Last week I made my farewell from Come Into My Kitchen, a weekly homecooking feature in the Kansas City Star’s food section. The column has been around more than 50 years, and I guess I wrote about one-fifth of it. The column that featured me (I won’t provide the link since it will probably disappear) included a recipe for Lemon Sugar Cookies, as follows at the end of this entry.
A reader called the editor and wondered whether the recipe was wrong because the cookies all ran together when she baked them. So I made them yesterday using the recipe exactly as it appeared in the newspaper. They turned out fine, but when trying to figure out why something doesn’t turn out as expected raises a whole raft of questions that cover everything from ingredients and measurements to cookware and oven differences. In the end, I’m guessing the caller used an electric mixer to make hers and beat well after each addition. I’m also guessing that she used insulated pans, which I like but which, in this case, doesn’t allow the admittedly soft dough to set up quickly enough.
As far as I’m concerned, though, those little variations (butter or margarine? by hand or by mixer? exact or approximated measurements) are among the things that make cooking interesting. Besides, these cookies are going to taste great, even if they wind up as one giant thin cookie that you have to cut into pieces!
Lemon sugar cookies
Makes about 3 dozen
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar, plus more for topping
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Cream butter and 1 cup sugar. Beat egg and yolk, then stir into sugar mixture. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add portions of dry mixture alternately with lemon juice, beating after each addition. Mix in lemon rind. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees, or until just a hint of brown at the edges. Sprinkle with sugar and remove from pan while hot.
1 response so far ↓
1 Susan (Majure) Gandy // Apr 17, 2007 at 11:16 am
Growing up with Janet in our house, it was always an event when our mom made these cookies. Sounds crazy, but my mouth waters just thinking about them. I’ve not made them for many years. Used to think they were too labor intensive because of the lemon juice and zest needed…which I don’t think twice about these days.
After reading this article both my (20-something) sons wanted to know how come they’d never had these cookies before. So looks like I’m about to resurrect a recipe from the old days. Thanks, Janet!
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