Piped Lemon Butter Cookies With Lemon Buttercream Frosting Recipes

LEMON SUGAR COOKIES RECIPE

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat in eggs, lemon juice, and lemon zest till well combined.
• Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Roll dough into tablespoon sized balls and place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.
• Bake at 350° for 9-10 minutes, or till barely light brown on the bottom. Let sit 3-4 minutes on pan, then remove to cooling racks.
• Cool cookies completely, then frost. I piped frosting on with a 1M star tip.

LEMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy - about 2 minutes. Add confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, heavy cream, and zest with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Taste and add salt as needed. Add up to 1/2 cup more confectioners' sugar if frosting is too thin or another Tablespoon of cream if frosting is too thick.
• Cover tightly and store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing or refrigerating, thaw in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature then beat the frosting for a few seconds so it's creamy again. You may need to add a little milk or heavy cream if it's still too stiff.

PIPED LEMON BUTTER COOKIES WITH LEMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350*. Grease several baking sheets or coat with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a food processor, process the butter and sugars in on/off pulses, then continuously until well blended and smooth. Add the egg yolks,lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and lemon extract and process until evenly incorporated. Add the flour mixture and process just until thoroughly incorporated; do not over process. The dough should be faily soft to facilitate piping; if it seems to stiff, add up to 4 tbls water, pulsing to incorporate. Spoon the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2" open star tip. Pipe 1 1/2" wide swirls onto a baking sheet, spacing about 2" apart. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the upper third of oven for 7-10 minutes, or until just tinged with brown at the edges. Reverse sheets halfway through baking from front to back to ensure even browning. Transfer the sheet to a wirer ack and let stand until the cookies firm up slightly -- 1-2 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks. Let stand until completely cooled.
• FOR THE FROSTING:.
• In a food processor, process the powdered sugar and lemon zest until the zest in evenly incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add the butter, and process until very well blended -- and smooth. Add 1 1/2 tsps lemon juice and food coloring, if using, and process till smooth and well blended. If necessary, add a bit more powdered sugar to stiffen the frosting or a bit more lemon juice to thin it so that is of piping consistency. Spoon the frosting into a pastry bag fitted with 1/2" open star tip. Pipe 1-1 1/2" frosting swirls onto the cookies. let stand until the frosting completely sets -- at least 1 hour. Store in a single layer or layered with wax paper in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 2 days.Refrigerate for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 2 months.