By The kitchen is in full spring mode. The oven at 375 (always 375), the crockpot on the counter, the pantry stocked with jars from last August's canning — the evidence of a woman who preserves summer against winter and loss against forgetting and food against everything.
Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made lemon chicken with capers earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.
The garden is waking up. The garlic that overwintered is pushing green shoots through the soil, the annual proof that buried things come back. Jack's seedlings are hardening off in the greenhouse. The Marlene cherry tomato — generation 7 now — ready for transplanting. Every spring the planting is the memorial. Every spring the name goes back in the ground.
The lemon chicken earlier in the week had already cracked something open — that sense that the kitchen doesn’t have to only look backward. Lemon does that. It sharpens everything, cuts through the heaviness, insists on the present tense. So when the week wound down and the seedlings were hardening off and the garlic was pushing green through cold soil, I made these cookies — soft, tangy, glazed bright — because the same kitchen that holds the Thursday schedule and the August jars and the Marlene tomato’s seventh generation also gets to celebrate. These are a small, lemony proof of that.
Softbatch Glazed Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 30 min (plus cooling) | Servings: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest (from about 1 large lemon)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- For the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 2–3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat & prep. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream butter and cream cheese. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and cream cheese together with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
- Add sugar. Add the granulated sugar and beat until well combined, about 1 minute more.
- Add wet ingredients. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth and fragrant.
- Combine. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low until just combined — do not overmix. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky.
- Portion & bake. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the centers still look slightly underdone. They firm up as they cool.
- Cool. Let cookies rest on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before glazing.
- Make the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, and lemon zest until smooth. Add the third tablespoon of lemon juice if needed to reach a drizzleable consistency.
- Glaze & set. Spoon or drizzle glaze over the cooled cookies. Let sit 10–15 minutes until the glaze is set before serving or storing.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 148 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 74mg