Sunday, April 15, 2012

Lemon Poppy-Seed Cookies


Lemon Poppy-Seed Cookies

I'm not the biggest fan of cookies in general but these are addicting. They are light, fluffy and have a kick of citrus from the lemons. Although they almost taste healthy, they're not! Don't let the airy, fruity feel fool you; I've let my inner Paula Deen out with this one. :)

My biggest tip with this recipe is to try out your own ideas. I personally like mine cooked a little longer (12-15 minutes) so that they get more crispy and my wife likes them pulled out after 8-10 minutes so they're still chewy and gooey.

Ingredients:

Wet:
3-4 Lemons, Zested and Juiced
6 Ounces (1.5 sticks) Unsalted (very important) Butter
1 Egg
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Dry:
2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoons Salt
1 3/4 Cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Poppy Seeds

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 375ยบ. This is one of the most important part of baking! Do Not skip this step!! If you do, you will have to watch your baking like a hawk. When preparing to bake, always preheat your oven or your timing will be off and that 4-8 minutes that it takes your oven to preheat can ruin your recipe.

NOTE: I've been told that if you let your cookies sit (covered) in the fridge for a couple of hours that they bake better but I haven't had a chance to test with this recipe yet; feel free to let me know if you do!

2.) If you haven't already, zest and juice your lemons (in that order). I suppose you could use bottled lemon juice and skip the zest but then your cookies would be awful and you will probably write a nasty comment on my blog so lets just assume that you're following my suggestions to the tee, ya?

3.) Bring 1/4 cup lemon juice to a simmer over a medium heat for a few minutes until it reduces by about half. The longer you reduce the lemon juice the stronger flavor you get but the less liquid which equals dryer (but more tart) cookies. Add 3/4 stick (3 ounces) of butter, stir until melted.

4.) In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt; set it aside.

5.) Cream the remaining 3/4 stick (3 ounces) of butter with 1 cup of the sugar (I use the paddle attachment of my Kitchen Aid on medium speed). Add the egg and the lemon butter that you had simmering. Mix for about 3 minutes; it should be a pale yellow/white and very smooth.

6.) Next add in the vanilla extract and 2-3 teaspoons (I prefer more) lemon zest. Once the wet ingredients are all together you are going to add the flour mixture and a tablespoon of poppy seeds.

7.) In a separate bowl, stir together the remaining sugar, poppy seeds and zest (there should be about 4 teaspoons, feel free to use less if you want it to have less pop).

8.) Roll the dough into balls (roughly 1 1/2-inch) and roll them in the sugar mixture. Place them about 2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheets (I used Pam). Press the balls down lightly with the bottom of a glass or fork and sprinkle with a few more poppy seeds to make them prettier.

9.) Bake until the edges just start to brown (this is where I leave them in for another couple of minutes if my wife isn't going to be eating them) then transfer them to wire racks to cool.

10.) Enjoy and share! Cookies are awesome when you have them all to yourself but I think they are just a little bit better when someone asks you for the recipe :)




No comments:

Post a Comment