Lemon-Vanilla Sugar Cookies

I'm kind of in love with these cookies.  They are the first sugar cookies I've ever made that taste like I imagine sugar cookies should.  They're soft, moist and have a slight vanilla and citrus undertone.  A. Maze. Ing.  In my opinion, sugar cookies should be thick and soft - and every recipe I've ever tried before has come out of the oven thin and crispy.  Now, I realize that some of this is my fault.  I probably rolled them too thin, and I probably used flour to coat my surfaces instead of powdered sugar.  And, I might have even over-baked them.  But I'm happy to report that the planets must've been in alignment last night because everything came together and worked perfectly.

So, the cookie is one thing, but the icing is an entirely different story.  But, after decorating nearly 50 cookies, I finally figured it out.  As you can see from my pictures, there are plenty of flaws.  The icing I used for the outlines was a little too thick so I had a hard time controlling it.  I also left too much space between the outline and the edge of the cookie.  My flooding icing was not bad, but I didn't let it sit before I started so I had more bubbles than I'd anticipated.  I did have a great time playing with different designs and learned a lot from this process.  I'm feeling pretty confident that next time I make these, they'll be much prettier.  I just might try again soon, although I'm not sure what we'd do with another 50 sugar cookies!

For the purposes of this post, I'm just going to post the cookie recipe and directions.  I will do a separate post on royal icing after I've had some more practice and can offer some more solid tips and tricks.  This cookie would be fabulous with a buttercream frosting as well! 

Just a few tips for you:  use a silpat mat.  Just do it.   You will thank yourself after you've successfully removed all of the cookies without smooshing them!  Don't over bake.  Take them out as soon as they look done, but before they start browning.  Let them cool on the pan for 3 or 4 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.  If you store them in a container, layer them with some parchment paper so they don't stick together.  Roll your dough to 1/4 inch or more - no THIN cookies!!  And finally, if you don't like lemon flavoring (although it's delicate) you can simply omit the zest.

Hope you enjoy!