Minty Lime Tea Cookies

The only exciting news I have to share with you lovely people is this: I RAN 4.17 MILES on Wednesday! It was the farthest I’ve ever ran and it felt so FREAKING AWESOME.  Once I got past 3.25 miles I kept singing out loud to myself,  “This is the farthest I’ve ever ran. Go me!”  The few people that walked past me probably thought I was a fool, but I was just so happy nothing mattered!  I also had Jill’s voice in the back of my head telling me, “Some people can’t even run a mile,”  and here I was about to run over 4 miles!  It was awesome motivation. 

Pat’s Run is exactly one week away!  I’m so happy and excited about this.  It’s crazy how far I’ve come with running.  When I first started I couldn’t even run a half mile on the treadmill with out dying.  It was horrible.  But now I know my body is capable of running 4+ miles!  I can’t wait to see my mileage number increase.  I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the feeling I get when I’m done running.  Yeah, my knees might be killing me when im done, my feet my be yelling at me during the run for making them do it, and when i wake up the next day my hamstrings might be ridiculously tight.  BUT it's all worth it because running is so much fun!  Okay. I’ll stop boring you with this.

Let me share something with you that I know you’ll just LOVE.  Meet Minty Lime Tea Cookies.

They are scrumptious.  The PERFECT cookie to eat outside, on your porch, or in the grass, with a large glass of iced tea.  They just hit the spot and make you stomach smile.  The lime is definitely the flavor that sticks out the most, and that’s okay with me.  I’m afraid that if the mint flavor was stronger they might not be as delicious.  People.  Please make these, please eat these outside in the grass with some one you love,  and please bring a big pitcher of iced to was these down with.   Please. Please. Please.  Your belly will thank you.  I promise.

Minty Lime Tea Cookies

(Recipe Slightly Adapted from My Tea Shelf)

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup granulated brown sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2  teaspoons grated lime peel
1/2 teaspoons grated tangerine peel
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1 egg

Directions:

In a medium size bowl combine butter, brown sugar, powdered sugar, lime, tangerine, and olive oil with a hand mixer on medium high speed.  Then add the egg; beat until combined.

Add flour, baking powder, and mint to the wet mixture and mix until combined. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Roll dough into one inch balls and then flatten them on your baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool. Enjoy. :)

Lemon Sunshine Cookies

Here in Phoenix the weather has been BEAUTIFUL ( with the exception of this past weekend. There was rain. Dark clouds. And a lot of wind. - I’m not the biggest fan of wind. I hate wind). The highs have been in the 70s, the sky is the PERFECT spring time blue, the clouds are extra fluffy - cotton ball like, and the grass is the prettiest color green. There's a still in the morning that let's you know it is going to be a beautiful day. I LOVE this time of year. It's the perfect time to go hiking or lay in your back yard and read a book under the shade of tree. It's the perfect time of year to roll your windows down, open up that sun roof, and blare the Beatles – singing at the top of your lungs is a must. Ahhh. I love it. I think more than anything I love the anticipation for summer. The days are getting longer, and the smell of summer is just lingering in the afternoons.


I feel like the perfect cookies to eat during this time of year are these lemon cookies I adapted from Joy the Baker's recipe for Black and White cookies. I am obsessed with lemon in baked goods. It brightens anything up and makes everything taste so delicious. These cookies help add a little bit of sunshine to my day. The batter is more like a cake batter than a cookie batter, and the result is this delicious moist thick cookie. Sounds good, right? Well it is. Then it get’s topped with this freaking awesome lemon glaze that takes the cookie from delicious to “holy moley, I can’t stop eating these things!” Yeah. They’re that good. Well that’s what I think… I guess you’ll just have to make them to make that decision for yourself! :)

Side Note: Have you seen (500) Days of Summer? Have you? Well if you haven't the second thing you should (the first obviously being bake these cookies!) is rent it! Then you MUST download the soundtrack. It will change your life. I promise you this (kind of like these cookies will). Finally, I ran 1.5 miles last night! I know it's not much, but I feel accomplished. :)

Sorry for the last minute rambling, now to the cookies!

Lemon Sunshine Cookies:
(Adapted from Joy the Baker's Black and White Cookies)

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups well shaken buttermilk
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon extract (or fresh lemon juice)
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In another small bowl, combine the buttermilk, vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon zest; set aside.


Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure they are well incorporated into the batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, mix in the dry and wet mixtures, alternating batches ; starting with the dry and ending with the dry (dry, wet, dry, wet, dry). Mix until smooth.


Using a large cookie scoop, or ¼ cup, spoon batter about two inches apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. After batter is scooped on to a cookie sheet, take the back of a spoon and spread out the batter; this will help the cookies to cook evenly and to make sure they aren't so puffy.


Bake until the cookies are puffed and the tops are a pale golden brown, between 15 – 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

The Glaze:
(Adapted from Joy the Baker's Black and White Cookie Recipe)

Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
½ teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon warm water
1 table spoon lemon juice, heated up

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon extract, corn syrup, water, and lemon juice until smooth. Turn over cooled cookies so the bottoms are facing up. Spread the cookie with glaze, and let set. Then enjoy!