Lemonu Sugar Cookie Monsters

Lemony Sugar Cookie Monsters

Makes about 3 dozen

To decorate these frightening monster cookies, we’ve opted for flavorful dried fruit and nuts instead of sugary icing. Try using dried blueberries or currants for the eyes and pumpkin seeds or pine nuts for the teeth and eyebrows. Dried cranberries and slivered almonds are great to have on hand for decorating, too. Make sure to allow time for chilling the dough.

Ingredients

2½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3/4 cup (1½ sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 drops natural orange (or a combination of red and yellow) food coloring (optional)
Dried fruit and nuts for decorating

Method

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl; set aside. In a second large bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 30 seconds, then beat in 1 egg. Add lemon juice, zest and vanilla and beat again until smooth, about 30 seconds more. Add flour mixture and beat to combine. Add food coloring (if using) and beat again, or knead by hand, just until color is evenly distributed. Shape dough into two logs then wrap each snugly in parchment paper, twisting the ends in opposite directions like a piece of candy to tighten each roll and make it uniformly round and about 6 inches long. Chill for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk remaining egg and 1 tablespoon water together in a small bowl to make an egg wash; set aside.

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut dough crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices and transfer to prepared baking sheets, arranging cookies about 1 inch apart. Working with a few cookies at a time, brush tops with egg wash then decorate with dried fruit and nuts to make monster faces on each. Bake until light golden brown about the edges, 12 to 13 minutes. Set aside to let cookies cool completely then serve.

Nutrition

Per serving (3 cookies/86g-wt.): 360 calories (160 from fat), 19g total fat, 8g saturated fat, 65mg cholesterol, 105mg sodium, 44g total carbohydrate (3g dietary fiber, 20g sugar), 6g protein