I was so happy with the cookie I made for my Lemon Meringue Pie Cookies that I had to make another recipe celebrating the cookie itself. Given it's a base which includes ground almonds and lemons, it made me think of lemon drizzle cakes, so I thought why not, let's turn the cake into a cookie!
Makes 16
Hands-on Time 30 minutes plus chilling (overnight)
Baking Time 14 minutes
Ingredients
250g Unsalted butter (softened)
200g Light brown sugar
325g Caster sugar
2 tsp Almond extract
2 Eggs, large
400g Plain flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Fine salt
4 Lemons
400g Icing sugar
Equipment
Freestanding mixer with paddle
Spatula
Fine grater
Baking parchment
Baking sheet (ideally aluminium)
Juicer
Microwaveable bowl
Microwave
Knife
Wire rack
Fork
Mixing bowl
Add the butter, light brown sugar, and 175 grams of caster sugar to the bowl of the mixer and beat on a medium-high speed for 5 minutes until you have a very light and fluffy mixture.
Add the almond extract and two large eggs and beat for a couple of seconds until combined.
Add the flour, bicarb, and salt and beat for a couple of seconds until combined. Scrape the sides down using a spatula to make sure everything is incorporated.
Grate the zest of two lemons over the dough before giving it a final mix. You shouldn’t need to run the mixer for more than 10 seconds. The key thing is not to over-mix.
Take a sheet of baking parchment and place the dough onto. Shape the dough into a wide, long sausage and roll up before popping it into fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Take the dough out of the fridge, slice into 16 equal rounds. Roll each round into a ball and place onto the lined baking sheet.
Pop the sheet back into the fridge, ideally overnight, so the dough balls can firm up.
When you are ready to bake the cookies preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C (Fan)/325°F/Gas mark 3.
Squeeze the juice of the two lemons you zested into a bowl and stir in 150 grams of caster sugar. You may need to pop the bowl into the microwave for a few 20 second blasts in order to help the sugar dissolve and make a syrup. Set aside once you’ve this consistency.
Slide the baking sheet out of the fridge and leave the dough balls on the shelf.
Once the oven has warmed up line the baking sheet with another piece of parchment.
Place approx 6/8 balls spaced about 10cm apart from each other onto the baking parchment.
Pop the tray into the oven on a middle shelf and bake for 14 minutes.
As soon as the cookies are golden take the tray out of the oven slide them, still on the parchment, onto a work top. Gently prick the top of the cookies with a fork a couple of times, don’t press all the way through. Spoon a couple of teaspoons of lemon syrup over each cookie and leave them to sit for a couple of minutes to soak it in and also firm up.
Re-line the baking sheet with more paper and bake your next batch.
When the cookies are firm transfer them onto a wire rack.
To finish the cookies you need to make the lemon drizzle glaze.
Add the icing sugar to a mixing bowl. Clean the microwaveable bowl you used earlier for the syrup and juice the remaining two lemons into it.
Add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to the icing sugar and stir using a clean spatula until you have a runny icing, you will likely need to add a 4th spoonful but better to go with less and add than add too much from the get go. Likewise if 4 isn’t enough, add another until the consistency is right.
Pick up a cookie, flip over and dip it into the icing so the top is coated.
Pop it back onto the wire race right way up and repeat with the other cookies.
Leave until the icing has set.
Enjoy!