FROSTED LEMON COOKIES

Tomorrow is our neighborhood's annual July 3 picnic. We each bring what we're grilling plus a side dish or dessert to share. I'm bringing pasta salad and 4 different kinds of cookies. I've already made a peanut butter cookie and a chocolate chip cookie and I still have some Berger cookies in the freezer. The July issue of Southern Living had a Frosted Sugar-'n'-Spice Cookies recipe that caught my eye. Perfect, I thought....until I priced the red and blue sprinkles. No way, not with my new conservationist mode of baking/shopping.
So I improvised. I didn't rush out and buy the 5-sided star cookie cutter; instead I used my 6-sided star cutter. It was smaller, but did the job. Instead of making a spice cookie, I made a lemon cookie; instead of plain white frosting, I made lemon cream cheese frosting. I used up more of the self-rising flour and more of the box of True Lemon. These cookies are soft and cakey and very good. I ate two and wanted more. The brown sugar works well with the lemon. Even though they're not red, white and blue, I think these cookies will be a hit.

Frosted Lemon Cookies, adapted from Southern Living's Frosted Sugar-'n'-Spice Cookies, 1/2 recipe
Rating: 8 out of 10
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 packets True Lemon (or 2 tsp. lemon juice)
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used 1-1/2 oz. fat-free + 1-1/2 oz. Neufchatell)
1/4 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. orange zest
2 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sift together first 4 ingredients in a bowl. In a medium-large bowl, whisk butter, cream cheese and sugars by hand till very smooth. (You can use electric mixer if you prefer; I just think it's easier to do cookies by hand.) Add egg yolk, zests and vanilla and whisk again till very smooth. Stir in flour mixture with spatula, mixing till just combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F. Place dough on floured surface; roll to 1/4" thickness; cut with cookie cutter of choice. Place 1" apart on ungreased, parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or till cookies are set and just beginning to brown around edges. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely before frosting. Yield: 26 cookies

Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting
INGREDIENTS:
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp. cream cheese, softened (I used half fat-free, half Neufchatel
good pinch of sea salt
2 packets True Lemon (or 2 tsp. lemon juice)
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1-1/2 cups 10X sugar (confectioner's)
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 Tbsp. fat-free half and half (or more if needed to make a spreading consistency)

In small bowl, with electric mixer, whip butter, cream cheese, salt, True Lemon, lemon zest and 1/2 cup of 10X sugar on low speed till combined; then whip at medium speed till smooth and fluffy. Gradually add remaining 10X sugar, vanilla and half and half. Add more half and half, if needed, to make a frosting of spreading consistency. (I only used 1/2 Tbsp.)

When cookies are cool, spread a thin layer of frosting over the tops. Sprinkle with crushed nuts or sprinkles of choice. (If freezing: Air dry on racks for 1 hour before layering them in a container for the freezer. The frosting will harden just enough that you will be able to layer them.)

LITTLE LEMON HEARTS

These are interesting little cookies. The recipe is from McCall's Cookie Collection, 1965. There is no picture, and the recipe is not annotated in any way, so I was left on my own to figure out a puzzling recipe. First of all, there is very little flour in this recipe, and I am wondering if the amount listed is an error, because there was no way I could get a workable dough with the amounts given. When I got to the point of rolling out the dough, I found I had two options: first, throw the dough out and forget the cookies; or second, rework the dough adding more flour. If I had chosen option 1, I would have lost all the ingredients; choosing option two seemed a better idea since the only thing I would lose is time if the cookies didn't turn out. I thought the cookies would be tough from being reworked, but they weren't. There is no fat in these cookies, so they're not a tender butter cookie. Instead they are a crispy nut cookie with a wonderful lemon flavor. I opted not to glaze them with the lemon glaze. Instead I rolled them in 10X sugar. They're a nice little bite-sized lemon nut cookie that will blend nicely on my Christmas cookie tray. I am printing the recipe as it appears in the cookbook, with my notes. The yield will depend entirely on how large your cookie cutter is and how thin you roll the dough.

Lemon Hearts
INGREDIENTS: 1-1/2 cups toasted ground pecans or hazlenuts (I used pecans)
1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour (I used at least 2/3 cup, maybe more)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. grated lemon peel
3 egg yolks (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Glaze: 1 cup sifted 10X sugar
1-1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2-3 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

DIRECTIONS: In work bowl of food processor, pulse the toasted nuts until they are finely ground. Do not overprocess or they will turn to nut butter. Add the flour, baking powder and lemon peel and pulse till combined. Set aside.

In medium mixing bowl at high speed, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add 2/3 cup sugar, beating until mixture is smooth and well blended, about 5 minutes. At low speed, add lemon juice, beating just till combined. With wooden spoon or spatula, stir in nut mixture; mix to combine well. Refrigerate, covered, overnight.

Next day, preheat oven to 325 F. Generously grease and flour cookie sheets. (I lined with parchment paper, no greasing or flouring needed.) On lightly sugared surface, roll out dough 1/4 inch thick. (I used flour instead of sugar. If dough is too sticky, add more flour and work it in until you are able to roll it out without the dough sticking to the bottom.) With 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes, or just til cookies are puffed and set. (10-12 minutes is a better guide. By 12 minutes, my cookies were overbaked.) Meanwhile, make glaze: In small bowl, combine sugar, lemon juice and food coloring; stir til smooth. Remove cookies to wire rack; cool partially. Spread tops of warm cookies with glaze. Decorate, if desired, with cinnamon candies; cool completely. (I did not use the glaze; instead I rolled the cookies in 10 X sugar.) Makes about 4-1/2 dozen.