sugar high

During my 3.5 years of college, there was one thing that never changed: my addiction to the dining hall’s lemon cookies. Yes, the same dining hall I climbed on top of the night before graduation.

I was lucky enough to go to a college with an award-winning dining service and about once a week or so, “lemon cookies” would appear.  I have no idea what they were actually called, we just called them that. In fact, many of my other friends had an addiction to these chewy, sugary, lemony cookies. One of my friends, Anthony (a really talented artist!), and I were really into them. There was a bulletin board of comments & complaints in the dining hall and once Anthony and I wrote a threat to the effect of “Bring back the lemon cookies or the carrots will get it.” (I’m not kidding.) And we were known to text each other when these delightful cookies appeared in D-hall, lest we decided to dine elsewhere and miss them.

Ah yes, those were the days.

Well recently I attended an alumni luncheon here in Austin for my undergrad and since I was the youngest alum there, everyone was asking about the dorms and the dining hall and it brought back memories… specifically of the lemon cookies.

In essence, they’re really just perfect sugar cookies with a touch of lemon. But in reality, they’re magical.

Oh hey, I got to use my new mixer!

And then I danced around in a sugar high for the next 20 minutes.

Lemon Cookies (makes 18-20 cookies)
Cookies:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
1 egg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup flour
Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
For the cookies, Cream together butter and sugar in a mixer on medium for 2 minutes. Add egg, lemon, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Once a thick, wet batter has formed, add baking powder, salt, and flour, and mix throughly in a mixer. Roll into small balls and press down lightly on the cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown on the edges. Allow to cool on cooling racks. For the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar and the lemon juice and drizzle on top of the cooled cookies. Allow glaze to dry for a few minutes, then enjoy!

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