Glazed Lemon Cookie Recipe

I love making lemon cookies for two reasons: I love lemon-flavored sweets, and I am able to use the leftover lemons to freshen up my kitchen and cutting boards!

As you may know by now, I always look for recipes that call for ingredients that are staples in my cupboard, as I hate to buy ingredients for just one recipe.  I found such a recipe on Martha Stewart's website that calls for everything I normally have on hand, including lemons.  If you don't normally have lemons on hand in your kitchen, you should, as it's a great for not just cooking and baking, but for cleaning as well!

To make the cookies, combine 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 TBSP of freshly grated lemon zest (I used about 2 lemons) in one bowl.  In another bowl, use an electric mixer and beat 1 stick of unsalted butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 2 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons).  Slowly add in the flour mixture.  

Scoop dough by the tablespoon-ful onto a cookie sheet (I prefer to line mine with parchment paper or silpat cookie sheet liners) and baked at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven when the edges start to turn golden brown.

Now comes the fun part - glazing your cookies!  Prepare your glaze (mix 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 TBSP lemon zest, and 1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice until smooth) and dip your cookies face down like this:

Let your cookies set for about an hour on a cookie sheet (be sure to put wax paper or newspaper under your cookie sheets to catch the drippings), and you're done!

By now, your kitchen should have that clean lemon-fresh smell thanks to the fresh lemon zest.  But don't just throw away those used lemons - rub them on your cutting boards with a little bit of salt, and let it sit for 20 minutes before rinsing with hot water. Then cut up what's left of your lemons and throw them down the sink and run the water and garbage disposal to eliminate odors coming from your sink. 

On a side note: if you're short on time, prepare the dough, wrap it in wax paper, put it in a zip lock bag (be sure to remove as much excess air as possible), and freeze it!  When you're ready to bake your cookies, remove the dough from the freezer, and let it defrost for about 15 minutes.   

The complete recipe can be found on Martha Stewart's website at http://www.marthastewart.com/315603/glazed-lemon-cookies