Frosted Lemon Sugar Cookies

This weekend, we attended a birthday barbecue and because I’ll take any chance I can get to bake, I offered to bring a dessert! I knew right away that I wanted to do cookies as a opposed to cupcakes/bars since I figured there would be cake at the party. Plus, I know that not everyone likes cake (although clearly those people are crazy because cake is delicious) and so I thought that cookies would be a good alternative dessert option. With Memorial Day weekend being the unofficial kick-off to summer, I wanted to do something fresh and bright so lemon seemed like the perfect flavor choice!

I had pinned this recipe for lemon sugar cookies recently and thought this would be a great time to try it out as frosted sugar cookies are a personal favorite of mine. I actually ended up using different cookie/frosting recipes from my original pin (mainly because the pin called for cake flour and I didn’t have any on hand), but I was really happy with the end result. The cookies soft and chewy (I’d suggest underbaking them slightly, they keep better!) and the tangy frosting was the perfect addition. They were sweet (but not too sweet) and lemony (but not too lemony) and everyone seemed to love them!

Frosted Lemon Sugar Cookies 

Recipe Source: Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients 

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Zest of 2 large lemons

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling cookies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. Using a mixer, beat together butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

4. Add lemon zest, egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Mix until combined. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.

5. Roll rounded tablespoons of dough into balls and roll in sugar. Place on prepared baking sheets,  about 1 1/2 inches apart.

6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are slightly brown around the edges and set. Let cookies sit on the baking sheets for two minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

  I knew that I wanted to do frosted sugar cookies, so I modified the frosting from this recipe slightly to whip up some lemon buttercream to go on top of my cookies: 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 

3 cups confectioners sugar

Juice from two lemons (about 4-5 tablespoons)

1 tsp of vanilla 

Directions

Combine butter and sugar with an electric mixer (be sure to gradually add in sugar!) until combined. Add lemon juice and vanilla and beat on medium speed until fluffy.

The original frosting recipe called for both lemon zest and lemon juice, but I thought the frosting seemed way too stiff, so I opted to leave out the zest and just add more juice. This definitely makes the frosting fairly tart, but because the lemon flavor in the cookies is a little more subtle I thought they could handle it! I think lemon is such a perfect flavor for a summer dessert, and these cookies seemed to be a big hit at the barbecue. Definitely give them a try for your next get together! Xoxo