Adding Blueberries

I know I said in the previous Lemon Creme post that I had left the blueberries out of the original recipe, but a certain friend had wanted them back in, so being the obliging baker I am, I reverted back to the original recipe, just leaving out the cream cheese center.
Now, I know blueberries are out of season here in California right now, and we wont be getting any of the ripe, juicy ones from Watsonville and Castroville until summer, but I was able to pick up some little, blue beauties from Chile.
I stayed with the same Lemon Creme recipe, but after finishing the dough, I carefully folded in a cup of the blueberries.  Of course, during this, you're going to have some of them pop, but that just spreads the taste throughout the dough.  If you're mixing the blueberries in by hand, then the popped ones are definitely going to feel slimy and make rolling the dough into balls a LOT harder.  I always suggest just scooping with an icecream scooper.  It'll naturally roll the dough into somewhat of a ball shape.
After you've followed the directions the same you would've baking regular lemon cookies, you'll see that your finished product is a little messier, given that the blueberries have baked onto the pan.  It takes some scrubbing, but if you have good pans (and, again, I suggest Airbake) the baked-on juice comes off with persistant scrubbing.
I found that they come out looking and tasting a bit like scones:

The friend in particular who requested these also requested they be covered in the same icing I use with the regular Lemon Creme.  If you've made the cream cheese frosting from the previous recipe, you'll find that you had more than enough for your last batch, so there should be some still left (because it can be easily refrigerated or frozen) to frost these babies!

Zesty!

You bakers out there ever notice how much of a workout for your arm it is to zest a lemon?

I've got a bag of almost 10 lemons in my fridge, so it looks like I'm going to be baking a lot of lemon cookies for people.  My arm's going to get quite the workout.

Lemon Creme Drops

These have been a hit so far.  So much so that people are bringing me lemons, flour, and sugar so I can keep making them!  They came about from a Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese cookie recipe I had come across.  I tried baking it, with the hopes the cube of cream cheese you're supposed to wrap in the center of the cookie would melt and take on the sweetness of the dough, tasting like a lemon blueberry cheesecake.  In theory, it sounds awesome!  In reality, the cream cheese flattened and only gave the cookie a saltier taste.  Now, I'm not saying they were inedible, because they did end up tasting like a lemon blueberry scone, but it's not what I was hoping for.  So, back to the cutting board.  I left out the blueberries.  Let the dough chill for 30 minutes to make it hard enough to roll into pretty little balls.  Made cream cheese icing.  The result was lemon heaven.

1 cup(2 sticks) of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
the zest from 1 lemon
3 tbsp. lemon juice
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
     (if you don't have both the soda and the powder, one will substitute for the other, making it 1 tsp. of whichever you have)
1 tsp. salt
3 cups of flour

Cream together the butter and sugar.
Blend in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and eggs.
Mix in the flour, baking soda and baking powder, and salt, but I caution against dumping it in too fast mid-mixing, otherwise, you'll be coughing up flour throughout your whole baking experience.
Mix until there are no lumps, and no left-over, rogue patches of flour hiding on the edge of the bowl.
Refrigerate the dough for 20-30 minutes, or until you feel it's firm enough to roll into a ball.
Go put your feet up and watch some tv.
Are your 30 minutes up?
Preheat the oven to 350 deg.
Roll the cold dough between your hands into a tbsp. size ball, set on your pan (I prefer Airbake pans), and flatten slightly with your palm.
Place them about 2 in. apart.
Bake for about 14 min., or until the edges of your cookies are a light, golden brown.
Transfer the baked cookies to cooling racks and leave there until they're cool and ready to frost.

Simple, right?  Here's the pre-baked picture:

Now, you're either done baking and your cookies are all cooling, or you're a multi-tasker and you've got one batch in the oven and want to move on to making your frosting.  Here we go:

1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened
    In order to soften my cream cheese, I like to put it in the microwave in a measuring cup for about 15 seconds, or until it gives to the touch.
1 tbsp. butter, softened (I use butter-flavored Crisco for this because I have a tub of it, and it's easier to just scoop it out than to open a stick of butter just for the small tbsp., plus, it seems to make the frosting creamier. I think it's all the fat. Go figure.)
2 cups of powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
  Careful getting the sugar in the measuring cup or you'll have the same powdered-sugar-package-malfunction that I did:

Now let's beat the cream cheese and butter until it's smooth.
Add your powdered sugar and beat until there's no lumps.
It's going to look like a beautiful swirl of sinful goodness:

Now, hopefully you have some cooled lemon cookies that might look something like this:

Frost them to your liking, then set on the wire racks (or wherever you're cooling them) and place in the fridge.  I had to make room for mine on the bottom shelf by moving a lot of stuff around, but the cold does help the frosting set and not be so gooey.

Here's my finished, yummy project:

I know that storing these can be a pain because when you stack them, the frosting sticks to the bottom of the other cookie, but the tastiness is worth having a bit of a mess on your hands. ;)
I hope these turn out just as good for you as they did for me.  If you have any suggestions about add-ons or leave-outs, please let me know!!!

Until then, thank you for visiting Keri's Kitchen.

In the Beginning...

So, here it goes, my first blog.  And a blog about cooking, non the less.  Mainly baking cookies, but I might throw in an entree or side dish every once in a while.  I'll try to write the blog while things are baking, since my laptop sits right here, conveniently on the kitchen table.  I can't always promise that it will be an exciting play by play of every ingredient being added, every batch being put into the oven, but I'll try to keep it entertaining.
I'll be posting recipes to some of my favorite cookies, my suggestions for add-in's, and maybe some things that would compliment the tastes (such as a cup of coffee for a Chai Spice cookie, or a BIG glass of milk for a Peanut Butter Toffee cookie).  I'll also be adding pictures of the finished products, and maybe a few of the process.
I hope people read this, get good ideas for recipes of their own, and maybe comment and give ME advice on how to make a recipe better, or maybe their own experience making one of my own.
So, welcome to Keri's Kitchen.