Lemon and ginger are a powerful and intoxicating flavor combination, especially in this cookie where I used a healthy dose of lemon zest and doubled down on the ginger, using both fresh and crystalized. The flavors are fresh, clean, and bright and, boy, do they smell good coming out of the oven. This is one heck of an excellent butter cookie.
These Lemon Ginger Butter Cookies have been on heavy rotation at my house over the last few months and my family will attest to the fact that they make a delicious “breakfast cookie” as well as a delightful teatime partner or post-dinner treat. My son even went so far as to say that with the burst of refreshing flavors, he believes they would be a lovely “palate cleanser” between courses. Honestly, we’ll use any excuse to enjoy a winning cookie like this one all day long.
I slice them on the thin side – 1/4-inch thick – so they bake up with a nice crunch and snap. Of course, you can slice them a bit thicker for a more substantial cookie that’s more shortbread-like in texture.
A few make-ahead notes:
• The cookie dough can be prepared, shaped, and refrigerated for two days or wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to three months. If frozen, thaw in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before proceeding.
• The baked and cooled cookies can be stowed between sheets of parchment or waxed paper in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temperature or for up to 6 weeks in the freezer. If frozen, thaw at room temperature.
The dough for this cookie mixes up quickly and shapes into nice round logs with the help of paper towel tubes. And, if you’re in a real hurry, the logs can be flash-chilled in the freezer so they are ready to slice, bake, and gift in no time.
Instead of gifting the baked cookies, consider gifting the chilled (or frozen) log(s) so that folks can slice and bake their own as their appetites allow. I’d suggest pre-scoring the logs for easy slicing and wrapping them up in a cellophane bag tied with a festive bow with a hangtag for baking directions. It’s a bit of an unusual approach, but when you think about how the treats really pile up around the holidays, it might be nice to have a log or two stowed in the freezer to pull out and bake up well after the festivities have died down.
If you’re new to our Baking Together column, be sure to check out our other recipes: One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Frosting; Pumpkin Cream Cheese Tart with Crushed Pretzel Crust, Butter Pecan Slice-and-Bake Cookies, Lemon Rosemary Parmesan Scones, Pie Plate Chocolate Chippers, Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Strawberry Shortcake, Lemony Blueberry Bars with Chunky Almond Crumble, Make-Ahead S’mores Squares, Streusel-Topped Ginger Pear Coffee Cake, Classic Apple Crumb Pie, Strawberry Hand Pies, Vanilla Rice Pudding for Two, The Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Cake, Coconut Cinnamon Tea Cake, Cheesy Biscuits Squared and Buttery Small-Batch Dinner Rolls.
We’d love to hear from you! Please drop a note in the comments section under the recipe and let us know your thoughts and if you made any changes so we can all learn from each other. It’s the goal of our Baking Together sessions here on Cook the Vineyard!
