospect, I think I could have rolled the pastry base thinner, but I didn’t do that this time.

I will say that the ginger curd isn’t super strong, and I cut back on the lemon, so these bars don’t have a prominent flavor. Normally a Bakewell tart/bars have raspberry filling and this was intended to be a lemon version, so mine is a lemon and ginger version. Despite not having a strong, in your face flavor, these bars are excellent. They’d be easier to slice if the pastry base was thinner, but I can envision all sorts of variations made with different types of curd and preserves!

Lemon Ginger Bakewell Slices
1¼ cups flour
6 tablespoons butter, chopped into small pieces
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1+ tablespoon water

7 tablespoons butter, room temperature
⅓ cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
¾ cup ground almonds
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons lemon/ginger curd
2 tablespoons sliced/flaked almonds

In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour and butter and mix on low until the mixture is crumbly. Add the powdered sugar, then stir in the egg yolk. Add water, mixing intermittently on low, until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Once the dough is chilled, roll the dough out to slightly larger than 8 inches square (trim as needed). Press the dough into the base of the prepared pan, pressing the dough into the edges and corners of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Make the filling: in a large mixer bowl bear the butter, sugar, and lemon zest on medium to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the ground almonds and flour. Mix until cohesive.

Once the bottom crust comes out of the oven, spread with a thin layer of curd. Top with the almond filling and carefully spread into a smooth layer, doing your best not to disturb the layer of curd. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the bars are golden. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Recipe from Scrummy Lane

Berry Lemon Cheesecake Bars

I had bought a couple of lemons recently and still had one lemon that I wanted to use. It was starting to show its age so I went looking for recipes, hopefully something where I had all of the necessary ingredients. Since I try to keep cream cheese on hand, this helps a lot! I found these lemon cheesecake bars, which were perfect. The original recipe called for strawberry preserves, which I didn’t have, but I figured I could find something.

Our kitchen is stocked with quite a variety of preserves, which I think I have mentioned before. I knew we would have something that would work with lemon. While some of the flavors we had on hand didn’t combine well with lemon, I ended up finding some preserves that were a combination of blueberry and blackberry. Blueberry and lemon are classic together, and the blackberry would be even a little bit better.

These bars take a little bit longer because there are several steps. I made my crust in the mixer, but I could have also used my food processor. That does a better job of making pastry, but the mixer was fine. The mixer bowl was quite clean so I just used that for the filling as well. These bars are excellent with the blueberry/blackberry preserves! The only challenge was cutting the bars when they were very cold, which was nearly impossible! Once I let the bars sit at room temperature for a short time they were much easier to work with!

Berry Lemon Cheesecake Bars
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3/4 cup cold butter, cut into tablespoon sized pieces
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup berry preserves

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon zest and butter. Mix on low until the mixture is crumbly. (You could also use your food processor for this.) The mixture will be dry. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.  

Bake for 20 minutes, until the crust begins to brown.

While the crust is baking, make the filling: in a large mixer bowl beat the cream cheese, sugar, and lemon zest on medium until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring until combined. Stir in the lemon juice.

Once the crust comes out of the oven, carefully spread the preserves in an even layer over the crust. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the preserves and smooth the top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cheesecake is set in the center. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour before refrigerating for several hours. Bring the bars to room temperature for about 30 minutes before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Cookies and Cups

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

Since my cache of cookies that I have baked was dwindling, I wanted to make a couple of things to have in reserve. I didn’t quite know what I wanted to make, but I searched my recipes and figured that I was good with the exception of lemons for lemon zest. We picked up a couple of lemons at the store and headed home, knowing I could make something great!

One recipe that I made called for the zest of three lemons, but I edited that website slightly and used only one lemon. Having lemons on hand, I found this recipe that sounded great and it was also easy to convert this to a dairy free recipe. I try to make dairy-free recipes from time to time, and by substituting vegan butter here this cookie is instantly dairy free. The vegan butter tends to be softer, so I did end up chilling the dough for a short time to firm it up.

The original recipe had you flatten the cookie with a glass dipped in sugar, but I simply rolled the cookie dough in sugar. The cookies are extremely flat, and I don’t really think that you need to flatten the cookies. I did a little, but I don’t think it made much difference. While these cookies are flat, they are super crunchy and oaty. Oats and lemon are such a good combination, and these simple cookies fit the bill.

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup butter or vegan butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Zest from 1 lemon
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
Additional sugar or sanding sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar and mix on medium until light. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the lemon extract and zest. Stir on medium to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Once those ingredients are incorporated, mix in the oats with a spatula.

Shape the dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Roll the dough balls in sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake the cookies for about 10-11 minutes, until golden. Some of the edges may be a little loose, but I tidied those up with a small metal spatula. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe from Leigh Anne Wilkes

Lemon Cranberry Cookies

So often, cookies this time of year are hearty and full of chocolate. When I choose recipes, I try to mix up the types of cookies I make. Cookies containing cranberries are perfect this time of year, so I try not to forget to include something with either fresh or dried cranberries. This is a lovely recipe, fruity and refreshing with the combination of lemon and cranberry.

I was reading through the recipe, and it calls for one single cranberry per cookie, so that told me that these cookies are petite. The original recipe called for fresh cranberries, but I had cranberries I had frozen on hand, and I figured those would work. Although the cranberry color seeped out in a couple of cookies, the frozen berries worked well.

These cookies are small, but they really pack a punch! The lemon glaze, which is simply powdered sugar and lemon juice, is tart and pairs perfectly with the tart cranberry. The cookie itself is similar to shortbread, rich and slightly crumbly. These cookies are wonderful for the holidays, especially if you are wanting something slightly different!

Lemon Cranberry Cookies
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups flour
Sanding sugar
Fresh cranberries

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-4 teaspoons lemon juice

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, bear the sugar and lemon zest on medium to make lemon sugar. The sugar will be fragrant and pale yellow. Add the butter and beat on medium until light. Stir in the egg yolks and vanilla.
With the mixer running on low, stir in the flour.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sanding sugar. Push a cranberry into the top of each cookie.

Bake for 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze: in a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and two teaspoons lemon juice to make a glaze. Add additional lemon juice if needed to thin the glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

Recipe from Lord Byron’s Kitchen

Lemon Pistachio Cookies

I had a small amount of pistachios left so I went looking for recipes that called for a small quantity. At first, I had found a bar cookie recipe that I was going to make, but I had made a lot of bar cookies lately so I looked at what else I had saved. I came across this recipe, which called for a small amount of pistachios. The original recipe called for orange juice and zest, but I used the lemon I had on hand (that also needed to be used).

This recipe was called a holiday cookie, and I find that puzzling. Some cookies are clearly for the holidays: gingerbread people, eggnog cookies, and peppermint creations. But a pistachio citrus cookie? That doesn’t seem quite right to me. I think that many people don’t bake much at all, therefore almost any cookie they make is a holiday cookie as that’s the only time they bake cookies. I bake all the time, so I don’t follow those same parameters.

This is a refrigerator cookie, which I love to make as each part of the recipe is quick. I made the dough and got it chilling. The original recipe suggested chilling overnight, but my cookies were very firm after a few hours. I sliced and baked them- no issue at all. I glazed the cookies by dunking the tops of the cookies in glaze, and that was very efficient. I sprinkled the pistachios on the cookies after icing 6 of them- otherwise the glaze sets to much and the nuts don’t stick. These cookies have the bright zing of lemon paired with a crumbly/crunchy cookie texture, which can’t be beat!

Lemon Pistachio Cookies
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup pistachios, finely chopped

2-1/4 cups powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
2-3 tablespoons milk
Additional chopped pistachios

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Add the egg, lemon zest and vanilla and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and cornstarch. Stop the mixer, then add the chopped pistachios, and mix just until the dough comes together.

Divide the dough in halves. Shape each half into a log, about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the dough logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 4 hours, until very firm.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap. Cut the dough into 1/4-1/3” slices. Place on the prepared baking sheets and reshape the cookies to be round if needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until they begin to brown on the bottom. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Ice the cookies when they are cool.

Once the cookies are cool, make the icing: in a medium bowl combine the powdered sugar, juice of a lemon, and 1 tablespoon milk. Whisk until an icing forms, adding more milk if required, to achieve a spreading consistency. Glaze each cookie and then sprinkle with additional chopped pistachios.

Recipe from Lorraine Caland via Taste of Home

Strawberry Lemon Bars

My husband and I have too many weekends that are interrupted by work or something like that, and it turned out that we had a weekend with no activities planned. We decided that we would try and do as much as we could that wasn’t work related. One of the things we came up with is going to a local farmers market. We decided to go to the farmer’s market in a nearby town, as they had changed locations a while ago and we hadn’t gone since they had moved.

Farmer’s markets can be challenging. There is so much good produce and berries, but my house is usually too warm. I’ve found that I have to know what I am going to make and get the needed ingredients, otherwise I just wander aimlessly. As we were wrapping up, I knew I had this recipe that needed strawberries, so I checked the quantity and got what I needed. I ended up getting strawberries that were quite ripe, so I made the bars right away.

The dough/batter for these bars is quite cake-like, and it looks really strange after you have added the lemon juice. The dough did come together, which was a relief! My strawberries were very ripe, so when I added them to the dough and the glaze, strawberry juice mixed in giving a slight pink tinge. It wasn’t too noticeable after baking and cutting, so it was fine. These are quite cakey, thick, but have a lovely combination of sweet strawberries and tart lemon.

Strawberry Lemon Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
¼ cup lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2-1/3 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups diced strawberries

1-1/4 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ cup diced strawberries
Additional lemon juice/milk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg and mix again on medium to combine. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the diced strawberries with a spatula.

Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden. Test the bars with a thin knife inserted into the center of the bars, which will come out clean if the bars are baked. Allow the bars to cool before glazing.

Make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add additional lemon juice or milk. Carefully stir in the diced strawberries. Spread the glaze on the bars and allow the glaze to set before cutting into bars.  

Recipe from Kitchen Fun with my Three Sons

Lemon Curd Blondies

Most folks that I know have a classic lemon bar recipe that they love and works for them. Lemon bar recipes do vary a lot, but I have yet to find one that I didn’t like. My friend gave me some lemon curd, and my immediate thought was I wanted to use it in a recipe. I did some searching online and I came across a couple of different recipes to try. I started with this version of a lemon bar, flavored with lemon curd and lemon zest.

Lemon bar recipes vary- some have many layers and others are much more basic. This recipe is quite simple, and as it bakes in an 8” square pan, it doesn’t require too many ingredients. It’s just one layer, so once you make the dough/batter, you are good to go. The mixture is very sticky, so spreading it evenly in the pan is tricky, but it does even out as it bakes. I wanted to make sure that these bars were very chilled before cutting, so I refrigerated them overnight.

These cut very easily once they are cold, and not as messy as some lemon bars can be. I will say that these bars have a good lemon flavor, but the lemon isn’t as strong as other bars I have made. I’m ok with that since they are easy to make and cut and they travel well. I like these lemon curd blondies a lot and can’t wait to use the rest of the lemon curd for other recipes!

Lemon Curd Blondies
¾ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup lemon curd
1-1/4 cups flour
Powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the salt, baking powder, and lemon zest. Stir to combine. Add the lemon curd, one tablespoon at a time, until combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and mix just until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top as best you can. The mixture will be sticky.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden. Cool in the pan and then refrigerate until the bars are thoroughly chilled.

Once the bars are chilled, remove them from the pan and cut into bars. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Recipe from Baked by Rachel

Glazed Lemon Ginger Cookies

Anything with lemon is typically popular on this blog. The same can be said for items with ginger. I was thrilled when I found a lemon and ginger cookie. I had picked up a lemon because I knew I wanted to make these soon. All of the other ingredients are items I have on hand, but I will need to get some candied ginger soon, as my supply is running low.

I made up the dough, although chopping candied ginger is a sticky proposition! I can buy chopped candied ginger, but it is never quite right, so I chop it myself. As love as I love ginger, it isn’t something that you necessarily want to have a big bite, so chopping it myself helps. I made three dozen cookies with this recipe, and the cookies are on the smaller side, which is fine since I will be sharing them with my friends at work.

The original recipe has you dip the cookies into the glaze while the cookies are still warm. I contemplated drizzling the glaze, as that is a lot easier, but I went ahead and dipped the cookies. It wasn’t too difficult, and the cookies cooled for a couple of minutes, so they didn’t burn my fingers. I was slightly short on the amount of lemon juice for the glaze, so I added a teaspoon of milk to help the glaze get to the correct consistency. These cookies look and taste great. The lemon works well with the ginger, moderating the ginger so it is present but not too sharp.

Glazed Lemon Ginger Cookies
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped candied ginger

2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg and beat on medium to incorporate. Add the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the chopped candied ginger.

Shape the dough into tablespoon-sized mounds and flatten slightly.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies barely start to brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. It is important to glaze the cookies while they are still warm.

Make the glaze: while the cookies are baking, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Brush the glaze on the warm cookies. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired

Drop dough by TBS scoop onto prepared pans about 2" apart. Flatten slightly with fingers. Bake in oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until bottoms just start to brown. Let sit on baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to wire rack.

While cookies are baking, make glaze by combining the powdered sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice in small bowl. Dip cookies while they are still warm, into glaze and place on wire rack to cool and allow the glaze to set. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.

Recipe from Renee’s Kitchen Adventure