Frosted lemon sugar cookies

Changing things up with a non chocolate treat today – lemon sugar cookies with lemon frosting.   And I stepped it up by using lemon juice from actual lemons, as opposed to bottled lemon juice.

Remember to scoop your flour and powdered sugar from their respective bags into your measuring cups so you get the right amount. I also recommend chilling the individual doughs to keep them from spreading too much.  And, preheat your oven before baking.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 plus 2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tbs sugar
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp water
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbs lemon zest
  • 1 egg
  • 2 3/4 cups flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Direction – in a bowl, cream butter, vegetable oil, sugar, and powdered sugar.   blend in  lemon juice, zest and eggs.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Scoop out 1/4 cups dough.  Spray the bottom of a drinking glass with pam and gently flatten cookies (not too flat).  Sprinkle with sugar.  

Chill a few hours. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Kine a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger cookies on sheet.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes, no longer.  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 2 tbs butter, melted
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • The juice of one lemon, squeezed

Combine ingredients.  Frost cookies. 

Store in covered container in fridge.

Frosted lemon cookies

Another lemon flavored treat for work today – lemon cookies with lemon frosting.  I actually used fresh squeezed lemon in the cookie. But opted for bottled juice for the frosting  (I needed to save some time).

I recommend chilling the dough for a few hours.   Also scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  (Do the same for the powdered sugar). And,  preheat your oven.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbs lemon juice (fresh or bottle)
  • 1 tbs lemon zest (not a fun thing to do, honestly)
  • 1 tsp lemon extract (opt)
  • 3.4 Oz package instant lemon pudding
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/2  tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Add eggs, zest, lemon juice and extract.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough.  Chill a few hours.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger cookies on sheet.  Bake 12 to 13 minutes (no longer).   Cookies will be gushy.  Pop in fridge for a bit to firm up.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tbs lemon juice

Directions – in a bowl, combine ingredients.  Frost cooled cookies.  Store in covered container

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Lemon squares

A request for these were from a friend from work- lemon squares.  They were super easy to make and are topped with a lemon frosting.  

I used fresh lemon juice and lemon zest.  You can use bottled lemon juice if you prefer.  Honestly, zesting a lemon seems like unnecessary work!

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  Also preheat the oven before baking.. and, take these out after 16 or 17 minutes, even if they don’t look completely done.

  • Bars ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled for 10 minutes
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp lemon zest (opt)
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line and 8×8 pan with parchment paper.  Set aside.   In a bowl, combine butter, sugar and powdered sugar.  Add eggs, juice and zest.  Blend in flour and salt.  Spread evenly into tapered pants.  Bake 16 to 17 minutes, no longer.  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs lemon juice

Directions – combine and evenly spread over bars.  

Let frosting set before cutting.  Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Smushed lemon cookies

These might be a bit too puffy.

I present smushed lemon cookies. Instead of rolling them out and cutting them with cookie cutters, I scooped out 1/4 cups of dough (XL cookies, of course), and smushed them with the palm of my hand. (I am a 4 year old, I know) Then, I sprinkled them with sugar. A note, these don’t spread too much so you can make them as flat as you want. Quick notes – scoop your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup to get the right amount and preheat your oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes to get the correct temperature. Also, I got a late start on baking and frosted the cookies while they were still warm. If you think the frosting might be too lemony, use 1 tbs lemon juice and 1 tbs water.

  • Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup Crisco (you can also substitute butter, softened to room temp)
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tbs water
  • 1 tsp lemin extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 2 3/4 cups flour

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes., in a bowl, blend crisco, oil, sugar and powdered sugar. Add water, lemon extract and egg. Blend in remaining ingredients. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough. On a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners, stagger mounds of dough. Flatten to desired thickness with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle with sugar., bake 13 to 17 minutes (bottoms of cookies will be lightly golden). Cool.

Frosting – combine 2 cups powdered sugar and 2 tbs lemon juice. Frost cookies. Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to be kind. We all are fighting some sort of battle.

Frosted Lemon Bars (made with a cake mix)

Frosted lemon bars

Today’s recipe is a change from my usual chocolate overload. Lemon bars. They are for our friend Marc, celebrating his birthday. They use a lemon cake mix and only a few other ingredients. You can use another flavor cake mix. if you want. If you do, use vanilla extract instead of lemon. I also opted for lemon frosting on top of the lemon bars. Again, if you opt for another flavor bar, vanilla frosting would be fine. Quick reminder to preheat your oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking So the oven is the right temp. If you think 2 tbs lemon juice in the frosting might be too tart, start with 1 and add 1 tbs water.

  • Lemon bar ingredients
  • 1 lemon cake mix
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup oil

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 min. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper and spray with baking spray. In a bowl, blend cake mix, eggs, lemon juice and oil. Spread evenly into pan. Bake 15 to 17 min (do not overbake). Cool completely.

Frosting – combine 2 cups powdered sugar amd 2 tbs lemon juice. (Add water, a tsp at a time,if you want to thin it out a bit.). Add yellow food coloring (optional). Frost bars. Store in covered container.

Have a good day and remember to be kind. We are all battling something each day.