Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies with a Lemon Glaze

When life gives you lemons... bake cookies! Once again girlfriend Tanya gifted me with a bagful of gigantic lemons from her tree in Yuma. Besides smelling divine, these juicy monsters yield oodles of zest - perfume with a purpose.  

Ooooh, the possibilities; lemon cookies, lemon cakes, lemon sauces, Hollandaise of course, fresh lemon zest in everything... No contest! Let's celebrate Spring-almost-Summer with a batch of lemon cookies. 

RL was out of town and I never rarely bake cookies just for myself, so this first, experimental batch was purposed as a thank you treat for a medical office crew I've visited lately. An upbeat, supportive group of professionals, I expect them to sample with enthusiasm and provide honest feedback on taste and texture.

Lemon sugar cookies, dropped not rolled, sounded sunny and flavorful but I turned to some online resources to fine tune the recipe.  A Cooking: NYTimes post for Basic Sugar Cookies did cover the basics, but I wanted more flavor "pop" to highlight the essential lemonyness.

Lemon Sunshine Cookies at Serious Eats made claims to "melting away on your tongue into a burst of lemon". Yeah, that's more like it, and a dip in a lemon glaze upped the sweetness factor. This recipe had possibilities, but I kept searching.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies at Two Peas & Their Pod added poppy seeds, just because, and that sold me. Who doesn't love Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins?! (My Costco Copycat version is a winner around here.) link

One of Tanya's Arizona lemons, plus a couple of tablespoons of poppy seeds, transformed ordinary sugar cookies into soft, sweet, lemony bites of sunshine. Thanks to Maria and Josh for posting the recipe. Now I can't wait for the taste test feedback. I will update soon.

6/5/2017 update: the cookies were a major hit with the clinic staff (plus a few incidental other folks who heard there was food in the break room). Two dozen Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies and three dozen Cruising Cookies tied for "favorite cookie" honors. I consider that a baking success.

Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

from a recipe at Two Peas and Their Pod
yield: 24-30 cookies

• COOKIES:
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 heaping tablespoons lemon zest
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

GLAZE:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 4-5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 
  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to line 2 insulated cookie sheets. Set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl. Whisk and set aside.

In another small bowl, blend together the sugar and lemon zest.

Use an electric mixer, stand mixer or handheld, and beat the softened butter and lemon zest/sugar mixture together at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, lemon juice, vanilla and lemon extract; mix until smooth.

Add the dry ingredient mixture; use low speed and beat until just combined. Stir in the poppy seeds by hand. Drop walnut-sized blobs of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, placing them roughly 2-inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are just set and the edges are golden brown; approx. 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool cookies on baking sheet for 2 minutes. Then remove to baking racks to cool completely. (Don't glaze until the cookies have cooled!)

For the glaze: whisk powdered sugar and 2/3 of the lemon juice together in a medium bowl. Whisk together to remove lumps, adding remaining lemon juice as necessary to achieve desired glaze consistency. Dip each cookie top into the glaze; return to baking rack, glaze side up, and let rest until the glaze sets up. (You will have extra glaze - get creative with the leftovers.)

Fast-Rise Bread with Sourdough, Cherries & Nuts

I could have spent hours watching a squadron of seagulls as they played in the wind, working the currents high aloft, seeming to hang suspended without ever flapping a wing, then suddenly climb or dive to travel at warp speed out of sight, only to reappear in view out another window.

Instead of mentally soaring with seagulls I turned my attention indoors and flew in the galley, hoping to produce a fast yeast bread with some added sourdough tang. Fast and sourdough don't often mix. Fast-rise breads often sacrifice flavor and taste boringly bland. A true sourdough loaf requires long hours, even days, to achieve its rise and full flavor. Hoping for the best of both worlds I tweaked a Cookistry recipe and began mixing dough.

The boat galley lacks a stand mixer but that's no problem; kneading is a therapeutic activity and I enjoy the process. Lacking a kitchen scale as well, I used quantity measures rather than weight for the sourdough starter and flour. I'll work out the weights when I'm back ashore, or figure out some out-of-the-way spot to store one more galley appliance. For now I'm working by feel to get the right ratio of liquid and flour.

RL requested I incorporate his favorite bread additions into the mix - sour cherries and nuts. These add-ins have been problematic in previous sourdough loaves (link), tearing the surface and poking out of the bread only to scorch and burn in the oven. Fix #1: Rather than mix these ingredients into the dough, try the typical cinnamon roll technique: roll out the dough into a rectangle, scatter the fruit and nuts over the surface, then roll up and coil into a round (rather than cut into individual pieces). Fix #2: lower the oven temperature from 375 F to 350 F.

Success! the recipe produced two small rounds with a solid hint of sourdough flavor and featured a crisp crust with a tender crumb. We eagerly devoured several thick slices, still warm from the oven, without butter or jam. Yum! Next we snacked on small chunks, slathered with salted butter and cherry jam (RL) or lingonberry jam (me). Again, Yum! Toasted for breakfast the next day the bread was still tasty. And by day three it was gone. 

In Review:
Yes, I would make this recipe again, whenever short on time or patience. It won't match the flavor and texture of a traditional two-day sourdough, but it was a decided improvement on some other fast-rise loaves I have tried.
    
I awarded positive points for...
... the crisp crust, even though it never achieved beautiful golden brown status.
... the soft crumb and pleasant homemade, white-bread texture.
... the fast rise and ease of preparation.
... a flavor that had some presence.
RL deducted points for...
... the lack of large, airy holes and the homemade, white-bread texture.
... increasing dry interior on days two and three. 
... uneven distribution of cherries and nuts (the fault of the cook, not the recipe).

It could be time to bake bread again... unless I'm distracted by the seagulls.         

Fast-Rise Bread with Added Sourdough, Sour Cherries and Walnuts

adapted from Donna's recipe at Cookistry

3/4 cup warm water
generous pinch of sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) rapid rise yeast 
1 cup sourdough starter (at 100 percent hydration)
2 1/2 to 3 cups AP flour
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil 
1 cup dried sour cherries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl whisk together the yeast, sugar and water, then add the starter and flour. Knead the dough, adding flour as necessary to achieve a silky and elastic texture. Add the lemon zest, salt and olive oil; continue kneading until both are fully incorporated.

Oil the mixing bowl lightly, shape the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until the dough has doubled, (typically one hour in my galley.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle some cornmeal on a baking sheet. 

Remove the dough from the bowl, and shape as desired. 
(I divided the dough in half, rolled each piece into a large rectangle, and sprinkled evenly with cherries and nuts. Beginning with a long side, roll up into a cylinder and coil into a round ball; pat firmly or roll to smooth and tighten the surface.) 
Place on parchment, cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray, and let it rise until doubled, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap, slash the dough as desired, and bake at 350 degrees until browned and internal temperature reads 185-195, about 40 minutes.
(I baked one loaf inside a preheated, covered Dutch oven and the second loaf uncovered, resting on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. The results were remarkably similar.) 


Cool completely on a rack before cutting.

Herb Crusted Pork Scallopini

Why was a small 2-pound frozen pork loin roast a problem? Don’t roll your eyes - I wanted the space for rolls of Cruising Cookie dough. You're laughing, right? Refrigerator/freezer space is an ongoing issue when we cruise. I need space for frozen vegetables, meat, poultry, etc. and a little ice cream to carry us through the weeks between towns and provisioning opportunities. The Capt. requires space for bait and fresh-caught seafood when we can’t consume the entire catch immediately. It becomes an interesting dialogue.

Two pounds of pork were too much for a dinner for two, and the roast was only partially thawed. So I sliced off three chops to work with for dinner and put the still-frozen chunk back in the fridge to deal with tomorrow. Next I cut a small bouquet of sage from the overflowing herb pot and paused… now what? 

Sage has such an assertive presence I don’t use it often; it needs other strong flavors to tame it. Garlic, grainy mustard and lemon sounded good, and in the end they all came together better than anticipated.

Sage and lemon are a tasty team, and the mustard and Parmesan add a terrific light crust. The sauce could be fancied up with marsala and cream instead of lemon, but we enjoyed the lighter approach. While I miss having a large in-ground garden,  the herb pot has been great fun to work with once again. 

Herb Crusted Pork Scallopini

3 pork loin chops (1/2-inch thick)

salt and black pepper

garlic powder (to taste)

3 Tablespoons grainy mustard

3 Tablespoons fresh sage, minced +more for topping

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
approx 2 teaspoons smokey paprika

1 Tablespoon canola oil or cooking spray

2 Tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces

zest of 1 lemon, divided

juice of 1 lemon

additional salt and pepper (optional)

Sprinkle a small amount of water on a large sheet of plastic wrap. Place a steak on top of the plastic and sprinkle again with water. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap and pound until about 1/4 inch thick. Repeat with the remaining 2 steaks.

Lightly sprinkle the pork with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Spread one side with mustard, scatter half of the sage and cheese on top and press firmly to attach. Dust lightly with smokey paprika. Repeat on the second side.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the pork until lightly browned on both sides but still quite pink in the middle, 2 minutes or less per side. Add the butter to the pan and and heat until melted. Add the lemon juice and half of the zest and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce ingredients blend and pork is barely pink in the center.

Transfer to warmed serving plate and pour the pan juices over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining lemon zest, a scattering of shredded sage and additional salt and pepper as desired.