When life gives you lemons… bake lemon cookies!

These cookies are delicate, delicious, and ready in just a few minutes. You just need a spoon and a few simple ingredients: lemon zest and juice, flour, sugar, 1 egg, and a bit of butter or oil. Shape the dough into small balls, roll them in powdered sugar, and they’re ready for the oven!

Preparation Time

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 14 minutes

Total time: 19 minutes

Ingredients for 16 cookies

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (8.1 oz, 230 g)

⅓ cup brown or regular cane sugar (2.8 oz, 80 g)

Zest of 2 small organic lemons

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (1 oz, 30 g)

5 tablespoons butter (2.5 oz, 70 g butter)

1 egg

1 tea spoon baking powder

A pinch of salt

Powdered sugar (as needed)

Light brown or regular cane sugar (as needed)

Method

In a bowl, use a spoon to mix the brown sugar with the grated lemon zest, butter, egg, and lemon juice.

Incorporate the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the wet mixture. Stir until a soft, well-combined dough forms (this takes just a few seconds).

Shape the dough. The dough will be very soft.

Form small balls of approximately 1 oz (30 g); you can lightly flour your hands if needed to prevent sticking.

To coat the cookies, fill one small bowl with granulated sugar and another with powdered sugar. Roll each ball first in the granulated or brown sugar, then in the powdered sugar.

To bake, preheat the oven at 350°F (180°C). Then, arrange the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; make sure to leave space between them.

Bake at 350°F (180°C) for about 14 minutes. The cookies should remain soft, so make sure they do not bake too long, or become too dark in color.

Remove from the oven, allow the cookies to cool, sparkle with additional powdered sugar as you like, and enjoy.

Notes

I prefer using brown sugar, but you can use also white sugar.

Store in an airtight tin for up to one week.

You can replace the butter 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon peanut oil or olive oil (1.7 oz, 50 ml)

You can substitute the lemon juice with 2 tablespoons (1 oz) of orange juice and the lemon zest with the zest of 1 orange. You can also use a mix of lemon and orange.

Because the dough is very soft, lightly flour your hands to make shaping the balls easier.