Many months ago, I wanted to bake chewy sugar cookies but all of the recipes I had required chilling the dough for some obscenely long period of time. I wanted cookies then…not 12 plus hours in the future.

After a little perusing of Food Blog Search, I found a recipe that didn’t require chilling and yielded chewy cookies. Bingo! The recipe can be found on the Fallen Souffle blog. I’m not sure of its original source as she didn’t list it in her post.

These are perfect. They’re quick and easy. I honestly had the first sheet of them out of the oven in about 20 minutes with the assistance of my Kitchenaid stand mixer. If you need something sweet and homemade in a hurry, these will do the trick. They certainly worked for me last Friday night when we were out of dessert and desperate for a quick sugar fix.

I’ve made these cookies at least 7 or 8 times now in various different ways. It’s really easy to add different flavors to the dough. I’ve made them plain and rolled in sugar. I’ve made a triple ginger variety with fresh, powdered and crystallized ginger. I’ve also added almond extract and crushed almonds. The favorite in our house are the lemon ones pictured today. They have lemon extract and dried lemon peel from Penzeys in them.

Side note: I’m kind of obsessed with Penzeys and I’m really obsessed with this dried lemon peel. If you don’t know what Penzeys is, you should. And if you are in the know about Penzeys, buy some dried lemon peel. You might love it as much as I do.

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies

Recipe from the Fallen Souffle blog

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract (depending on how lemony you want them to be!)
• 1 tablespoon dried lemon peel
• 1/2 cup sugar for rolling cookies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon peel.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

One more thing: If you don’t already do this, store your cookies in a conainer with some pieces of bread. Any mildly flavored bread will do. The cookies will suck the moisture out of the bread. The cookies will be soft. And wonderful. I only learned this trick a year or two ago and I now swear by it. If you want soft cookies, you must use the bread.

Tweet This Post 

I’ve blended summer blueberries with winter Meyer lemons to make these lemon cupcakes with blueberry buttercream frosting.

I missed Meyer lemon season last winter and was determined not to miss it this year. It seems that nearly everyone in the blogging world raves about them, so I figured I should give them a go. I noticed that they were in season when I saw them at Dean & Deluca on a recent visit to Georgetown but I didn’t feel like dragging a bunch of lemons around all day. Fortunately my local Trader Joe’s had them in stock when I got home.

These cupcakes are the first and only thing I’ve made with them so far so the jury is still out on whether I like/love them or not. Lots of people seem to love them because they’re not as tart as regular lemons. I’ve no issues with the tartness of regular lemons so that’s not going to make me love the Meyer lemons. I was advised to try them with agave nectar in a batch of margaritas. That might be when I decide whether I love them or not.

For these cupcakes, you can skip the Meyers altogether and use regular lemons. I would have done so if the Meyer lemons weren’t already in the house. For the blueberry buttercream frosting, I added blueberry jam to a batch of regular buttercream frosting. I made the jam last summer with blueberries I picked. You could use store bought blueberry jam.

If you already have a favorite golden cupcake recipe, use it. Just add lemon juice and lemon zest.

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes

Very slightly adapted from the “Golden Vanilla Cupcakes” recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Makes 12 regular or 24 mini cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• juice of 2 Meyer lemons (or 2 medium regular lemons)
• 1 tablespoon Meyer lemon zest (or regular lemon zest)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside a few minutes to curdle.
3. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. In a separate large bowl, cream margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes at medium speed with a handheld mixer. Beat in the vanilla, lemon juice & lemon zest.
5. Alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and dry ingredients. Stop to scrape the side of the bowl a few times.
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes until done. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Blueberry Buttercream Frosting

Adapted (and no longer vegan) from the “Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting” recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup blueberry jam

Directions

1. Beat shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy.
2. Add the sugar and beat for 3 more minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and milk, beat for another 5-7 minutes until fluffy.
4. Add blueberry jam and beat until well combined.
5. Pipe or spoon onto cupcakes.

Tweet This Post