Lemon Blackberry Cookies
Lemon Blackberry Cookies
Scroll to find recipe and step by step instructions.
Servings Size:
makes approximately 12-14 cookies
Measurements:
Cookie Dough
1 cup butter (salted or unsalted)
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon extract
lemon zest from 1 lemon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour (unpacked)
Frosting
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
1/4 cup shortening (if you don’t have this, replace with butter)
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup of blackberry puree (crushed & strained blackberries)
2 tbsp heavy cream (if you don’t have this, replace with 1 tbsp milk)
How to strain berries?
If you have never strained berries, it is a very tedious process. To make things easier, you should use a food processor instead of smashing the berries by hand. Berries have many tiny seeds that I highly recommend removing. Use an extremely small strainer, and slowly strain the blended berries (puree) until you have removed most of the seeds.
Buttercream Frosting
I will always recommend using buttercream frosting because it always has a perfect consistency and is the most simple to make (if you follow the recipe and instructions correctly). However, the texture and consistency of your buttercream frosting depends on your environment. Your frosting will not hold a design very well in warmer environments. It is necessary to keep desserts with buttercream frosting chilled while you are storing them to avoid the frosting melted off of your dessert or becoming too soft—losing the design. You will lose your frosting swirl on top of your cookie if you leave it in heat for too long.
A way to avoid losing the design in the heat, whipping the butter for a longer amount of time (maybe 8-10 minutes) before you add any other ingredient may help stabilize it. Adding more powdered sugar or lessening the amount of heavy cream/milk substitute you use will also aid in this issue. Some buttercream recipes require more milk substances such as heavy cream to give it a fluffier texture. If this is the case and you want to put this dessert in a warmer environment for whatever reason, do not use this recipe for your buttercream or remove most of the liquid and replace it with more butter and powdered sugar.
A key factor to getting stable and airy buttercream that is not too dense is whipping your butter before adding any other ingredients. I always allow my butter to reach a white color and double in size before I add anything. This will allow your buttercream to be more airy without creating unnecessary air pockets.
Why measure in grams?
If you ask any bakery how they measure, most will say they measure in grams. Measuring by weight is more reliable for desserts because some recipes don’t specify if you should pack your ingredients and do not take into account how different people measure their ingredients. A common mistake people make in measuring ingredients is when measuring brown sugar. Brown sugar is clumpier than normal sugar because it is mixed with molasses. 100 grams of white sugar is equivalent to 100 grams of packed brown sugar—though most people don’t pack their brown sugar the same way, so you will most likely not get the same measurement unless using a scale.
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Measurements In Grams:
Cookie Dough
215 grams butter (salted or unsalted)
250 grams white sugar
50 grams cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg (60 grams)
4 grams vanilla extract
28 grams lemon juice
8 grams lemon extract
lemon zest from 1 lemon
8 grams baking powder
330 grams all-purpose flour (unpacked)
Frosting
2 sticks (215 grams) salted butter
50 grams shortening (if you don’t have this, replace with butter)
1000-1250 grams of powdered sugar
4 grams vanilla extract
4 grams lemon juice
50 grams of blackberry puree (crushed & strained blackberries)
28 grams heavy cream (if you don’t have this, replace with 10 grams of milk)
Instructions
Step 1
Preheat oven to convection 350 degrees fahrenheit.
Beat room temperature butter in stand mixer/by hand for 3-5 minutes (or until butter turns off-white).
Step 2
Add in white sugar and brown sugar. Beat the sugar with the butter until the mixture is fluffy (about 2 minutes).
Step 3
Add your large egg and stir into mixture.
Mix in vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon extract.
Step 4
Add lemon zest, flour, and baking powder to form your dough. If using a stand mixer, mix on low. If mixing by hand, use a spatula.
Step 5
Use a 1/3 cup scoop (or however much your heart desires) and place a single ball of dough on baking tray. THIS IS YOUR TEST COOKIE! Always start with baking a single cookie, to make sure you didn’t forget an ingredient and/or your oven isn’t too hot (some ovens have hot-spots or cook things quicker/slower than others). This is also a good indicator of how much your cookie will spread.
Step 6
Once test cookie is done, add cookie dough balls to your tray (I was able to fit 6, though you can alter that to fit the size of your tray and cookies).
Use your palm to flatten the cookies a little.
Step 7
Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees.
For perfectly circular cookies, use a circular bowl/cup and swirl around your fresh cookie to make edges clean. Then let cookies sit on tray for about 10 minutes before removing.
Step 8
To make blackberry puree, use a food processor to crush up around 20 blackberries. If you don’t want the seeds, use a strainer to remove them.
Cool your cookies in the fridge before icing.
Step 9
For frosting, beat butter and shortening in a bowl until fluffy (about 4-6 minutes).
Slowly add your powdered sugar until it forms a paste.
Next, add your heavy cream and beat until the heavy cream fluffs the frosting (about 2 minutes).
Lastly, add your extracts and blackberry puree to the frosting. (if the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar)
Step 10
Put frosting in Ziploc bag or piping bag and frost the cookies. (I used a circular piping tip!)
Frost cookies and add 1-2 tsp of blackberry puree on top for decoration!
You can store these in the fridge for up to 12 days or at room temperature for 10!