Taste of sunshine: Lemon sandwich cookies

When I’m in the thick of summer, smack in the middle of the steamy heat and mosquito-ridden evenings, I have a hard time appreciating the season for what it is. I love cold weather, and my grumpiness level automatically shifts up a few notches when the temperature reaches 80. I know, I would have had a hard time in the pre-air-conditioning pioneer days. But then, there’s a reason I always ignored the townsfolk and set out in the dead of winter for all of my Oregon Trail journeys. No one wants to travel with me across rugged terrain in a covered wagon in mid-July. I’d be even worse than that grump pot Sally. And she always got cholera.

So yes, my yoke and I much prefer the chill to the heat. But this summer has been a particularly good (albeit busy) one, and as the season officially starts to wind down for us, I’m finding myself surprised by how much I’m going to miss it. We’ve had lots of time with Jared home, lots of time with family and a whole lot of those eat-lunch-at-3-then-have-popcorn-for-dinner kinds of days. That total lack of schedule just doesn’t seem to fly for us any other time to year, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I can say we milked it for all it was worth.

As summer starts to fizzle (not that you’d know by the temperature — 88 in Boston today! Eep!), we’re reminiscing on the good ol’ just-a-few-weeks-ago days while they’re still fresh in our memory. And we’re doing so with lemon because, well, lemon tastes like sunshine, and sunshine is good any time of year. These lemon sandwich cookies were a big hit in our house, especially with Beany. She’s never had an Oreo before, but this foray into sandwich cookies has revealed that’s she’s a twister and a licker. Every dot of frosting must be gone before she makes her move on the wafers. Then every dot of wafer is consumed with gusto.

You could certainly try these cookies with another citrus, but I do hope you’ll try the lemon version first. There’s just something so happy about a lemon cookie. And a lemon cookie with lemon frosting? Well, that’s about as much happy as a taste bud can stand.

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Lemon Sandwich Cookies
Adapted just slightly from Martha Stewart

Makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies

For the cookies:
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• zest from 1 large lemon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar (for sprinkling on cookies)

For the icing:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• zest from 1 large lemon
• 1 ¼ cups confectioners’ sugar

To make the cookies, beat the butter, confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest and salt with an electric mixer on high speed until well combined. Add the vanilla, and blend to combine. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour until the mixture just comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, form it into a disk about ½ inch thick, wrap it and chill for about an hour, until firm.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once the dough has chilled, roll it out onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out 1 ½-inch rounds from the dough, and place them 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Sprinkle the tops with the granulated sugar, and bake until they’re just beginning to brown, about 13 to 17 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, beat the cream cheese and lemon zest with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar, and mix until smooth. (The icing should be firm but spreadable; add a bit more sugar if needed.)

To make the sandwiches, place about 1 teaspoon of icing between two cookies, sugared sides out, and squeeze together gently.

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How is your summer winding down? Will you miss the carefree schedule, or are you antsy to get back into a routine? Any end-of-summer recipes you’re wild about these days? Do tell!

XO,
Katrina