Lemonade Cookies

1) I LOVE decorating cookies 2) My camera is crummy, please forgive me 3) I think I found the perfect summer cookie, and I want to share!

Lemonade Cookies. 

Yes, they are as amazing as they sound! The cookie is a lemon-poppy seed shortbread cookie from http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com  and I used a lemon glaze icing for most of the cookies, and the rest I topped with a sugar-lemon peel mix. These are light with just the right amount of crisp, and even with the sweeter more lemonier (is that even a word?) glaze on top are still just right!

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SweetSugarBelle's Lemon Poppy Seed Cut-Outs

 *Preheat oven to 400° *

1c unsalted butter

1 ½ c confectioner's sugar

1 egg

2 tsp lemon baker’s emulsion (I LOVE baker's emulsion)

1 tsp vanilla

2 ¾-3 c all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

2 tsp poppy seeds

Cream together butter and confectioner's sugar.  Add to this the egg and flavorings.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, adding this mixture one cupful at a time to the wet ingredients.  Mix until the dough forms a ball on the paddle.  Roll out on floured parchment paper and cut into desired shapes.  Bake at 400° for 7-8 minutes.

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So this is what your dough should look like before you 

roll it out, and yes, it will still be very soft dough

Roll it out thin, but not too thin or they'll  get too cripsy

Be careful not too over bake or they'll be reeeally crispy. See the browned edges on the next picture? Those are a little too done.

Like I said, you can bake them with a little sugar and lemon peel on top, and they are just addictive! I've eaten about six of them so far!

But, if you want to play the game like me, you can ice them up all pretty :)

So I've tried using royal icing, and it is not good. But I switched to using a glaze and I love it. A lot. It tastes great, and you still have plenty of creative freedom! 

Because these are lemonade cookies, I tweaked my glaze recipe to give it a little POP!

Glaze Icing

1/4 cup corn syrup

1 lb powdered sugar

1/4 cup water *

flavorings and colors

*For the POP! I mentioned, fill your 1/4 cup measuring cup half full with lemon juice, and then fill the rest with water. Perfect!

(Also, that baker's emulsion in the recipe above? Yes, it pretty much is just a fancy flavoring. All it is is a flavoring with no alcohol, so that the flavor stays strong even through baking, which tends to dull flavors. It's used exactly the same way and in the same amounts as you would regular extracts. Find some here: http://www.karenscookies.net/Flavorings-and-Extracts_c_93.html )

Anyhow. When it comes to decorating with a glaze, it's important not to get it too thin or it'll run right off the cookies, and not to thick or your hand will cramp real quick. So follow the 10 second rule (stick your finger in, make a peak, and it should smooth out in 10 seconds,) and use the same icing for the detail and flooding.

I promise, the yellow isn't mustard yellow

Don't flood right to the edge or it will definitely spill right over.

Just add what you think is enough and then spread it around gently.  

I like the squeeze bottles for lining and flooding- they're way easier to clean! So line the cookie, let it sit maybe 25 seconds and flood immediately so you have a nice smooth surface. I use the tip of the squeeze bottle to move the icing around so that if I do need more icing, it's there in my hand already. Toothpicks are a great option too, for both moving around the flood icing, and popping bubbles. 

One more great reason to use (or convert to) glaze is that it is SO much more forgiving than RI is! For instance. I waited a little too long to add some details and they started to dry all raised and not smooth and pretty like I wanted. My quick fix is to turn your oven on to the lowest temperature it's got (mine is "warm") and set your cookies in there just until they smooth out. Or you'll end up with this:

See how it lost it's shine? 

Instead of this:

Definitely shiny.

I don't know what you think, but these just scream summer to me!