It is a rare occasion indeed when I get to baking twice in two weeks. Honestly, though, I just couldn't handle that my holiday cookies hadn't turned out exactly the way I had envisioned them. Not enough lemony flavor and not sandwich cookie enough. When I have a problem to solve and I think I know the solution, my brain just doesn't let me leave it alone. I just have to know whether my solution works. In this case, it leaves my husband with the happy accident of getting more Christmas cookies.
Yes. I did take these cookies up onto my sunny upstairs deck for their photo shoot. Is anyone surprised?
I was much happier with this batch. What did I change? Well, my Mom got me a microplane for Christmas after reading my first cookie post (thanks, Mom!), so zesting those lemons got a lot easier (lemons will have to live in fear of me and my new cooking tool, now!). Second, I got a 5 lb bag of lemons from Costco so that there would be no lemony limiting reagent. Third, I put in twice as much zest into the cookie dough (2 tbsp!) and, finally, I let the dough incubate overnight in the refrigerator. When tasted the next day, all agreed it was much lemonier -- and in a good way.
While out doing a little craft store shopping with my Mom and Z, I picked up the blue, orange and purple sprinkles. I guess they are a bit more Easter-y than Christmas-y, but I like to think of them like shiny glass holiday ornaments. In order to get them to be a bit more like sandwiches than the previous batch, I used less dough per cookie and also flattened them down a bit before baking.
I also added just a skosh more lemon juice to the buttercream frosting for the centers, and that also helped pick up the flavor a notch.
The verdict? Yummy and much more lemony goodness. I made a side by side batch with dried orange zest and discovered that it didn't work anywhere near as well as the lemon zest. Although the orange-y ones turned out to be John's favorite because they were more "buttery" -- which translates to "had less citrus flavor" because both batches were made with an equal amount of butter.
That said, when I suggested he take some into work, his first comment: No way! Do you--
My response: For you, not for your office mates.
Oh, okay. Grin. For me. I don't mind taking them for me. But I'm not sharing*.
So, lemony or buttery, apparently whatever they are, they are too good to share.
*Just to be clear, John is hardly the selfish type, but if he could hoarde any one particular food, it just might be homemade cookies. And it's really hard for the maker of said cookies to get all that upset with him for loving what she makes.
I was much happier with this batch. What did I change? Well, my Mom got me a microplane for Christmas after reading my first cookie post (thanks, Mom!), so zesting those lemons got a lot easier (lemons will have to live in fear of me and my new cooking tool, now!). Second, I got a 5 lb bag of lemons from Costco so that there would be no lemony limiting reagent. Third, I put in twice as much zest into the cookie dough (2 tbsp!) and, finally, I let the dough incubate overnight in the refrigerator. When tasted the next day, all agreed it was much lemonier -- and in a good way.
While out doing a little craft store shopping with my Mom and Z, I picked up the blue, orange and purple sprinkles. I guess they are a bit more Easter-y than Christmas-y, but I like to think of them like shiny glass holiday ornaments. In order to get them to be a bit more like sandwiches than the previous batch, I used less dough per cookie and also flattened them down a bit before baking.
I also added just a skosh more lemon juice to the buttercream frosting for the centers, and that also helped pick up the flavor a notch.
The verdict? Yummy and much more lemony goodness. I made a side by side batch with dried orange zest and discovered that it didn't work anywhere near as well as the lemon zest. Although the orange-y ones turned out to be John's favorite because they were more "buttery" -- which translates to "had less citrus flavor" because both batches were made with an equal amount of butter.
That said, when I suggested he take some into work, his first comment: No way! Do you--
My response: For you, not for your office mates.
Oh, okay. Grin. For me. I don't mind taking them for me. But I'm not sharing*.
So, lemony or buttery, apparently whatever they are, they are too good to share.
*Just to be clear, John is hardly the selfish type, but if he could hoarde any one particular food, it just might be homemade cookies. And it's really hard for the maker of said cookies to get all that upset with him for loving what she makes.
I totally understand re-doing a recipe to "get it right" or "get it better." I love your wild colored lemon cookies! Have you ever had the J-M ones (green/yellow striped bags)? Teensy cookies about the size of junior mints, but packed with flavor... made me wonder if they use straight ascorbic (?) acid!!
One year before Thanksgiving I made about 7 pecan pies to get the flavor "right." Good thing I'm not as picky about roasts as baking... I'd be in the poor house.
Those cookies look and sound terrific! I love super lemony cookies.
I need to get some colored sanding sugar, because I always want to make the cookies a little more festive looking and the shaker just doesn't work to get quite enough coverage.
I actually ended up putting the sugar in a zip top bag and then shaking the balls around until they got coated. Worked really well -- especially since it wasn't critical to me that they maintain a perfectly round shape.
I'm with John on the homemade cookie thing. My daughter made some ginger cookies with fresh ginger (she bought a special ginger grater for them from Beth Bath & Beyond) & I could have eaten all of them - they were that yummy. Amazing what a difference fresh ingredients makes!
Yum! They look beautiful.
I love the idea of lemon cookies. Yours look so cheerful and pretty, too.
Do you think that they would be tasty without the filling? I would like to make some that are just the dough, no filling sandwiched between. You've made and tasted them - what do you think?
Those are the best looking most festive cookies I've seen in a long time, so good they want me to break my diet. If you are having trouble getting rid of them the Wickerpark SnB is meeting tonight at Alliance and we'll be happy to take them off your hands. :)
Kudos to you!