Lemon Daisy Cookies

Yield: 24 Cookies Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

The Cookie

• 360 g All-Purpose Flour

• 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest

• 1 tsp Baking Soda

• 1 tsp Kosher Salt

• 252 g Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature

• 277 g Granulated Sugar

• 1 Large Egg

• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice (about 1 large lemon)

The Frosting

• 1 Batch of American Buttercream

• Gel Food Coloring (green, yellow, blue, & pink)

Recipe

Bake the Cookies

1. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, lemon zest, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light, fluffy, and pale in color. Approximately 4-5 minutes.

   Laila’s Tip: Start the mixer on a low speed until the ingredients are slightly incorporated. This prevents the sugar from flying out of your bowl.

3. Add the egg, vanilla, and lemon juice then continue to mix on medium speed until combined.

4. Lower the speed and slowly pour in the dry ingredients until a fully incorporated soft dough forms.

   Laila’s Tip: Look for a rippled dough texture that can hold its shape but isn’t too stiff. This means you’re more likely to have a chewy texture and your dough isn’t overworked.

5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

   Laila’s Tip: Chilling the dough is important here as it allows time for the flour to hydrate which gives it that perfect chewy texture.

6. Take out the dough and cover a cutting board or plate with parchment paper. Scoop out 34-35 grams (about 2 Tbsp) of dough and roll into a ball. Place on the parchment paper. Continue this until all the dough is rolled.

7. Cover in plastic wrap and place the rolled dough into the freezer to chill for 8 minutes.

8. Preheat the oven to 177°C (or 350°F) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

   Laila’s Tip: I highly recommend parchment paper here as during recipe testing it prevented these cookies from spreading too thin around the edges. You can bake without it but expect super crispy edges.

9. Take out the rolled dough and place a few dough balls on the sheet about 4 cm (1.5 inches) away from each other.

   Laila’s Tip: Store the remaining dough balls in the fridge and only take them out right before they’re going into the oven. Keeping them cool will also help prevent them from spreading too much when baking.

10. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned.

11. Cool completely before decorating.

Decorate the Cookies

1. Divide the batch of American Buttercream into 4 bowls. Add gel food coloring to each bowl to get the desired colors (green, yellow, blue, and pink). Mix the coloring in thoroughly.

2. Fill each color into its own piping bag fitted with a circle piping tip or cut the bag’s tip off to make a 1½ cm (½ inch) wide hole.

   Laila’s Tip: If you don’t have a piping bag, you can easily use a disposable storage bag (like Ziploc bags). Just fill the bag with the buttercream, squeeze it down into one of the bag’s corners, and cut the tip off as instructed.

3. Pipe 5 dots of buttercream around the edge of each cookie, switching the color of buttercream as you go. (If you made the 24 total cookies, you will have 6 cookies with green dots, 6 with yellow, 6 with blue, and 6 with pink.)

4. Using the back of a small spoon, gently press the icing dot down and drag it towards the middle of the cookie. Do this to every dot to create the “petals” of the flower.

5. Pipe one dot of buttercream that is a different color than the petals on that cookie in the middle of each cookie.

Still have some questions about the Recipe? Checkout the baking video on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube OR send me a message through the Contact page.

Happy Baking!