Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

In the middle of winter, it’s nice to have some relief. While we don’t typically get snow in the Seattle area, we do have many grey days. It’s at least been cold and sunny the last few days, and the days are getting longer. It’s dark when I go to work, but today I was headed home at 5:30 and it was still fairly light out!

Lemon is a wonderful flavor in cookies, and these lemon cream cheese cookies sounded interesting. The tang of cream cheese is subtle but so good in recipes. These sounded like they would be almost be like cheesecake in the center. You do need to give the lemon flavors and the cream cheese plenty of time to mingle, so don’t try to rush this recipe. I made the dough and refrigerated it overnight.

The biggest challenge with these cookies is knowing how long to bake them. They don’t give you any of the normal clues of doneness. They don’t brown, except on the bottom, but you can’t really see that when they are on the baking sheets. They do feel set to the touch, but that’s not the best clue. I baked mine for 10 minutes and while they are soft, they seemed done. These have a nice lemon flavor, the only thing I would change is to make the glaze with lemon juice to add even more lemon flavor.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons lemon zest

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoons water

3/4 cup to 1 cup powdered sugar

In a large mixer bowl, add the butter and cream cheese. Beat on medium for 1 minutes, until combined. Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat on medium. Add egg and vanilla and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and zest, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, and half of the flour. Stir on low until the dough starts to come together. Add the remaining flour and mix until the dough is smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

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

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies will not be browned, but will be set and ever so slightly browned on the bottom. Flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand while still warm. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, prepare the glaze: in a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and water until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

Recipe from Swanky Recipes