Pretty lemon and thyme cookies are so soft, they melt in your mouth. Since they are topped with a zesty, sweet, fragrant lemon-drizzle icing, these are some of the best cookies I have ever tasted.
Lemon is one of the top five ingredients I like to use in my cooking. Without lemon I feel a little bit like a chef without an apron. These pretty lemon and thyme cookies do not dissapoint when it comes to taste. I have baked and eaten a lot of cookies in my life and these are some of the best tasing cookies I’ve had. I kid you not!
Just like all good cookie recipes. These beautiful lemon cookies begins with the creaming of butter, sugar and egg. Beat for about five minutes until the mixture turns a very pale shade of yellow and the mixture has to look very fluffy. Add the dry ingredients, mix well, but remember to not overwork your cookie dough. Cool the dough in the refrigerator for an hour or more. This will ensure the cookie dough will hold its shape better and not be so sticky.
Don’t be shy when dusting your counter and rolling pin when rolling out the cookies. You need a fair amount of flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the work surface. I divided my dough into thirds and worked with one third at a time, while refrigerating the other two thirds. This helped a lot with keeping the dough cool, as it was 32° celsius in Pretoria when I made these.
Can I freeze these cookies?
Yes, you can. However, freeze them without the lemon drizzle icing. Ice the cookies once defrosted and you are ready to serve them.
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Although slightly adapted by myself, this beautiful recipe was originally created by Getty Stewart. Head over to her blog and see what she is up to. It really is such a beautiful site.
If you liked this recipe please leave a like and a message, I would love to hear from you.
Lemon thyme cookies
Equipment
- Electrical beater
Ingredients
Cookies
- 250 ml butter
- 250 ml sugar
- 1 extra large free-range egg
- 5 ml vanilla
- 20 ml fresh thyme leaves Just leaves, no stalks
- 1 lemon's zest
- 560 ml cake flour
- 1 large pinch of salt
Lemon drizzle icing
- 625 ml icing sugar
- 45 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 lemon's zest
- 30 ml fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
Cookies
- Add the butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl and cream the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Add the flour, salt, lemon zest, and thyme leaves and mix until well combined. Don't overmix.
- Cover the bowl with cling wrap and rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour or more.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, after the dough has rested.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove half of it from the bowl. Place the other half of dough back in the refrigerator.
- Liberally dust a clean surface and rolling pin with flour.
- roll out the dough 8ml thick and use a glass or cookie cutter to cut out circles in the dough. Roll scraps together and roll out again, repeating the process until all the dough has been rolled out and cut into circles. Remove the other half of the dough from the refrigerator and continue to roll out and cut out circles as explained above.
- Place the dough circles on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and place into the preheated oven.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 min until they are slightly golden in color. Remove from the oven and let it rest for five minutes before transferring to a wired rack to further cool down.
- Give the cookies sufficient time to cool down completely before decorating with lemon drizzle icing.
Lemon Drizzle Icing
- Sieve the icing sugar into a small mixing bowl. Add 1/2 of the lemon juice and whisk until combined. Check the consistency of the drizzle, it should not be too runny. If a more runny icing is required add one more tablespoon of lemon juice. Finally, add the lemon zest and thyme leaves and stir into the icing.
- Decorate with fresh thyme leaves before serving.
Notes
