Sunny On a Cloudy Day…..

When I think of lemons the first word that comes to my mind is bright. The color of a lemon is bright, the smell is bright, and the taste is radiant. If you are feeling down and just smell a fresh lemon it can brighten all your senses and push away some of those dark clouds. A good lemony treat can make a rainy, overcast day, seem just a little bit brighter. Lemons seem to interact with a trio of our senses and give a sweet treat that little extra kick it needs.

When I was younger my mom always made lemon pound cake and lemon meringue pie. I couldn’t stand either one. Unless it was mega sweet lemonade flavored Kool-Aid I would always pass it by. Then in my twenties I discovered lemon poppy seed muffins. I have been hooked on lemon ever since! But it is one of those flavors that must be balanced just right with sweet and sour and not be too over powering, but more on the mild side for me to enjoy it. So, if you have the same idea about lemon treats as I do you are going to fall head over heels in love with these lemon cookies that I created.

Sadly, I am the only person in the house that likes lemon anything. My kids can’t stand it, and I totally understand that since it took me about 23 years to like it myself. My husband will eat lemon treats, but would much rather chocolate. If your house is pretty warm like mine is (72’f) you will want to keep these in the fridge or make a smaller batch. The longer they sit the stickier they get. Don’t get me wrong, they taste just as amazing, but after day three they are a little hard to get out of the container because of the glaze.

Each cookie is about 91 calories (You can make them smaller if you’d like), but they only have 4 grams of sugar (Thank you Sugar 2.0!) and a whopping 5 grams of fiber per cookie! You get all of that bright lemony taste and fiber too!

These cookies are dairy and egg free, they only contain five ingredients, and they cook in just 10 minutes! I don’t generally use real lemon in recipes, I just use bottled lemon juice like I did in this recipe, but if you do have real lemons on hand and want to kick the flavor up a notch you can put a bit of zest on the top of each cookie after it is glazed and you will end up with candied lemon peel. So yummy! If you don’t have a zester, don’t fret. Use your knife and trim off a bit of the yellow peel, steering clear of the white (The pith) and cut it into thin little strips and then diagonal across the middle. Voila, you have your little lemon peel to put on top of your cookies. For the glaze, I used homemade Sugar 2.0 powdered sugar. Just add the lemon juice a bit at a time until you get the consistency you would like. If you add them together all at once you end up with juice and a lump of glaze in the middle. It doesn’t matter if you share, or eat these alone, they are super easy, super sunny, and need to be made so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy!

What is your favorite lemon treat?

Lightly Glazed Lemon Drop Cookies

By Angie Gouchenour

14 cookies

Ingredients

½ cup Sugar 2.0

¼ cup coconut oil – room temperature

2 Tablespoons lemon juice – I used bottled, but you can use fresh

1 cup white wheat flour measured correctly

1 teaspoon baking powder

Glaze

2 Tablespoons Sugar 2.0 powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Lemon zest- optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350’ f

In a medium bowl cream together the Sugar 2.0 and coconut oil

Stir in the lemon juice

Fold in the flour and baking powder until all the wet and dry ingredients are combined

Using your small cookie scoop drop the cookie dough onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper

Cook in the preheated oven for 10 minutes

Remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and allow to cool

In a small bowl slowly add the lemon juice to the Sugar 2.0 powdered sugar until it reaches the glaze consistency you desire

Drizzle over the top of each cookie

Top with lemon zest if you would like (See notes above)

The glaze should dry in about 15 minutes depending on the temperature of your house, but don’t be afraid to try them before they do.