Strawberry Lemonade Sugar Cookies

I am officially on a Lemon-Sugar kick and it all started with this…

A heavenly lemon pound cake smothered under a pound of powdered sugar from my favorite local bakery.   Man, was it delicious, me thinks me like lemon better than chocolate!  And so began my quest…

So, I started thinking about what I could make next for you guys, I have a ton of ideas, but lemon shot to the top of my list.  I saw a pink lemonade cake in one of my vintage cookbooks and thought about bringing that back in cupcake form, but a Google searched turned up a billion people who have already done that. 😦 But don’t be sad for me, I thought of something better!

I started thinking about cookies ( I actually like cookies mores than cupcakes!) and then I decided I should throw Strawberry up in the mix. So, I came up with these Strawberry Lemonade Sugar Cookies, a lemony sugar cookie topped with strawberry icing and yellow sugar crystals.

I chilled the dough for about 30 minutes before baking and the dough was such a pleasure to work with. So many sugar cookie recipes I have tried left me with sticky dough covered hands, even after chill time, I hate that!  After baking, I could not wait to try one, I didn’t know what to expect. They were absolutely delicious, even without the icing and the texture is AMAZING. Success on the first try, I love that! Hooray! 🙂

Nothing screams summer like Lemonade and Strawberries, these are the perfect cookies for summer get-togethers, tea time or just ’cause.  Whip some up today, I know that you are dying to try them, I would be too.  If you don’t feel like making the icing, you could always just dust them with powdered sugar and call it a day. Here is my original recipe for these lemony little yum-yums…

STRAWBERRY LEMONADE SUGAR COOKIES

Yield: 4 dozen 2″ cookies

LEMONADE SUGAR COOKIES

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp lemon zest

2 tsp lemon juice

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

20 – 24 drops of yellow food coloring

Preheat your oven to 350. Cream together your butter and sugar; then add vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Add egg, beat until combined and stir in the milk.  Dump the dry ingredients into the wet a little at a time, combine. Add your food coloring and mix until the color is even throughout. Chill for about 30 minutes. Shape into 1″ balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press them down to flatten them just a little. Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes on the pan, then remove to rack to finish cooling.

STRAWBERRY ICING

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk

2 tsp strawberry extract

red food coloring (optional)

Cream together butter and sugar, adding the powdered sugar about 1/2  cup at a time. Add milk and blend until smooth. Add strawberry extract and blend until color is even throughout. If you would like it more pink, add red food coloring a little at a time until desired color is reached. I put the icing in a piping bag and piped a little circle on the top of each cookie, be careful here, it spreads! Don’t put too much or it will run down the sides (unless that’s the look you’re going for).  Finish with yellow sugar crystals

The icing will harden, but not enough to stack them without messin’ them up.

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xox

Britt