Sugared & Stirred

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Soft Iced Lemon Cookies (DF)

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It’s still citrus season, and is it just me or does the coming of Spring scream CITRUS DESSERT TIME? Lemon, orange, grapefruit, and lime. All of those fruits peak during the cold season here in North America, but they’ll forever remind me of Spring and Summer; after all, I didn’t even know that winter was citrus season until I started food blogging. Anyway, these Soft Iced Lemon Cookies are the perfect (seasonally appropriate!) dessert to take us into warmer weather. A sweet, chewy sugar cookie flavored with fresh lemon zest and then topped with a tangy lemon icing with lots of lemon juice. So good. And if you’re going to cheat on chocolate, it might as well be with these gems.

This cookie dough is my favorite dough for any and all chewy sugar cookies, and this version is quick and so easy – no refrigeration required! Plus the icing is a simple, 4-ingredient mix! Basically, if you want lemon cookies to eat right now, or you don’t have a lot of time to bake, then this recipe is for you! These cookies also save really well, so if you want to make them the day before an event, they’ll still be soft and chewy the next day. In fact, I like them even better after given a day to set/rest.

Yield: 16 Cookies

Soft Iced Lemon Cookies

Soft Iced Lemon Cookies

Soft and chewy lemon sugar cookies topped with a sweet, zingy lemon icing. The perfect quick and easy cookie for any citrus lover!

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

Lemon Cookies

  • 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
  • 2/3 cup granulated cane sugar
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp almond extract (or vanilla extract)
  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest (from ~3 large lemons or ~5 small lemons)

Lemon Icing

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • Juice from 1-2 lemons
  • Zest from 1 lemon

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, egg yolk, sugar, oil, and almond extract; set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the liquid ingredients and use a large wooden spoon to work the ingredients together - the dough may seem dry at first but keep mixing. Finally, mix in the lemon zest.
  4. Roll dough balls 1 1/2 Tbsp in size and bake six at a time on your prepared baking sheet at 350°F for 5-6 minutes.
  5. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before moving to a wire cooling rack. Continue until all cookies are baked.
  6. Once your cookies are totally cool, you can make the icing. In a medium bowl, add the powdered sugar, almond extract, and 1 Tbsp of lemon juice. Mix until combined. Then add more lemon juice, 1 tsp at a time, until you've got a thick glaze - when you drizzle the glaze on itself, it should take 2 or 3 seconds for the ribbons to disappear. Mix in the lemon zest.
  7. Spoon the glaze/icing onto each cookie, using the back of your spoon to spread the icing over the cookie surfaces.
  8. Allow icing to set before storing. Once set, store the cookies in a single layer in an airtight container.

Notes

  • Feel free to use any kind of plain granulated cane sugar for the cookie dough: white granulated sugar, unrefined granulated sugar, raw sugar, etc. I used an unrefined cane sugar.
  • You can add however much (or little) lemon zest you like to both the cookie dough and icing. 1 Tbsp of fresh zest will give a mild lemon taste to the cookies. The lemon juice in the icing is where the tangy lemon flavor comes from, so if you choose to forgo the icing, you may want to add more zest to your cookie dough.
  • I don't include nutrition information for recipes where you may not use all of the icing.

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© Rachael | Sugared & Stirred
Cuisine: American / Category: Cookies

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More citrus recipes:

Orange Loaf with Almond Buttercream (vegan option)
Glazed Orange Almond Muffins (vegan option)
Orange Iced Ginger Molasses Cookies (dairy-free)
Soft & Chewy Orange Sugar Cookies (dairy-free)

Cranberry Orange Crumb Muffins

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I’ve always loved the big, bakery-style cranberry orange muffins at the grocery store, so when I saw a bag of cranberries in my freezer from last holiday season, I knew I wanted to set out to make my own dairy-free cranberry orange muffins! I topped these ultra fluffy muffins with a cinnamon crumb topping pre-bake and then drizzled the cooled muffins with a delicious, homemade cranberry orange sauce. The crumb topping and drizzle add a sweetness and flavor that you won’t want to miss! The best part is that these toppings are rather simple and made up of ingredients you will already have on hand. I like to use whole wheat pastry flour in my muffins and quick breads because it gives them such a dreamy fluffy texture. If you don’t have WWPF readily available, then all-purpose flour will work just fine. Happy baking!

 

Cranberry Orange Crumb Muffins
Makes 12 regular muffins

Muffins
2 large eggs, room temp
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut milk yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp fresh orange juice
Zest from two oranges
1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (unthawed)
Crumb Topping
1/4 cup flour (whole wheat pastry or all-purpose)
3 Tbsp coconut sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
Cranberry Orange Drizzle (optional)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (unthawed)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2-3 Tbsp honey

1.) Bring your eggs to room temperature by placing them in a glass of warm water for ~10 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350°F and spray your muffin pan(s) with olive oil.

2.) In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar and eggs. Add the applesauce, yogurt, vanilla extract, orange juice, and orange zest and stir until combined. Mix in the melted coconut oil; set aside.

3.) Make your crumb topping by combining the flour, coconut sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add the melted coconut oil and mix until small crumbs form; set aside.

4.) Stir your fresh or frozen (unthawed!) cranberries into the flour mixture. Pour wet ingredients into dry and fold until no flour pockets remain. Fill your muffin pan all the way to the top and top each muffin with your desired amount of crumb topping – I think that more is better!

5.) Bake your muffins at 350°F for 18-22 min. Let them rest in the pan for 10 minutes before gently removing to a cooling rack to totally cool.

6.) Meanwhile, prepare your sauce/drizzle by adding cranberries, orange juice, and honey to a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and continue cooking until all the cranberries have popped and the liquid has reduced. Taste your sauce and add more orange juice to thin or more honey to sweeten. For a finer consistency, use a food processor or immersion blender to blend (I did not do this). Drizzle sauce over your cooled muffins and top with fresh orange zest. Enjoy!

Vegan Apple Butter Linzer Cookies

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There’s something about apple butter that just makes me want to bake. Like, can I just put apple butter in everything? This was my first time making it homemade, and I couldn’t help but imagine it sandwiched between two cinnamon spiced cookies. The best part? The homemade apple butter is so easy. It takes a little prep and a lot of hands-off time, but if you find joy in the experience of making things from scratch, then I can’t recommend this recipe enough. It’s sweetened with a little coconut sugar and perfectly spiced, and this recipe makes enough that you will have plenty of leftovers to keep or gift to others!

The cookies are simple and include both all-purpose and almond flours in the tradition of linzer cookies. I found that they’re best a little over-baked, because you want to get these cookies as firm as possible. You’ll only want to sprinkle powdered sugar on your tops (or window cookies), and when you go to spoon the apple butter on, be sure to wait until just before you plan to serve your cookies. Feel free to experiment with different cookie cutter shapes and sizes when planning your cookies. Happy Baking!

Vegan Apple Butter Linzer Cookies

Cookies
1 flax egg (1 Tbsp flax meal + 3 Tbsp water)
1/2 cup coconut oil, solid
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 powdered sugar to sprinkle (optional)
1/2 cup apple butter (recipe below!)

1.) Prepare flax egg by mixing flax and water in a small bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the coconut oil, coconut sugar, and honey with a large spoon. Add in the vanilla and flax egg and mix until just combined.

2.) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir with a large spoon until just combined. Scoop dough out onto a pice of plastic wrap, wrap neatly, and flatten to a disc shape. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes or until it’s stiff enough to roll out.

3.) Preheat oven to 300℉. Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out to 1/8-1/4″ thick. Freeze rolled out dough for five minutes. Cut cookies using a 2-3″ cookie cutter and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet (if your dough isn’t cold enough to cut out, pop it back in the freezer for a few minutes). Once you’ve cut out your cookies, re-freeze them for 5 minutes before baking. Bake at 300℉ for 10-14 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies – bigger cookies will take longer to bake. You’d rather these cookies be a bit over-baked.

4.) Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Once totally cool, separate your cookie tops from the bottoms. Dust powdered sugar over the tops of the top/window cookies. Spoon apple butter onto the bottom cookies and place cookie tops on, pressing down slightly. The amount of apple butter you add is really up to you! Serve immediately and store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Apple Butter (makes ~4 cups)
8 apples
1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
Pinch cloves

1.) Peel, core, and dice your apples and place them into a crockpot. Add the sugar and spices and cook on low for 10 hours.

2.) Pour cooked apples into a blender and blend until smooth. Store in the refrigerator.

NOTE:
The cookies and apple butter can be made ahead of time, but the cookies should only be assembled right before serving

 

Keto Strawberry Protein Mini Muffins

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When one of my Instagram followers messaged me about high-protein, ketogenic desserts, I knew I wanted to really branch out (y’all know I love my carbs!) and attempt something that was keto-friendly and made with protein powder! I came up with these Strawberry Protein Mini Muffins after doing a bit of Googling on what kind of foods are keto-friendly. I was looking for ingredients that were low-carb and higher in fat, so I chose to use almond flour as the base and added three large eggs, protein powder, olive oil, and a sprinkling of coconut flakes – these get nice and toasty in the oven.

I’ve had a big bag of Stevia in the Raw sitting around for a while now, so I took this opportunity to finally put it to use! Yes! I’m so excited to offer you guys a yummy, keto-friendly treat in portions that are small enough for you to decide how many carbs you want to add to your daily diet. My husband and mom (who is a major sweets lover!) both love these! Happy baking!

Keto Strawberry Protein Mini Muffins
Makes ~40 mini muffins

2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup protein powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt or table salt
3 large eggs, room temp
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Stevia in the Raw
1 cup chopped strawberries
1/2-1 cup flaked coconut for topping (optional)

1.) Bring your eggs to room temperature by placing them in a glass of warm water for ~10 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350° and line your mini muffin pan with paper liners*

2.) In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3.) In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Whisk in the olive oil, almond milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Add the Stevia and stir until combined.

4.) Add liquid ingredients to dry and stir until just combined. Fold in the chopped strawberries until no flour pockets remain.

5.) Fill mini muffin pan 3/4 of the way full (I used a 1 Tbsp cookie scoop of batter for each muffin). Top with desired toppings – I chose coconut flakes! – and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean**

6.) Allow muffins to cool in the pan on top of a cooling rack for 10 minutes before removing to totally cool on a cooling rack until ready to eat. We actually liked these better the next day, and I recommend storing them in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

*I highly recommend using liners when baking muffins with almond flour. I’ve found that this kind of flour tends to make quick breads stick to the pan, no matter how much oil spray I’ve used
**before using a toothpick, I like to lightly tap one muffin to see if it bounces back. If it does, I know there’s a good chance the muffins are done

 

Cherry Galette with Walnut Cacao Crust

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An easy and dairy-free cherry galette with a nutty, chocolatey crust to redeem any ill-will toward chocolate + cherry. Oh. Is that just me? As a kid I hated those bright red, chocolate-covered cherries with the white goo. You know, the ones popular with our parents or grandparents around Christmas time? Well, we alway had a couple of boxes laying around for the holidays, because my dad loves them. For the longest time, I wouldn’t go near anything chocolate + cherry, because omg remember those boxed cherries?! It wasn’t until I was well into adulthood that I gave chocolate cherry ice cream a taste, and my heart freaking sang. That stuff is good.

When I saw chocolate cherry galettes trending a bit on Instagram, I knew I wanted to take my galette recipe and turn it into a warm, chocolatey dessert bursting with one of my favorite summer fruits. The filling is very simple, and I promise that the hardest part is pitting the cherries. If you don’t have walnuts on hand, you can simply use another 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour, and, as always, regular cocoa powder will work just fine if you don’t have cacao powder. The chocolate drizzle is optional but will take your galette to a whole nother level of chocolate cherry goodness, and who doesn’t want that?! (it’s okay if you don’t want that)

Galettes are meant to look rustic, so don’t stress about rolling out a perfect circle or getting the edges tidy and clean. Your folds can be a bit hasty, too, but if the crust begins to split, be sure to pinch it back together – use a little water if you need to – so your filling stays put. Happy baking!

Cherry Galette with Walnut Cacao Crust

Crust
1/3 cup walnuts
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp cacao powder
2 Tbsp coconut sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup coconut oil, solid
~5 Tbsp ice cold water
Filling
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1 1/2 Tbsp tapioca starch/flour (or 3/4 Tbsp corn starch)
2 Tbsp coconut sugar
Egg Wash
1 large egg, beaten
Chocolate Drizzle
3 Tbsp dairy-free chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1 tsp coconut oil

1.) Add walnuts, flour, cacao powder, coconut sugar, and salt to a food processor or blender and blend until walnuts have turned to fine crumbs. Add solid coconut oil and blend until combined. Add 2 Tbsp of ice water and blend. Continue adding ice water by 1 Tbsp until dough comes together and looks quite sticky. I found that adding the cacao powder makes the dough look ready when it’s not (i.e. it looks wet enough but dries out by the time I roll it out). I ended up adding about 5 Tbsp of ice water.

2.) Scoop dough out onto plastic wrap, shape into a ball, wrap, and flatten to a disc shape. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until solid enough to roll out.

3.) Preheat oven to 375°. On a large piece of parchment paper, roll dough out into a large circle about 1/8 – 1/4” thick. Use a little flour to keep the dough from sticking to your rolling pin. If your circle looks more like a rectangle, that’s okay.

4.) In a medium bowl, mix cherries with tapioca starch and coconut sugar. Scoop mixture onto your rolled out crust, being sure to leave ~1 1/2” of bare crust around the edge. Pour any leftover liquid over the cherries.

5.) Brush the exposed crust edge with egg wash and fold edge over the cherries, going around until all of the edge has been folded over (don’t worry about it being perfect!). If your crust breaks open, gently pinch it back together with your fingers, using water to help smooth it together if you need to. Egg wash the top of the crust and sprinkle with a bit of coconut sugar (optional).

6.) Gently transfer parchment paper/galette to a baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 20-30 minutes or until fruit is bubbling. Allow to cool to desired temp before serving. Just before serving, melt your chocolate chips and coconut oil together. Drizzle chocolate mixture over your galette. Top with your favorite ice cream and enjoy!