Lemon Poppy Seed Sugar Cookies

Some posts and recipes I see on WordPress just speak to me and call out for more attention.  I love that there is people all over the world that speak the same language as me when it comes to my philosophies in life and food.

So when Sweet Pea’s Kitchen posted her Lemon Poppyseed Sugar Cookies I instantly hit print to add to my must make pile.  I looooooooooooove poppy seeds almost as much as I love sesame seeds, there is something about their texture that is awesome.  Plus I have wonderful memories from my childhood of my Mum’s Orange and poppy-seed cake and to this day it is one of my favourites to eat.  So seeing this recipe appealed to my inner child, and to my senses, and with a bit of tweaking for my own eating likes I was not disappointed.  I will definitely be asking my Mum for her cake recipe to pass on to you all, but for now, I bring you some super sweet treats to bake next time you feel like creating something special in your kitchen.

A couple of tips for you which I think make the cookies super good.  Zest your lemons over your sugar mix as it will give you the flavour of the oils to the sugar as you are zesting and give your cookies the extra zing that will make  your cookies sing.   Don’t be afraid to have more than the recipe specifies.  I would say 2 table spoons is the minimum required.

Oh and just quietly, I ran out of sugar for the last few cookies so I cooked them without the coating, whilst they weren’t as citrus they were still awesome.

yields approx 36 biscuits

• 2 cups unbleached plain flour, sifted
• 3 tbl sp poppy seeds
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 250 g softened unsalted butter
• 1 cup white sugar plus 1/2 cup for coating
• 1 tbl sp brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 4 tbl sp. lemon zest
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat your oven to 180 c.

Cream your butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Add your egg, vanilla, and half the lemon zest to the mix and beat until smooth.

Sift your flour and baking powder and then add the poppy seeds and salt.  Fold through gently until well combined.

Add your flour mix in portions to the creamed butter mix until it forms a firm dough.

In a small bowl place the 1/2 cup of remaining white sugar and add your lemon zest (ideally zest your lemon over the top of it).  Combine with your fingers rubbing the lemon into the sugar.

To make these cookies for baking you’ll then need to get a bowl of cold water.

First wet your hands and shake off the excess water.  Do not dry as you need your dough to get slightly wet so the sugar sticks.  Roll a small portion of the dough in between your hands.  Aim for a size approx 1/2 size of a golf ball.

Then roll the ball into the lemon sugar and place onto your baking sheet. 

Press down the ball with a fork or with a spoon depending on the texture you would like to have appear on the surface of your cookie.

Repeat until your mixture is used up.  These will spread as they bake so I would recommend approx 12 pieces per baking sheet.

Bake for approx 15 mins or until turning golden brown.

Sweet Pea’s Kitchen suggests if you don’t want to use these all straight away, the mix will freeze well.  At the stage where you would put your cookies into the oven, place them in the freezer.  Once they are frozen on the baking sheet you can then place them into a freezer bag for storage.   Then when you are wanting to partake in these little sweet sensations,  just defrost & then bake as normal.

Thank you to Sweet Pea’s Kitchen for the inspiration.  Stay tuned for an Orange and Poppy Seed Cake in the not too distant future.

Happy Cooking & Happy Baking.
Leah