You know the saying, when you’ve got lemons, make lemonade? Well I had purchased a few lemons for a recipe and didn’t end up making that recipe, so I had lemons. And in these parts, during the winter, lemons are expensive so I didn’t want them to go to waste. Not knowing exactly what I wanted to make. I just zested both lemons and then squeezed all the juice out. The zest went into a ziplock bag in the freezer (perfect for baked goods, fresh lemon zest anytime) and the juice went into a jar into the fridge. It was the juice I was most concerned about, after all the expense and now the trouble and mess of juicing them, I knew I needed to use up the lemon juice soon.
This is the part I love about blogs: I sat down at the island in the kitchen and simply Googled “lemon recipes” and soon there were literally hundreds if not thousand lemony options. The one that caught my eye was “lemon cookies”! So now to find The One! By Googling “lemon cookies” recipe I found the recipe I wanted: Chewy Lemon Cookies by Patent and the Pantry. What drew me to these cookies was that they had four tablespoons of lemon juice and the zest of one lemon; coincidentally, I had EXACTLY four tablespoons of lemon juice from my lemons (and the zest from the freezer) so I knew this recipe was The One! And another coincidence is that the author of this blog also loves shoes, high heeled shoes, in patent leather! Sigh. And I loved the look of the cookies too. I made a few alterations in the recipe because of ingredients on hand (i.e. two small eggs instead of one large one). These cookies have a lovely lemony flavour and they are not too sour; it’s balanced by the sweetness of the sugar but they are not sickly sweet as some lemony recipes can be. This batch was taken in to JTs work with a few set aside for our enjoyment (and the photoshoot).
Chewy Lemon Cookies
Makes about 66 smallish cookies (using a 2.5 cm or 1 inch ice cream scoop)
For the original recipe kindly click here
Ingredients:
- 3 c all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 c butter, softened
- 1 1/2 c white sugar
- 2 small eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of one large lemon
- 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 c sugar for rolling cookies
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, lemon zest and juice until thoroughly combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Using a 2.5cm or 1 inch ice cream scoop, make balls of dough and roll in the sugar. Place about 2″ apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet (they will flatten out and expand).
- Bake for 14 minutes for a golden bottom but still chewy.
- Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to cool thoroughly on wire racks.
- Store in an air tight container, or eat right away!
Good cookies to eat with a cup of tea hahah
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That’s true.
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Chewy cookies are the best. 🙂 And I love that they’re lemon flavoured… not too sweet!
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This cookie will make it on my Christmas baking list for sure. Thanks for leaving a comment.
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OH my! Lemon and chewy cookies in one?! You’re killing me Eva! I have tons of lemons in the fridge (always do) and this will be perfect for my little secret stash of desserts. 🙂
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Hi Kristy, it was an easy cookie to make and was very tasty too. I’ll be adding them to my Christmas baking for sure. Hope you have a great day.
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Yummmmmmm…..great use of lemons Eva! Bookmarked.
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Thanks so much Minnie.
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You had me drooling for a moment there Eva. I am a lemon lover who can only eat lemon juice cooked or baked. I am impressed with you using the whole lemon and freezing the rinds. That is the best way to preserve them. I dried them once, but I ended up discarding it because the flavour changed drastically.
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It was definitely meant to be Eva with those exact measurements! These look really good and I also don’t like wasting things! 🙂
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Thank you kindly Lorraine, it was a rather good coincidence!
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I love chewy crinkles like your lemon cookies! And lemon is a flavor that Bill will actually eat 🙂 And you’ve inspired me to pull out some pretty heels for Mass tonight…maybe even patent!
PS…thanks for your sweet note of condolence, Eva. xo
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Hi Liz, you can’t imaging how big my smile is right now after reading your lovely comment. thank you.
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These sound delicious. I love the tip about freezing the lemon zest. What a great idea.
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Thanks so much for dropping by.
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I usually see hard lemon cookies but I like the idea of soft lemon cookies because it resembles more of that yummy lemon filling you get in a typical lemon pie
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Thanks Jessica, I really like a chewy cookie so these ones really hit the spot.
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Hi Eva, I love how crinkly your cookies are. I know full well just how incredible lemon in cookies is too. I made those three-citrus cookies last year, so I know how insanely good that “zing” is when you bite into them.
By the way, when I made my cookies I simmered the juice to reduce it down and make it more concentrated. The resulting flavour packed a real punch, though perhaps not everyone wants their tastebuds kicked in the face by lemon. Sometimes it’s nice if it’s a little less strong!
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Thank you kindly Charles, reducing the lemon juice for concentrated flavour is very clever, I’ll keep they in mind next time I make these.
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By the way, how much actually are lemons there in winter time? I guess we’re lucky here. You can always get lemons cheaply at any time of year. Even in deepest winter you can get a little net of about 5 lemons for just €1 from the supermarket “budget” fruit and veg section (they have giant sections where all the bags of fruit or veg is €1, so you can get 2 cucumbers, or 5 lemons, or 5 bananas, or about 10 oranges, about 20 apples and so on and so forth, all for just €1 each. Might not be the greatest quality, or the most healthy/ethical in terms of carbon footprint/pesticides but it’s great for those on a budget!
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Hi Charles, lemons can be as expensive as $1.50 each, which is about €1 each! Limes can be expensive too. We can get those budget bags too but no where near as cheap!
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I’m in the process of making limoncello with Meyer lemons and, as a result, have about a tray of Meyer lemon juice ice cubes but no zest. Either I make some lemonade or start googling a zest-free lemon recipe. I once had a recipe for lime cookies and the citrus flavoring was wonderful, I bet the same can be said for your cookies, Eva. They certainly look the part, that roll in the sugar giving them a bit of a crust. Mmmm.
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Hi John, Charles had a great idea to boil down the juice to concentrate the flavour, that way you don’t need the zest! Thank you for your lovely words, as always.
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Desperation often leads to inspiration, doesn’t it? The cookies are lovely regardless of how you came about to make them. I always like to have lemons and limes on hand, just in case. If they start going off … I make lemon/limeade but these cookies are a great idea.
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Thanks Maria, lemonade sounds like a wonderful idea today, maybe with a dash of something naughty in it too!
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Love all the different shots and angles especially the prima donna ;-). I find the taste of lemon in cookies and scones irresistible – the zest works especially well for delivering that flavor so I love that you use a full lemon for that. These chewy cookies look delightful Eva!
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Thanks so much Kelly, I do love a lemony treat as it really mitigates the sweetness that cookies generally have.
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I love these tangy and sweet cookies! They are so beautiful too.
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Thanks so much Angie, the tangier the better, I really find a lemony treat to be lovely.
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I love a chewy cookie and these, well, all I can say is I wish I had one (or more) right now! The internet is a great source for starting points and inspiration for using ingredients. Much faster than the old days of going through so many cookbooks. This recipe looks like a winner!
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Ah yes, I do recall the mountains of cook books around me on the living room floor, and the little bits of paper sticking out where I’ve bookmarked a recipe.
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Delightful cookies! I love most anything with lemons, and these cookies looks wonderful!
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Thanks so much for your comment. Yes, lemon is really high on my list too.
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The internet is a wonderful thing for finding exactly the right recipe for the ingredients that you have on hand. Often use by the glutton household as well. 🙂
btw…I’ll take half dozen of the cookies please (gotta watch my figure ya know).
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Instant information at your fingertips, and often it’s verified, which I also love. You can take as many as you please, you’ll just have to workout twice as hard though!
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Mmmmm….I love chewy cookies…and your lemon version looks scrumptious! I’m going to think of you when I’m wearing my Stuart Wietzman cork shoes today 🙂
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Thank you Liz, that made me smile.
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I adore lemons, hence the logo on my blog, and lemon cookies are irresistible–and they can’t be the slightly lemon version either, that’s just disappointing. I’m pretty sure 4 tablespoons of juice and plenty of zest will get me there, this recipe sounds perfect. 🙂
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Thanks so much Judy, my friend Charles suggested to concentrate the lemon juice by using more and boiling it down; I’m going to try it next time.
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As a lemon lover, I have found lemon extract to be the answer for me to a deeper lemon flavor, but let me know if reducing the juice works too. 🙂
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Beautiful cookies, Eva, and I love chewy cookies! I have regularly dying lemons in my fridge (even organic ones are very cheap here), so I might use this recipe soon.
I find it very annoying that when I look for a recipe I have to make strange search tricks and spend a lot of time to find blogs and not food websites (I prefer blogs of course unless the recipe is exceptional). I don’t like searching through bloggers’ communities because many bloggers don’t belong to them. Anyway, it seems that you have found a real treasure!
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The net is certainly a weird and wonderful place; I really love that one has immediate access to knowledge all over the world. I also love using recipe sites that allow comments (Epicurious is one of my favourites).
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Chewy AND lemon?! Perfect. I’ll be making these for sure! Thanks for sharing…
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Thanks for stopping by and commenting. The lemon cookies are a treat, I hope you love them too.
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I love how you don’t like things to g o to waste and how you look for inspiration on other blogs – I try to do the same. I don’t think I’ve ever had a lemon cookie. These do look and sound very delicious xx
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Thanks Charlie, it comes from my dear Mom, we never threw out food. I really live the flavour of lemon in anything really!
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Fantastic, Eva! I am about to pick my first harvest of pot grown lemons… and I love chewy biscuits!
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Lucky you Lizzy, a lemon tree in the backyard! Years ago we rented a house in Sarasota Florida and we had a grapefruit tree out back; freshly picked grapefruit in the morning is amazing!
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Ha, ha there is nothing worse than those Prima Donna cookies! 🙂 I love that you can search so easily by ingredient nowadays too! Off to Mississauga . . .sigh.
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Thanks Barbie, the net has changed the way I live, in a good way.
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Lovely cookies. I love citrus in baking and chewy biscuits are the best.
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Thanks Genie, lemon is really one of my favourite flavourings.
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Eva, I am in love with these cookies. Lemons abound here. Everyone’s got a tree or two in their back garden. I’m making these!!
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Thank you kindly Maureen, a lemon tree or two in the back yard? You’re kidding me? How cool is that? I would totally love that.
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