Best Frosted Lemon Sugar Cookies Recipes

FROSTED LEMON SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Beat butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 1 cup sugar, vegetables oil, lemon juice, and vanilla extract; mix to combine. Add egg and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
• Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture; mix until well combined.
• Pour 1/4 cup sugar into a small bowl. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball into sugar to coat and place on an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Mix together powdered sugar and lemon juice for the frosting in a small bowl until smooth. Pour frosting over cookies and allow to harden for at least 5 minutes before serving.

BUTTERCREAM-FROSTED LEMON SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking tray with a silicone baking mat (such as Silpat®) or parchment paper.
• Cream sugar and 1 cup butter together in a bowl with an electric mixer on high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in egg yolks, 1 at a time, until well incorporated and fluffy; don't overmix. Blend in all of the zest from the lemon and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice (if you have extra juice, reserve it for the frosting).
• Combine flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a bowl and whisk to blend. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl with the butter-sugar mixture and mix in on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom with a spatula until cookie dough is evenly blended.
• Use a 1 1/2-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out 12 dough balls and set, evenly spaced, onto the prepared baking sheet. Don't flatten them, you can leave them just as they come out of the scoop. If you don't have a scoop, just shape walnut-sized balls by hand.
• Bake in the preheated oven until bottoms are very lightly browned and tops begin to appear crackled, 10 to 11 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes and then very carefully move to a cooling rack to complete cooling (they will be very soft still).
• Repeat with remaining dough until all cookies are baked and cooled.
• When cookies are cooled, make the buttercream frosting by whipping 3 cups of confectioners' sugar with 1/2 cup butter; start on low speed until butter and sugar begin to combine, then turn up the speed slowly. When sugar and butter are mostly combined, add in lemon juice and whip until creamy and smooth. Check consistency and flavor; you can add a little extra lemon juice or milk if you want a creamier consistency. But if you want the texture fairly stiff you may not need extra liquid at this point.
• Frost the cooled cookies as desired and allow the buttercream to set before stacking or storing the cookies.

LEMON-FROSTED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• To prepare cookies, beat Splenda, sugar, yogurt and butter in a large bowl at medium speed of a mixer until well blended (about 4 minutes).
• Add egg, egg whites, lemon zest and vanilla beating well.
• Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to the sugar mixture, mixing well. Spoon dough into a sealable bag, flatten to 1 1/2-inch disc and chill 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 400°.
• Roll dough to a 15 x 12-inch rectangle on a heavily floured surface. Cut dough into 20 (3-inch) squares using a sharp knife. If the dough gets very soft in this stage, return to the fridge to chill again to retain firmness. Too much flour will end with a tough cookie.
• Alternately, use your favorite cookie cutters to make shapes; note this may change the yield and nutritional value per cookie.
• Place cookies 2-inches apart on baking sheets prepared with a light coat of cooking spray.
• Bake at 400° for 8 minutes or until golden. Immediately remove cookies from pans using a wide spatula, and cool on wire rack.
• To make icing, combine powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. If the icing seems too thick, add a bit more lemon juice to thin. Stir in food coloring, if desired. Spread about 2 teaspoons of the icing over each 3-inch cookie, or place icing in a small zip-top plastic bag or pastry bag and tip. If using disposible bag, trim a tiny hole in one corner, and drizzle icing over cookies.
• If the icing seems to be too thick you can add more lemon juice (which will make the icing more tart) or you can add a little more milk (which keeps the flavor more neutral).
• Sprinkle with assorted sugar sprinkles or other decorations, if desired.