Monday 24 May 2010

LEMON - POPPY SEED COOKIES

Lemon-poppy seed cookies!!!

I love these cookies! Why? Because I have a hard time resisting the taste of lemons. I love lemon everything. I add lemon juice to soup, to salad, to water, to desserts ...  


Dear Lemon, You Have A   Heavenly Flavour! 

Case in point: here's a wonderful, luscious lemon-poppy seed cookie recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart. 

These cookies are LEMONY!!! 
And they're also crunchy and delicate, with just the right amount of sweetness. 

They're some of the best cookies I've tasted. And the lemon butter gives these guys an extra special taste.


Lyndsey's version of lemon poppy seed cookies



Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (2 to 3 lemons)
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon poppy seeds, plus more for sprinkling


Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 375° F/190°C.
  • Make lemon butter: bring the lemon juice to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook until reduced by half. Add 1 stick butter and stir until melted.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  • Cream the remaining stick of butter with 1 cup of sugar on medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
  • Add the egg and the lemon butter. Mix until pale, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the vanilla and 2 teaspoons of the lemon zest, and mix.
  • Add the flour mixture and the poppy seeds and mix, to finish making the cookie dough.
  • Make a sugar mixture by stirring together the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the rest of the lemon zest.
  • Roll spoonfuls of cookie dough into 1 1/2-inch balls; roll them in the sugar mixture.  (This step will add a lot of sweetness to the cookies so you might want to give them just a light coating of sugar mixture. You should have some sugar mixture left when you are finished).
  • Place the dough 2 inches apart on baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray. Press each piece of dough with the flat end of a glass dipped in the sugar mixture until they are all 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle the cookies with poppy seeds.
  • Bake until just browned around the edges, 10 to 11 minutes. 
  • Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.
  • Makes about 30 cookies. (Mine came out to 37, could have easily made 40).


Loved them, loved them, loved them!!!

 Irresistible!