You guys know of our dear friends, Paul & T, they summer in Wisconsin and winter in Arizona. This year, they decided to sell their Wisconsin home and move permanently to Arizona. They were kind enough to invite us to the Lake House one last time. Because they are imminently selling their home in Wisconsin, we were not able to bring lasting gifts because their trip home to Arizona will be packed solid with whatever they move from their home in Wisconsin. Food is always a good bet with them, so I’ve been experimenting with recipes and this one, I must say is a winner. Don’t skip the drizzle, it just makes it OTT lemony. You have to love lemons to make this tasty treat, or at least, have someone that does. It probably works with lime too, although I haven’t tried it.
I used this recipe as my starting point, I just loved how they looked, with the drizzle and all. Plus, it sounded like they were really lemony, but I wanted to up the ante so I also added a splash of lemon extract as well as lemon zest to the cookie dough. BANG!
Lemony Shortbread Cookies
Makes 54 cookies, about 3 cm x 3 cm
For the original recipe, kindly click here.
To print this recipe, please click here.
Ingredients:
- 227 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 86 g powdered sugar
- 5 mL vanilla extract
- 5 mL lemon extract
- 5 g lemon zest
- 240 g AP unbleached flour
- 56 g cornstarch
- 2.5 mL salt
Ingredients for the drizzle:
- 80 g confectioner’s sugar
- 15 mL fresh lemon juice
- 5 mL lemon zest
- water (to thin, if needed)
Directions:
- Combine the butter and confectioner’s sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, lemon extracts and lemon zest.
- Sift the flour, cornstarch and salt into the butter and mix until a smooth dough is formed. It will take about 1.5-2 minutes.
- Between two pieces of parchment, roll out the dough to a 33 cm x 23 cm rectangle and cut into little squares (I did 3 cm x 3 cm), refrigerate cookies on the cookie sheet for 30 minutes. They don’t spread much, so you needn’t leave more than 1 cm between each cookie.
- Preheat the oven to 325° F. Bake for 15-20 minutes, you don’t want them too golden because these are pretty if pale white.
- For the drizzle, mix the confectioner’s sugar, lemon juice and zest in a food processor and process until smooth and drizzle-able. If necessary, add water.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely before drizzling with the lemony mixture.
- Allow the drizzle to set at room temperature before stacking the cookies.
Notes:
- I baked these on a super hot day, not sure why my version took so much longer than the original recipe.
- I found the original drizzle recipe made way too much drizzle, it has a good lemon flavour and is intended to enhance the shortbread, not overwhelm it so I reduced the quantities by half.
Your friends are really lucky, Eva! Whenever I read about the edible gifts you bring with you, I think how much I’d love to live closer!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love taking my edible gifts because they truly come from my heart and the root of my love of feeding people! I wish we lived closer too, in fact your little city in Switzerland would be perfect😉!
LikeLike
Mention lemony and you know I’m going to it them. Like the idea of the drizzle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Karen, they are definitely delicious.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Two of my favorite things… would love to give these a try over the holidays (I’ve only made shortbread once outside of December and given my capacity to devour these delicious morsels, that’s decidedly a good thing, hah!). I use cornstarch too – (my usual combo is shortbread/toblerone – seriously wicked stuff 😉 my family will be thrilled with the switch-up, we are all lemon fans. Happy Thanksgiving weekend, Eva.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As I recall, you have a prolific lemon tree in your backyard, home grown lemons would be awesome in this recipe. I don’t make shortbread much either but will again for our dear friends in Arizona.
LikeLike
Lemon is one of my favorite flavors, so this is for me. I attend a cookie exchange over the holidays. I’ll have to keep this in mind for that. The recipe interests me for several reasons: I’ve never used powdered sugar in a shortbread. Curious to see how that affects the texture. I have a feeling that I’ll like the shot of extract. I often sub cornstarch for some of the flour in a pie crust, so why haven’t I thought to do so in a shortbread?!? And then there’s the drizzle. I eat lemon pound cake primarily for the drizzle, so I get this. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jeff, would love to get your feedback if you try them. I’m going to make a batch in November for Arizona.
LikeLike
Drizzleable, I love it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes food requires a new word😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
These cookies look like they have a nice crumb too… GREG
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Greg, they are melt in your mouth delicious!
LikeLike
I’d LOVE this! Anything lemon has my name on it. And I adore shortbread — lovely texture and flavor. Outstanding recipe — thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks John, definitely a delicious cookie!
LikeLike
These would be great for the holidays! I love any kind of lemony sweet, so they would be heaven for me…
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are OTT lemony, so delicious. You could try using coconut oil for the fat, not sure how that would work though. Or perhaps vegetable shortening but it might change the flavour, shortbread is about the butter.
LikeLike
I just came home with four 1 pound packages of unsalted butter. Hmmmmmm…. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a shortbread recipe day! Thanks for your comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
These would be perfect for the holidays! They are both beautiful and yummy!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much Liz, they are the perfect finish to a dinner.
LikeLike
Sweet tangy buttery…my mouth is watering.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The perfect combination, thanks Angie.
LikeLike
I adore shortbread! I am literally eating some now but they’re not lemon but pistachio and Turkish delight dipped in white chocolate. I’ll have to give these a go.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Lorraine, I know you’ll love the tartness of these beauties.
LikeLike