Lemon Drizzle Cookies
These are the cookie version of a classic lemon drizzle cake! Soft, chewy cookies are made with brown butter, ground almonds & plenty of lemon and are topped with a zingy lemon icing.
Servings: 12 Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Small Saucepan
- Microplane/Grater
- Cookie Scoop
- Baking Trays
- Large Circular Cutter
- Juicer
- Pastry Brush
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 200 g Unsalted Butter
- 160 g Light Brown Sugar
- 125 g Caster Sugar
- 2 Lemons (Zested)
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1 tsp Lemon Extract
- 250 g Plain Flour
- 50 g Ground Almonds
- 10 g Cornflour
- ¾ tsp Baking Powder
- ¾ tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
- ½ tsp Table Salt
Lemon Drizzle Glaze
- 200 g Icing Sugar
- 2 Lemons (Juiced)
Instructions
Cookie Dough
- Start by browning 120g of the butter. To do this, chop the butter into evenly sized pieces then place into a medium saucepan. Place over a medium heat & allow to melt, stirring regularly with a spatula. Keep cooking, until the butter starts to foam, smells nutty & you can see that the milk solids in the bottom of the pan have turned golden brown.
- Once the butter has browned, take it off the heat, transfer to a bowl then leave to cool to room temperature. In the meantime, chop the remaining 80g of butter into small pieces & leave to soften at room temperature.The brown butter should take around 30 minutes to cool.
- Next, add both of the sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer then add in the zest of 2 lemons. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugars then add in the brown butter & softened butter.Rubbing the zest into the sugar releases the oils from the lemon, which adds extra flavour!
- Use the paddle attachment to beat the butters & sugars on a medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until combined.Be careful not to over mix the butter & sugar, we don’t want to add too much air into the cookie dough as this will affect the baked cookies.
- In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg, yolks & lemon extract together. Then slowly pour into the butter, with the mixer running on medium speed. Stop mixing once the eggs are just incorporated.
- Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & salt into the cookie dough then mix on a low speed until just combined.
- Next, chill the cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, so that it firms up slightly.
Shaping
- Using a cookie scoop (or a spoon), portion the chilled cookie dough into 12 equally sized portions. Each should weigh around 70 grams.
- Using your hands, roll each portion of cookie dough into a ball then place them into an airtight container. Chill the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Lemon Glaze
- Add the icing sugar into a mixing bowl then whisk in enough lemon juice to make a smooth, thick icing. Set this aside for now.The icing needs to be thick enough to brush on top of the cookies without running off. I'd recommend using roughly 3 tbsp of lemon juice & making the glaze just before baking the cookies.
Baking
- Preheat an oven to 175°c/155°c fan (350°f/311°f).
- Place 3-4 balls of cookie dough onto a lined baking tray, making sure that there’s plenty of room between them.
- Bake the cookies for 9 minutes then open your oven door, lift up the baking tray inside the oven by a few inches then let it drop down against the oven rack. Use enough force so that the cookie starts to deflate. (This is the “Pan Banging” method.)
- Bake for a further 2 minutes then repeat the pan banging process.
- Bake for another 2 minutes (bringing the total bake time to 13 minutes) then remove from the oven.Once baked, the cookies' edges will be golden brown but the middles will still be soft.
- Using a large, round cookie cutter, gently scoot each cookie into a perfect round shape then leave to cool for 3-4 minutes, until they have firmed up slightly but are still warm.
- Brush the top of each cookie with a light coating of the lemon glaze then leave to cool completely before serving. Repeat the cooking & glazing process with the remaining cookie dough.The lemon glaze will set as the cookies cool!
Notes
1. To Cook In An Aga - Use the boiling plate to brown the butter. Bake the cookies in the baking oven on the bottom set of runners. Instead of baking them as the recipe states, give them 10 minutes in total (6 minutes then pan bang, bake for another 2 minutes then pan bang again then bake for a final 2 minutes).
2. Brown Butter – For an in depth guide to making brown butter & for more ways to use it, take a look at our brown butter guide.
3. Eggs – This cookie dough uses a large egg. This should weigh around 50 grams out of the shell.
4. Lemon Extract - This adds extra lemon flavour to the cookies but is optional. Lemon extract can be found in most supermarkets.
5. Chilling The Dough – So that the cookies don’t spread out too much as they bake, the balls of dough need to be chilled in the fridge for at least 2 hours or for up to 2 days.
6. The Pan Banging Method – The way we bake these cookies, is by using a technique called “Pan Banging”. This was created by Sarah Kieffer (The Vanilla Bean Blog) & is used in this recipe to give the cookies a crinkled texture.