Lemon Slice Cookies

Recipe by The Honey Blonde

Sometimes I get inspiration from the strangest places. The inspiration for this recipe was a random Instagram picture that someone took of those lemon slice candies. "Wouldn't those make cute cookies", I thought to myself. So I set out to spend my husband-free weekend baking and decorating these lemon slice cookies. I started with a basic sugar cookie dough and added lots of lemon zest so that the cookies would be full of flavor. I rolled out the dough to about 1/4" thickness and cut out circles with a biscuit cutter. Then cut those circles in half to get "slices". After baking, I let the cookies cool completely before icing so that the icing won't totally melt off the cookie. That might seem totally obvious to you, but I have made that mistake before. Now I am no icing expert. I am far from it. I have studied Glory's blog, Glorious Treats, and her techniques to try to get a hand on how to effectively decorate cookies. Her cookies are just the cutest - you need to check her blog for even more cookie inspiration! I started by outlining the "rind" in a dark yellow, then outlining the "pith" in white just inside the yellow. I also made the little lines for the sections of the lemon with the white icing (Glory has a different technique with the "pith" lines, which I think look better). Both the dark yellow and white are fairly thick so that they don't run off the edge of the cookie. For the inner, lighter yellow, fill icing, I thinned it out with a bit more water so that it easily flooded the little sections I created with the white icing. This kind of cookie decorating is very time consuming, which makes me even more impressed with people like Glory and Sweet Sugar Belle, who make it look so easy. I made the dough and baked the cookies on Friday. Outlined in the yellow and white on Saturday to let that icing harden. Then iced the yellow sections the on Sunday. I just tell you this so that if you plan on making these, or any other iced cookie with multiple colors, you will need to carve out some time over a couple days. All and all I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. They are not perfect, but they sure are cute! And tasty! But this does inspire me to work on my icing skills. What do you think about these lemon slice cookies? What other candy would translate to a good cookie?

Ingredients

• 1½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter (room temperature)
• zest of lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2¾ cup all purpose flower
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• of salt
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp meringue powder
• ½ tsp lemon extract
• 2 tbsp water + extra

Method

1. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Mix in lemon zest, egg, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Slowly mix into the butter mixture until combined. Turn the cookie dough out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Let chill in the refrigerator over night or in the freezer until firm. Once dough is firm, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut dough in half, and place one half on a floured surface. Roll out to about 1/4" to 1/2" thickness and cut in to a circle shape using a cookie or biscuit cutter. Place on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes, or until barely browned on the edges. Let cool on a wire wrack for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, meringue powder, extract, and 2tbsp of water. The result should be a fairly thick icing that does not drip very quickly off of a spoon. Spoon about a third of that icing into a separate bowl. Add yellow food coloring until desired color is reached. Place in piping bag fitted with a small tipped piping tip (or cut small hole in the bag) and outline the cookie's edge. Spoon half of the remaining icing into another piping bag and pipe just inside the yellow line. If any icing is left in the bag, squeeze back out into the bowl with the rest of the icing. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the fridge until it is needed. Let the icing on the cookie harden for a couple hours, or over night. Add additional water, 1 tsp at a time, to the remaining icing until a fairly thin consistency is reached. It should flow quickly, but fairly thickly, off a spoon. Add yellow food coloring until desired color is reached. Spoon the icing into a piping bag fit with a small piping tip or cut a small hole and flood the inside of the small triangles created by the white icing. If necessary, use a toothpick to help fill the surface area. Let the icing cool for at least 8 hours before packaging or storing to let the icing harden completely.

View the recipe instructions at The Honey Blonde