Has anyone else noticed that the last three posts have been chocolate themed? Oops, Not sure how that happened :-)… Taking my cue from the recent arrival of summer, I decided it was time for something a little fresher and lighter.
In my opinion, fresh, homemade lemonade is the perfect summer beverage. It conjures images of children with 5 cent lemonade stands; romantic picnics in the park; and grandma’s and grandpa’s enjoying a summer afternoon in the shade on their front porch. For this reason, I thought that a lemonade cookie would be the ideal nod to summer’s return.
The recipe turned out to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. Increasing the juice gave a nice fresh flavour, but the cookie ended up too soft. Replacing the juice with extract made the a great texture, but the flavour wasn’t so fresh. It was quite the balancing act… I settled on this combination of fresh lemon juice, extract, and rind. The cookie is still of the soft variety, but not overly so… Dave loved them. I was planning on taking them for my co-workers, but he refused to share and devoured the whole batch in two days!
Lemon Sparklers
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Margarine
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Pureed Tofu (soft)
Rind From 1 Large Lemon, finely shredded
3 tbsp Lemon Juice, fresh (about 2 lemons)
1/4 tsp Lemon Extract
5 – 10 drops Yellow Food Colouring (optional)
Additional Sugar (for rolling)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Stir together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream the margarine and sugar. Add the tofu, rind, juice, and extract and beat until thoroughly combined.
Add dry ingredients and mix well.
Using a tablespoon to measure, scoop dough, shape into a ball, and roll in the sugar. Place coated balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet… The dough is soft and has a tendency to spread, so once a ball of dough is in formed, work quickly to get it onto the sheet.
Bake for 10 -15 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool completely.
Make approximately 24 cookies.
loved the addition of pureed tofu to it ! good one
Thank you 🙂
mm, the perfect use for that 1/2 pack of tofu in the fridge!
That’s right, you just made those brownies…. hmm… I think I feel a baking brainstorm coming on!
🙂
What a stunning recipe my friend, I absolutely love the the tofu in it 😀
As for the whole three chocolate themed posts, not a problem 😉
Cheers
CCU
Thanks! I love the versatility of tofu. Amazing stuff 🙂
Those look delicious and perfect for summer! Send me some? 🙂
Alas, you are too late. Dave has polished them off, and licked up the crumbs 😦
Lemon, and cookies together! Dynamite.
I must admit, the one I got to sample was tasty 🙂
Loving the Lemon for summertime! Though I could’ve done with more chocolate themed… 😉
This is highly classified information, but… chocolate should be making another appearance this Sunday… You didn’t here it from me 🙂
yummy!! 🙂 great combo
Thanks 🙂
Great sounding recipe. Is there a substitute for the tofu?
Unless you have a soy allergy, I highly recommend using the tofu. After trying this recipe several different ways, I believe that’s essential for the desired texture… If you are really against using tofu, one method I tried was flaxseed. Blend 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water, until goopey, then use in place of the tofu. However, this method resulted in a cookie that (in my opinion) was too soft and had very noticeable flecks of flaxseed (because of the delicate nature of the cookie).
Oh my goodness! Brilliant!!! Can’t wait to try out that ‘tofu-egg’!
Thanks 🙂 Hope you like it.
These sound amazing and I have all of the ingredients except the tofu. I do, on the other hand, have a small container of plain Greek yogurt. Do you think I could use this instead?
I’ve never worked with greek yogurt, so I really don’t know how it reacts in baking. What I do know, is soy yogurt didn’t yield a satisfactory cookie (too soft)… Sorry I can’t be more help. If you do try it, let me what the results were.
I did, in fact, use the yogurt. It worked wonderfully. The cookies were delicate, moist, and light. I wish I had added a little more lemon zing to it. Perhaps next time I can use a tangier yogurt to give it more lemon flavor, but that’s because I LOVE lemon. If I ever make the step up to be vegan though, I will try it with the tofu. Thanks for this recipe!
I’m glad they worked out for you and you enjoyed them. Thanks for the feedback 🙂
Tofu in a cookie?! Wow, that alone makes me wanna try!
If you do give them a try, I’d love to hear what you thought.
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Wow, this look so beautiful Such perfect pic with the lemon and dark background. And the recipe… definitely on my list!
Thanks! It is one of my favorite pictures for this blog. Sometimes I really get lucky with the camera 🙂
There´s something that I have been struggling with. All-Purpose Flour – is it vegan? I mean it must be bleached. It is as white as snow. And don´t they use some animal byproducts for doing that. Im not sure though, everyone is telling me different things (I think many people might be on denial as well and thinking that they gave up so much and they don´t want to add all-purpose flour to the list).
Some sugar is whitened with the use of bone char. I believe this is the animal product that you’re thinking of… In the case of bleached flour, a chemical agent is used (which I understand is vegan). That being said, my preference has always been to use unbleached flour… If you are still concerned about the bleaching process, simply switch to unbleached all-purpose flour. Or for a healthier option, whole wheat pastry flour can often be substituted for the all-purpose varieties without too much detection.
Thank you for a replay. Im not from USA (but Europe). All our wheat flours look really white so I suspect that all of them are bleached. Unfortunately that is something that companies are not supposed to write on packages. Im planning to write to few flour manufacturors to ask about it (who knows if they tell me the trueth).
Its different with whole wheat flour(and I actually like the taste more). But some things are hard to achieve with whole wheat flour. Im saving up for a small mill right now, so I can make my own.
A friend of mine who studied plant based nutrition in Cornell University told me that bone char is also used in bleaching flour. But maybe not all companies use it. (Also maybe she was mistaken).
If you’re in Europe, then I think you’re ok… I remember reading that using chemical agents to bleach flour has been banned in European countries and China. They’ve gone back to whitening flour the old fashioned way, which is simply allowing it air for several weeks.