A few weekends ago it was a fabulous day in Santiago, not simply because of the weather, though it was a fairly nice winter day, but because a day at the market produced the most wonderful results. On a Saturday, I finally managed to make it out of the house at a reasonable hour, meaning there was time to go to La Vega Central, the huge fruit, vegetable, and all purpose market in the center of the city.
The vendors there have amazing fresh produce and though I’ve been told that not many santiaguinos (people from Santiago) actually shop there, with things as cheap and fresh as they are there, I have no excuse. Especially when you consider what we had for dinner that day along with these tasty lemon sugar cookies. We had, for about $3 each, pasta with a fruiti di mare wine sauce with enough clams and mussels for everyone to have at least 7 a piece and lots of tasty sauce. I, unfortunately, cannot claim to have made such a delicious meal, but I think I will be trying to replicate it in the future!
In the meantime, I recommend trying these fairly easy sugar cookies. I made just half the recipe and we ended up with more than plenty of cookies to go around. In fact, we probably would have had more if my co-worker, Andrew, hadn’t eaten about 15. I also made these cookies smaller than the recipe recommends, but they could be larger if desired. In addition, I made sure to put tons of lemon zest and juice into these since the last time I made them, you could barely taste the lemon and I decided that these cookies, instead of traditional sugar cookies should be lemon sugar cookies. This time, I think they came out just perfectly lemony!
Lemon Sugar Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart)
Yield: Makes about 20 (3 1/2-inch) cookies (I recommend smaller cookies and cutting the recipe in half)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), softened
2 large eggs
Extra sugar, for sprinkling
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl; set aside.
3) Put sugars and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed 30 seconds.
4) Add butter; mix until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time, and then the lemon juice. Reduce speed; gradually add flour mixture, and mix until just combined.
5) Scoop dough using a 2-inch ice cream scoop (warning: this creates enormous cookies!) space cookies 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Flatten cookies slightly with a spatula.
6) Sprinkle tops with sugar, then using a pastry brush, lightly coat with a bit of lemon juice; sprinkle with more sanding sugar.
7) Bake cookies until golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks using a spatula; let cool completely.
