Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies made with basic ingredients and topped with a sweet royal icing tinted in darling Spring colors. Lovely frosted cookies with a hint of lemon flavor!

Prep Time20

Cook Time8

Chill Time30

Total Time58

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Lemon Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Servings: cookies

Calories: 147kcal

Author: Jessica & Nellie

Ingredients

2 cups Sugar
1 cup Butter softened
1 TBSP Lemon zest
¼ cup Lemon Juice
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Eggs
3 ½ cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cream of Tartar

ROYAL ICING INGREDIENTS

8 cups powdered sugar 2 lbs
10 TBSP Meringue Powder Or 4 eggs whites
½ cup water

Instructions

Dough: In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and eggs. Mix together until smooth, it may look a little curdled but it will smooth out with the addition of the rest of the ingredients.
In a separate bowl, whisk the salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and flour. Pour the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture in batches, mixing between additions.
Once they have mixed well, place the dough into a large ziplocked bag and place in the refrigerator. Chill for at least one hour, but if you have time you can chill overnight to let the flavors develop.
Bake: Preheat the oven to 335°F and line baking trays with parchment and set aside.
You can either roll the cookie dough into 1 inch balls & dip them in granulated sugar or roll the dough out to about ¼" thickness on a floured surface and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place the dough 2 inches apart on prepared tray.
Place the cookies in the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or just until the edges appear browned. Be careful to not overbake them.
Remove them from the oven and carefully place them on a cooling rack. Allow them to completely cool before frosting them.
Royal Icing: Place all the icing ingredients in a blender and mix for approximately 5 minutes. This makes a thicker consistency which will be used for the border of the cookie. Transfer about ⅓ of the icing to a piping bag. We use this (white frosting) for a dam to hold in the thinner frosting that you use to flood the cookie with (pink and purple). You can also make them the same color if you’d like.
Add about 2 TBSP- ¼ cup more water to the remaining icing in the blender. Blend until smooth. Transfer to bowls and add food coloring to create the colors you’d like.
Decorate: Using the thicker frosting (white), create a border around the cookie. Fill in with the thinner frosting (pink or purple). When filling in the cookies with icing, use a small amount of icing at first and spread it around. Using too much icing will cause the dam to break, so to speak! Use the thicker frosting (white) to create details in the cookie.
Allow the frosting to completely dry before plating them. This could take a couple of hours, but you can also place them in the fridge to harden. Enjoy!

Notes

Leftover frosted cookies should be stored in and airtight container, in the fridge, and they will last up to 3-5 days.

If you want to freeze these cookies, I suggest leaving the icing off until you are ready to enjoy them. Stored in a ziplocked bag, in the freezer, they will last 2-3 months. Defrost at room temperature, add the icing as directed.

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