I love citrus flavor in dessert. In these cookies, the citrus flavor comes from lemon zest only. Yes we are not adding lemon juice here. So all the lemony, zesty flavor is from the lemon zest. For beginners, lemon zest is prepared by scraping or grating the outer yellow part of the lemon with microplane grater. Make sure that you don’t grate the white part that is really bitter. It will ruin the taste of the cookies. After making the dough, it is rolled into cylinder log shape. Then the log is chilled into refrigerator. Why are we chilling the dough? First, it will make the slicing job easy. It will make clean cut. Secondly, it will hold the round shape while it is baking. So it is important to chill the dough till it is hard. The texture of these lemon poppy seeds cookies are crispy yet soft and melt in your mouth. The flavors are so lemony, I just love it. Check out similar eggless cookies Lemon pistachio cookies // Tutti frutti cookies // Chocolate sugar cookies
Step By Step Photos
- Take soften butter and icing sugar in a bowl.
- Beat it using wire whisk till it gets smooth, creamy and light.
- Add poppy seeds, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
- Beat it again till everything is incorporated well.
- Add all purpose flour.
- Mix it using spatula. it will crumbly dough.
- Line plastic wrap on the work surface. Dump all the dough on it.
- Gather it using your hand. Make a log of 1 ½ inch diameter.
- Wrap the plastic around then twist both ends. Keep in refrigerator to chill. Chill it till hardens. It took me 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F or 190 degrees C for at least 10 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet or cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep it aside.
- Remove the log from the refrigerator. Make ¼ inch thick slices using sharp knife.
- Arrange them few inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake into preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Or till the edges are slightly browned.
- Let it cool in a pan for 5 minutes. After that remove it on a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
- Once cooled, serve them right away. If not serving right away, then store in airtight container. Serving suggestion: Enjoy lemon poppy seed cookies any time of the day. Perfect after school snack for your kids.
