Lemon zest, that is. Made Buttermilk Cookies with Lemon Zest yesterday and fiddled with the recipe just a tad, as I usually do with instructions for ANYTHING...pull here, push there, it's all just guidelines to me...anyway...these cookies rock:
For the cookies:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. (3 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
For the glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tbsp. well-shaken buttermilk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, zest, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl if you use a hand held mixer, beat the butter briefly until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well to mix. Add the vanilla and beat briefly again. Mix in the flour mixture and the buttermilk in batches at low speed, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. The dough should end up smooth and pale yellow. Drop the dough by level tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets leaving about 1 1/2 inches between each cookie. Bake one sheet at a time until the cookies are puffed and the edges are golden, about 11 to 15 minutes per batch. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for about a minute, then transer them to a wire rack. To prepare the glaze, whisk together the sifted confectioners sugar, buttermilk and vanilla. The mixture needs to be very smooth with no lumps. Brush or spoon the glaze onto the warm cookies.
My version...I made the cookies as the recipe says, although I made mine bigger than what the recipe says. For the glaze I used confectioners sugar and lemon juice. Since I had to skin a poor lemon anyway for the zest for the cookies, I just went ahead and squeezed the juice for the glaze. I love lemons and lemon flavored cookies are the cat's ass on a hot summer day. If you can't eat them all in a day or so, the cookies can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container. Yum.
