I'm going to say something very anti-American, and probably even anti-Southern: I don't like lemonade. I just don't. It doesn't do anything for me. Nor do I like lemon in my sweet tea... see, I'm not a complete loss as a Southern gal; I do like sweet tea. Just don't put lemon it it or my water glass, and we'll get along just fine. Here's the catch though... I LOVE lemon in baking and cooking. I'm addicted to any lemon cookie or cake imaginable.
Now to switch gears here, I also love watching the baking and cooking shows, and after watching enough of them talk about how they incorporate a challenge ingredient into a recipe they already have, I thought, "I bet I can do that too." So, I did. I used my Sugar Cookies recipe (courtesy of Betty Crocker) and made it unrecognizable, but dang, are they good. I replaced some of the flour with almond meal, which creates a wonderful texture for these cookies. I used lemon zest and thyme in the cookies, which created an amazing flavor. Top that with the texture of sliced almonds in the cookie plus a delicious lemon glaze and sugared lemon zest, and oh my. This really isn't a difficult recipe, and would be a good starter recipe for you.
Cookies
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 lemons (zest and juice, separated)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup almond meal
1 tsp ground thyme
1/2 tsp thyme leaves, plus a little more for decoration
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup diced almond slices, plus a a few more for decorations
Glaze
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar for glaze
1/2 tsp almond extract
In a small bowl combine the flour, almond meal, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and thyme. Whisk gently until mixed.
Chop the almonds until they're the size you want. The cookies are thinner because they're sugar cookies, so you don't want the almonds pieces to be too large.
Zest and juice the lemons. Put a couple of teaspoons in a separate bowl with a pinch of sugar - start with a couple teaspoons. "Fluff" the sugar and zest together to coat it. Keep adding sugar to this during the making and baking of the cookies until the zest is crystalized and drier and doesn't look like it will take any more sugar.
In your stand mixer add the butter, powdered sugar, egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest and about a teaspoon of lemon juice.
With the paddle attachment, combine ingredients until smooth. Fold in dry ingredients.
Mix in almonds until spread throughout evenly.
Wrap dough in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for three hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle flour lightly on your surface, and then roll out dough to 3/16" thickness. Cut to desired shapes - I used a round with scalloped edges.
Bake cookies 7-8 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Rest cookies for at least 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack until they are cool and set firm.
Create glaze by combining powdered sugar, almond extract and enough lemon juice to reach a nice thick glaze. You want the glaze thick enough to adhere to the cookie without running off too much. Dip each cookie into the glaze and then let it rest on a piece of parchment.
I set up an assembly line of dried thyme leaves, sugared lemon zest, almonds, and I added a little crystal sugar decoration to give a little extra crunch and shine to the cookies. Sprinkle on just a few thyme leaves, as much sugared lemon zest as you prefer, and a design with the almonds to your liking.
Allow cookies to rest on parchment until dry and hardened before putting in a container. But enjoy one or two as soon as possible because these are amazing!
If you give this recipe a chance, please let me know how it worked for you!
