Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Are you a fan of lemon bars?  If you are, you definitely need to try out this recipe.  It's way easier than lemon bars, the lemon-y flavor isn't quite as strong, and they are oh so delicious.  As I described them yesterday to a family member, "They're like the cookie version of lemon bars."  Here's the recipe:

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

This was quick and easy to make, and as I already mentioned, I loved them.  They're pretty hard to mess up, and they turn out nice and fluffy.  They're amazing warm, but they taste great once they've cooled as well.