I found out I like lemon more and more, especially the Eureka variety that really has a very refreshing lemony fragrance. Unfortunately, for lemony baked goods I get from stores, it’s usually too sweet and not lemony enough for my liking. I want to taste the tangy flavor… with this mind I created this cookie recipe to try for our annual Christmas cookie bake at home.
The results? I like it a lot. The coconut flavor is there but subtle compared the sunny cheery lemons. These cookies give a refreshing change to the typical sweet cookies around Christmas holidays. The glaze is a MUST!
May your Christmas as joyous as these lemon shorties!
Coconut Lemon Shortbread Cookies. Before glaze. Look at the yellow specks of lemon zest!
Coconut Lemon Shortbread Cookies, after glaze.
Coconut Lemon Shortbread Cookies (makes around 50 Cookies)
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut– grated and toasted to light brown
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh lemon zest (about 5 large lemons)– see note below
1/2 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter– softened
Lemon Glaze (mix until smooth):
1 cup powder sugar, plus a little more if needed
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Method:
- Combine all ingredients (except butter) in a large bowl. Mix to blend well.
- Add butter and use finger to rub butter into the flour mixture, until it forms a dough.
- Place dough on parchment paper. Shape the dough into a log and roll it up tight (using a rolling pin if you feel comfortable with this method, see note below). Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours until harden.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking pan with parchment paper.
- Cut dough into 1/4 inch thickness and place on baking pan, 1 inch apart. Bake for 20-22 minutes, turning halfway during baking. To prevent cookies from spreading out too much in the oven, keep unbaked dough in the fridge at all times until it’s ready to bake.
- After removing for the oven, let cookies sit in baking pan for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Once cookies are completely cooled, dip the cookies top into lemon glaze then let them dry for 1 hour. When the glaze is dried, you can stack the cookies and store in airtight container.
Regina’s Note:
- Lemon zest: To help lemon zest mix into flour mixture better, I washed lemons and dry completely with paper towel to keep the zest as dry as possible.After zesting, I finely chopped instead of grating lemon peel from straight– I found grating will break out the lemon oil in the peel and form little lumps, which is hard to break up in flour mixture.
- Lemon glaze: Even with 1/2 cup of lemon zest in the cookie dough, the unglazed cookies still don’t have a prominent lemon flavor to my liking. Lemon glaze really brings out the soul of that bursting refreshing lemony flavor. Take care of the ratio of lemon juice and powder sugar, thicker glaze results in sweeter instead of tangy flavor. Thinner glaze creates more rundown which means thinner layer of glaze, resulting less prominent lemon flavor.
- Grated desiccated coconut: always toast to light golden brown (in a dry clean frying pan, low heat stir constantly) to bring out the aroma of coconut. I like to use unsweetened coconut because it doesn’t stick together after grating and toasting, making it easier to mix with flour mixture. If sweetened coconut is used, reduce amount of sugar.
Queen of the Chennaults 