Lemon Sugar Cookies

Sunday night came too fast this weekend. I could use a few more hours in the day today. The weather forecast this weekend wasn’t looking like a beach weekend, so I decided to stick around the city and check a bunch of things off of my “to-do” list instead of going down to the Cape. I won’t lie. Being in sweatpants after a nice dinner Friday night instead of battling traffic was a nice change of pace this weekend, but I feel like I haven’t sat down since I got up Saturday morning. Obviously I made a trip to Home Depot for some new flowers for the front of the house and a dehumidifier for the basement. I started browsing the aisles and decided I needed to find my next homeowner project soon, which I am thinking might be a backsplash for the kitchen.

Anyway, I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired for any type of cookie today. After perhaps one too many vodka sodas last night and some of my best dance moves I knew the theme for today’s cookie had to be simple. And refreshing. So I figure it’s summer and my fruit-inspired cookies have been a hit lately, so I decided to experiment with some lemons. I saw this recipe on one of my favorite blogs TwoPeasAndTheirPod.com and decided to give it a try.

Ingredients:

• Zest of 2 large lemons
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling cookies

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Add in egg and vanilla and mix until well incorporated. Zest two large lemons and add the zest into the batter along with 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice – that was about the juice of one and a half lemons for me.

Step 2: In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add into the wet batter and mix until incorporated.

Step 3: Using a cookie scoop, roll even-size balls of dough in granulated sugar and press down lightly onto a sil-pat or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

These were perfect. Thin, soft, chewy with a very refreshing zesty lemon flavor that was not overpowering. This manicure is also a sham. Only two nails were painted. I tried to get a manicure today but got impatient.

I might try a version of these in the coming weeks with a combination of lemon and lime or maybe orange zest. Sugar cookies are one of my favorites so I think there’s a lot I could do with this base recipe.

This week felt like a long one. I went on what I would classify one of the worst dates ever Wednesday night and ended up writing a long debrief email to send to my friends and select favorite coworkers Thursday morning so that I wouldn’t forget to mention all of the awkward moments when retelling it in person. It got quite the reaction from my friends, who keep telling me I need to start a separate blog to document these horrible dates. I could only understand every third word this guy said because his Boston accent was wicked thick and he talked about himself the entire time. The date debrief email included some clipart of Mark Whalberg and Ben Stiller to really paint a picture of the evening. Maybe I will start that blog, though that makes me think I will be doomed for years of horrible dates. Where are all the financially, emotionally-stable men between 28-33 who are employed, don’t live in their parents basements and love cookies?

I will tell you one thing that I don’t really enjoy — furniture shopping. It’s kind of overwhelming if you go by yourself especially because the sales clerks are pretty pushy. And if you’re going to invest in something important like a couch that you’re going to sit on every day, it’s going to take some time to make that decision. And if you had too many vodka sodas the night before, you would appreciate if the sales clerks just let you sink into every couch and not disturb you. I’ve narrowed it down to the sofa and love seat, I just need to go back another day to pick out the fabric because I think a white couch would last all of 5 minutes before I spilt diet coke all over it.

I had a nice sunset walk tonight catching up with my friend Ashley and got this cool view of the city tonight. That’s all for tonight everybody. Big softball games tomorrow night!