Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

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I’m still not quite sure about these. The flavor is there, a strong lemon taste with the special twang Meyer lemons bring, with the right amount of sweetness to balance it out. But the texture feels off to me. It’s a little too cooked on the bottom, and a little too chewy on the inside. They’re still cooling though, so I’ll have some patience and give them another taste.

I started by sifting the dry ingredients: all purpose flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, and poppy seeds.

dry ingredients

dry ingredients

The cap on the poppy seed jar snapped apart in my hands, which was annoying, especially since it was brand new.

broken cap

Next up was creaming the butter and sugar together, which was a challenge since the recipe only called for a quarter cup of butter. It took a while to get to the right texture, but eventually it happened.

creaming butter and sugar

creaming butter and sugar

creaming butter and sugar

Once I was satisfied with the texture, I added the rest of the liquid ingredients: an egg, honey, Meyer lemon zest, and Meyer lemon juice.

rest of the ingredients

I mixed it all in at medium speed until everything was incorporated.

incorporated

And in went the dry ingredients, incrementally.

adding flour

Pretty soon I had a bowl of decent-looking batter. I finished mixing by hand to make sure I didn’t overdo it.

batter

You can see the lemon zest in there, and taste it too. The dough was delicious. I didn’t have any plastic wrap, so I put a giant baggie over it and popped it into the fridge for half an hour.

baggie

I spent the next half hour playing cards with Juliet. We played war, which takes so long that we still weren’t done when the timer went off and Nathaniel graciously stepped in for me. I was winning, which helped motivate him.

I retrieved the dough from the fridge, and scooped it into balls, then dropped them onto a cookie sheet.

dough balls on tray

dough ball close up

And then Juliet decided she wanted to help after all, first by posing, and then by scooping out the dough.

Juliet with cookies

Juliet with cookie tray

Juliet scooping

Juliet scooping

Like her hair? We both got haircuts yesterday and we’re letting her go an extra day without washing hers because it looks so smooth and pretty. (I like her crazy hair too, but the smoothness is fun for a change.)

I put the first tray in, and set the timer for 10 minutes. At 12, they still didn’t have the promised cracks on top, but they looked very done on the bottom and I didn’t think I should leave them in any longer. They didn’t spread, and I tried flattening them as suggested in the directions, but it didn’t make a difference. They were cute little round squat cookies, not flat ones with cracks, and that was that.

cookies on rack

cookies on plage

They do taste awfully good, though, and the kids liked them enough to officially present them.

kids with cookies

So I guess I think they’re okay, but not terrific. Then again, I’ve thought that about almost everything I’ve made lately, so I’m not sure if I’m on a bad baking roll technique-wise or attitude-wise. I just haven’t made anything new that I really loved in a long time. I’d jump right back in tonight but the Oscars are on. Maybe I’ll give something a shot, maybe I’ll just make something I know is good and see if that goes wrong too. Hmph.


LEMON POPPY SEED COOKIES RECIPE

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