Lemon Sour Cream Cookies
By America's Test KitchenPublished on April 27, 2012
Time
1½ hours, plus 1 hour chilling and 40 minutes cooling
Yield
Makes about 42 cookies
Ingredients
Before You Begin
After portioning one round of cookies in step 4, return the remaining dough to the refrigerator to keep it firm and easy to work with.
Instructions
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat granulated sugar, butter, and lemon zest on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
- Reduce speed to low, add sour cream, and beat until just combined. Add flour mixture until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until slightly firm, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Working with about half of dough, drop heaping 1-tablespoon mounds of dough onto prepared sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake until just golden around edges, about 15 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let cookies cool completely on sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Whisk lemon juice and cream cheese in bowl until combined. Add confectioners' sugar and whisk until smooth. Top each cooled cookie with 1 teaspoon glaze. Serve. (Cookies can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.)
Time
1½ hours, plus 1 hour chilling and 40 minutes coolingYield
Makes about 42 cookiesIngredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
UPDATE: This recipe has been slightly reformulated to be more failproof since its initial publication. The revision you see here was published in October of 2021. We love the idea of a cakey lemon cookie topped with a tangy glaze. Our lemon cookies have a fluffy-yet-sturdy texture with a crumb that is simultaneously moist and light and airy. To achieve this unique texture, we reached for sour cream, and plenty of it; a full cup contributed moisture and richness while tenderizing the cookies' crumb. This generous amount of sour cream also added a pleasant tang reinforced with floral lemon zest. Creaming the butter and sugar with the lemon zest helped release the oils from the lemon zest, enhancing the lemon flavor. Adding two whole eggs to the recipe also helped aerate the dough. While the cookies themselves were sufficiently lemony, they were a bit plain, so we turned to the topping to boost the lemon zing. A lemon–cream cheese glaze was a nice finishing touch that balanced the flavor and delivered a second hit of clean citrusy flavor.
Before You Begin
After portioning one round of cookies in step 4, return the remaining dough to the refrigerator to keep it firm and easy to work with.
Instructions
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat granulated sugar, butter, and lemon zest on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
- Reduce speed to low, add sour cream, and beat until just combined. Add flour mixture until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until slightly firm, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Working with about half of dough, drop heaping 1-tablespoon mounds of dough onto prepared sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake until just golden around edges, about 15 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let cookies cool completely on sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Whisk lemon juice and cream cheese in bowl until combined. Add confectioners' sugar and whisk until smooth. Top each cooled cookie with 1 teaspoon glaze. Serve. (Cookies can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.)
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