Glazed Lemon Cookies

I love the flavor of citrus, lemon, lime, and orange.  This will not come as breaking news to those of you who know me personally or have been reading my blog for any length of time.  This recipe is one I found on Pinterest.  How many of you are hooked on Pinterest?  I wouldn’t say I’m hooked but it certainly is a handy place to store recipes and well you know;  just about anything of interest to each of us.  For me it’s been a great tool for planning a wedding with LuLu, my oldest who lives several hours away from me.  October is less than 6 months away now and I’m so happy to have our secret boards for communicating about wedding plans.

In the midst of planning a wedding, preparing my bee hives for spring, managing the gourmet kitchen store, and teaching yoga classes I still most enjoy getting my hands dirty in the kitchen.  I’m beyond buying packaged, processed cookies at the store.  If I want cookies I must want them bad enough to bake them.  Such was the case recently.  I’ll share this recipe taken directly from kitchen maven, Martha Stewart.

I’m happy to report my bee hives are all busy. Workers coming and going in droves, sometimes there truly is a traffic jam at the entrance to the hives.  Queens are busy laying eggs to make more workers.  This time of year my hives can reach 60 to 80,000 bees.  It’s hard to imagine those numbers but the more bees the more successful the hive.  I’ll be adding on extra stories or supers to the hives in the next week or so to be sure they have plenty of room for brood and honey.  This begins the busiest time of year for a beekeeper and her bees.  I visited this Bluebonnet patch at a neighbor’s yard yesterday and noticed a sweet smell and a buzz coming from the patch of purple and blue flowers.  My bees were having a heyday in those wildflowers and surely with the sweet smell it will make some fragrant and delicious honey.

I know the photo of the bee is not the clearest photo I’ve ever posted but between the bee flitting from blossom to blossom and the fierce wind blowing – total focus was impossible.

Enjoy!

Glazed Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled0 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat until combined. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture.

2. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto two baking sheets. Bake until edges are golden, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool 2 minutes on sheets, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Spread cookies with Lemon Glaze and let set, about 1 hour.Lemon Glaze2 cups confectioners’ sugar2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest1/3 cup fresh lemon juiceDirectionsIn a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest, and 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice until smooth.