Meyer Lemon Sugar Cookies
I love Meyer lemons. They are basically a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. The Meyer lemon started out as a decorative houseplant in China and was brought to the United States by an agricultural explorer named Frank N. Meyer in the early 1900’s. They have become popular in recent years thanks to Martha Stewart, who has featured them in many of her recipes. They are known for their deep yellow, almost orange skin and sweet flavor. Meyer lemons can be substituted for regular lemons in many dishes. Their peak season runs from November to March.
I thought that Meyer lemons would be perfect in a cookie because I like lemon desserts as long as they aren’t too tart. I went on a search for a Meyer lemon sugar cookie recipe, and found one by My Baking Addiction, and I adapted it to my taste preferences. It’s a wonderful recipe with a perfect blend of buttery sweetness and a nice hint of lemon. It also calls for coconut, which adds great flavor and a bit of crunch.
I like to juice and zest my lemons first. I have an electric juicer, but for such a small amount of juice, I used a lemon squeezer similar to this one.
Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the lemon juice, zest, egg, and vanilla. Then add the coconut.
Add the dry ingredients just until blended.
I used a scoop because I like uniformly sized cookies.
I dropped each scoop of cookie dough into a small bowl of sugar and rolled it around with my fingers to coat it thoroughly. In this picture, I used granulated sugar, but you can use sparkling or sanding sugar if you’d like, or a blend of granulated and sparkling. The sugar gives the cookies an added sweetness and light crunch.
I used the palm of my hand to lightly press them down onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. I really love Airbake cookie sheets. They have a layer of insulation which helps to prevent cookies from burning on the bottom. I’ve used them for years and have them in several sizes. Hand washing is recommended, but that is always easy, especially if you line the pan with parchment. They are available at Amazon, Target and many specialty cooking stores.
After the cookies have cooled for about 5 minutes, slide the parchment onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Seriously. How do you say no to that cookie? It has a soft center and the edges are slightly crunchy.
If you like lemons, I am sure you will love Meyer lemons. I hope you will try these lovely sugar cookies.
Meyer Lemon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups All Purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks salted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- zest of 5 Meyer lemons
- 5 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut I used frozen
- Granulated or sparkling sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy.
- Beat in egg, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest.
- Add dry ingredients and coconut. Mix just until blended.
- Scoop out about a tablespoon of dough per cookie and roll in sugar. Sparkling sugar is a nice option.
- Place on cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Lightly press down to flatten slightly.
- Bake for about 9 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Cool on wire racks.
