Not only are these lemon-kissed sugar cookies delicious (like, seriously amazing–I adapted them from America’s Test Kitchen Baking Book, so you know they’re going to be awesome), but they a) are done, start to finish, in 30 minutes and b) are made by hand–no need to pull out the mixer, all you need is a sturdy wire whisk and a silicone spatula. It doesn’t get better than this.
You’re going to need all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, table salt, butter, vegetable oil, a small lemon, cream cheese, and an egg.
Imagine there is an egg and cream cheese in the above picture. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment sheets and set aside. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Set aside. Place the 1 1/3 cups sugar and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl.
Using a metal whisk, stir until combined.
Pour the melted butter over the mixture, then add the vegetable oil, egg, lemon zest, lemon juice,
and milk.Whisk until combined.
Stir in the flour mixture with a silicone spatula until the dough is cohesive and smooth (it will be very moist.) Using a standard cookie scoop (which is 1 1/2 tablespoons), generously scoop the dough (you want about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie) and roll into the reserved sugar.
Evenly space 12 cookie balls on the sheet
and flatten the dough balls with a drinking glass (to about 1/2″ thick).
repeat with the other baking sheet. Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 5-6 minutes or until set around the edges. Repeat with the second pan. Allow the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.
Try not to eat ’em all at once…
