Candied Meyer Lemon Cookies

These Candied Meyer Lemon Cookies highlight my favorite type of citrus. Meyer lemons are thought to be a cross between a regular lemon and an orange. They are slightly smaller than standard lemons, and have a sweeter, less tart taste.

While some grocery stores now carry them all year ‘round, I prefer to use them when they’re most in season (January through April).

For this recipe, I started with my family’s favorite sour cream sugar cookie recipe, but got rid of the holiday-ish nutmeg in the dough and added ground ginger instead. I also whipped up a simple cream cheese frosting, but the true star of the show is the candied Meyer lemon.

Candying citrus is actually a very simple process. The trickiest part is getting the seeds out of each slice of lemon, but even that isn’t too bad. It’s kind of fun.

After your lemon slices are de-seeded and ready to go, you give them a very quick cook in boiling water to soften them up a touch. Then you dump a bunch of sugar and water in a skillet, throw in your lemon slices, and let them simmer for an hour.

It’s tempting to go binge-watch something on Netflix like I did, but you DO need to check on the lemons every 10 minutes or so, to make sure they’re not simmering too rapidly and that the sugar syrup isn’t getting brown. Because then you’ll end up with caramelized lemons, which are delicious, but not really what we’re going for here.

While each component here (cookies, frosting and candied lemons) can be made in advance, these cookies are best eaten the day they are frosted and decorated.

Like my heart cookies, I think this Candied Meyer Lemon Cookies recipe would be perfect for a spring bridal or baby shower, or just to give yourself a little treat to beat the mid-winter blues. Enjoy!

Candied Meyer Lemon Cookies

Author: Lori Yates

Yield: 36 cookies

Prep: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook: 8 minutes minutes

Total: 1 hour hour 38 minutes minutes

These Candied Meyer Lemon Cookies highlight my favorite type of citrus. 

5 from 1 rating

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Ingredients

For the Cookies:

• ▢ 1 stick unsalted butter, softened slightly (but NOT melted) in microwave 8 tablespoons
• ▢ ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg at room temperature
• ▢ ½ cup full fat sour cream at room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 ¾ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour plus more if needed, and additional for rolling

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• ▢ 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature 8 tablespoons
• ▢ 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• ▢ 2 cups powdered sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Candied Meyer Lemons:

• ▢ 6 Meyer lemons cut into 1/4 inch thick slices, seeds removed (36 slices)
• ▢ 4 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

Make the Cookies:

• In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium-high speed 2 minutes or until light and fluffy.
• Add egg, sour cream, baking soda, ginger and vanilla and mix at medium speed until well combined.
• Gradually beat in flour. This will be a very thick dough. If dough seems too thin and sticky, gradually add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time and mix until combined and you have a nice thick dough (do not add more than 2 additional tablespoons of flour). Cover and chill overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Meanwhile, allow dough to come to room temperature for 15 minutes.
• Flour work surface and rolling pin very well. In batches, roll chunks of dough (about 1 cup dough) to about 1/8-inch thickness (it is helpful to flatten dough with your hands into a disc before you start rolling it out).
• Cut dough using 3-inch round cookie cutters.
• In batches, as you finish rolling and cutting them, transfer cookies to unlined cookie sheets. Baking time is very dependent on exact oven temperature and cookie sheet you use. Transfer cookies to oven and bake cookies 8 to 10 minutes or until they just begin to become light golden brown around the edges (start checking them at 8 minutes until you know how long your oven will take). Cookies will be very soft when they come out of the oven. Carefully transfer to parchment paper and let cool completely before frosting.

Make the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• Place butter and cream cheese in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
• Reduce mixer to low; gradually mix in powdered sugar, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Add vanilla; beat until well combined.

Make the Candied Meyer Lemons:

• Heat large pot of water to boiling. Fill large bowl with ice and water.
• In batches, add lemon slices to boiling water and cook 1 minute. Transfer lemon slices to ice water and let cool 2 minutes; drain.
• Place 2 large skillets over medium heat. Add 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water to each skillet; heat until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and divide lemon slices between skillets. Simmer 1 hour or until rinds are translucent, stirring and turning lemons occasionally. Watch carefully to be sure sugar solution isn’t browning (reduce heat if necessary).
• Transfer lemon slices to wire rack set over rimmed baking pan; cool completely.

To Decorate:

• Spread each cookie with about 1 tablespoon frosting and top with 1 candied lemon slice.

Notes

• While each component here (cookies, frosting and candied lemons) can be made in advance, these cookies are best eaten the day they are frosted and decorated.

Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 225kcal, Carbohydrates: 38g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 27mg, Sodium: 54mg, Potassium: 24mg, Fiber: 0.2g, Sugar: 33g, Vitamin A: 269IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 13mg, Iron: 0.3mg

This website provides estimated nutrition information as a courtesy only. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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