Lemon Shortbread Cookies with Lemon Glaze

I love lemon desserts. Lemon bars. Lemon cake. Lemon ice cream (specifically the Lemon Cookie ice cream by Three Twins… AMAZING!). Seriously, give me any lemon dessert and I’ll eat it. I haven’t quite decided if this is a blessing or a curse…

So I’m just going to embrace it! And present you with these- Lemon Shortbread Cookies with a lemon glaze. So easy, so good!

I remember one of the first lemon desserts I made was my freshman year of college. I was home for Easter weekend and decided to make a lemon chiffon cake with a whipped cream sort of frosting. It was a disaster. Like a complete disaster in that the frosting didn’t quite turn out and was sliding off the lopsided two layer cake I assembled… It was rough! The only person who actually liked it was my grandmother but I could give her a glass of water and it’s the best water in the world, so I took it with a grain of salt. It was pretty tragic!

Thankfully, my lemon dessert making skills have improved since then. This past summer I made lemon cupcakes for my cousin’s going away party and they were a hit. In fact, I promised my aunt I would send the recipe and as I’m writing this I just remembered I forgot! Sorry Aunt Paula, I’ll send that soon!

My love of lemon dessert is a family thing. Pretty much everyone in my family loves lemon and I’ve been wanting to make a lemon cookie that I can bring to our next family gathering. I think these are the winner! I mean, how can you go with a buttery shortbread cookie and a lemon glaze? I can just picture my mom saying she’d love to have some these cookies with her morning cup of coffee… And I would most definitely agree with her! Hope you enjoy!

-Kelly 

adapted from My Friend’s Bakery

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter, room temp.
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 of a lemon, zested and juiced

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a stand mixer, mix butter and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice until combined.
4. Slowly incorporate flour until a dough forms.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 1/4″ thick. Using a cookie cuter, cut out cookies and place on baking sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes, until edges are slightly golden. Let cool.

For the Glaze:

1. Squeeze about 2 juicy lemons into a bowl. Add 2 cups powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Glaze should not be spreadable but not watery (great cooking terms, eh?). If needed, add either more sugar or lemon juice to desired consistency.
2. Dip top half of cookie in glaze and place glazed side up on cooling rack. Let sit about an hour until glaze has harden. Enjoy!