Candied Meyer Lemon Cookies |Cooking With Amanda

Hi, I'm Lori from Foxes Love Lemons, and I am so excited to be the new lemon fanatic! My blog is all about simple yet special recipes that encourage people to enjoy the act of cooking at home.

As I'm sure you could guess, lemons show up in quite a few of my recipes, whether it's something really lemon-centric like the dessert I'm sharing today, or just a splash of lemon juice to brighten up a sauce or salad dressing.

Let's just dive right into this with something VERY lemon-centric. These candied Meyer lemon cookies highlight my favorite type of citrus. Meyer lemons are thought to be a cross between a regular lemon and an orange.

They are slightly smaller than standard lemons, and have a sweeter, less tart taste. While some grocery stores now carry them all year 'round, I prefer to use them when they're most in season (January through April).

For this recipe, I started with my family's favorite holiday recipe for sour cream nutmeg sugar cookies, but got rid of the holiday-ish nutmeg in the dough and added ground ginger instead. I also whipped up a simple cream cheese frosting, but the true star of the show is the candied Meyer lemon.

Candying citrus is actually a very simple process. The trickiest part is getting the seeds out of each slice of lemon, but even that isn't too bad. It's kind of fun.

After your lemon slices are de-seeded and ready to go, you give them a very quick cook in boiling water to soften them up a touch. Then you dump a bunch of sugar and water in a skillet, throw in your lemon slices, and let them simmer for an hour.

It's tempting to go binge-watch something on Netflix like I did, but you DO need to check on the lemons every 10 minutes or so, to make sure they're not simmering too rapidly and that the sugar syrup isn't getting brown. Because then you'll end up with caramelized lemons, which are delicious, but not really what we're going for here.

While each component here (cookies, frosting and candied lemons) can be made in advance, these cookies are best eaten the day they are frosted and decorated. I think these candied Meyer lemon cookies would be perfect for a spring bridal or baby shower, or just to give yourself a little treat to beat the mid-winter blues. And if you happen to have extra Meyer lemons after making these guys, make sure to try Jamie's Meyer lemon cookies made with zest and fresh juice too. Enjoy!

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Candied Meyer Lemon Cookies Recipe

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Ingredients

For the Cookies:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Candied Meyer Lemons:

6 meyer lemons, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices, seeds removed (36 slices)
4 cups granulated sugar
4 cups water

Directions

For the Cookies:

In mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, sour cream, egg and baking soda at medium speed until well combined.
Mix in ginger and vanilla.
Gradually beat in flour.
Cover and chill at least 1 hour, or overnight for best results.
Preheat oven to 375°F. In batches, roll chunks of dough to about 1/8-inch thickness (use well-floured surface and floured rolling pin).
Cut dough using 3-inch round cookie cutters.
Bake cookies 8 minutes or until they just begin to brown around the edges.
Carefully transfer to cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

Place cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl and mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
Reduce mixer to low; gradually mix in powdered sugar, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
Add vanilla; beat until well combined.

For the Candied Meyer Lemons:

Heat large pot of water to boiling.
Fill large bowl with ice and water.
In batches, add lemon slices to boiling water and cook 1 minute.
Transfer lemon slices to ice water and let cool 2 minutes; drain.
Place 2 large skillets over medium heat.
Add 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water to each skillet; heat until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally.
Reduce heat to medium-low; divide lemon slices between skillets.
Simmer 1 hour or until rinds are translucent, stirring and turning lemons occasionally.
Check every 10 minutes to be sure sugar solution isn't browning (reduce heat if necessary).
Transfer lemon slices to wire rack set over rimmed baking pan; cool completely.

To serve:

Spread each cookie with about 1 tablespoon frosting and top with 1 candied lemon slice.

Notes

If making cookies in advance, store between layers of parchment in airtight container.
If making frosting in advance, cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using.
If making in advance, place on parchment-lined sheet pan and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Cookies are best eaten the day they are frosted and served.