I fell in LOVE with BB-8 when the new Star Wars came out last year. We got the little BB-8 toy and what better way to mesh my love for Star Wars than to pay homage to the little guy with some edible cookies??!! It look me quite a few cookies to get these perfect 5 since it was my first time working with royal icing. Flavors are lemon lavender and a vanilla royal icing.
Lemon Lavender Sugar Cookies
Makes about 20 medium sugar cookies
Cookie Dough:
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 cup unstaled butter, slightly softened (2 sticks)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large cold egg
• 2 teaspoons of organic vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of culinary lavender, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of fresh grated lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Place butter and sugar into mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment and cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy on medium high speed. Approx 3-5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl then add in egg and continue to mix on medium high until light and fluffy.
3. In a separate medium bowl, sift flour and salt together. Then add grated lemon peel and chopped lavender into flour and whisk lightly until incorporated.
4. Once butter, sugar and eggs have been beaten well together, scrape down the sides of the bowl again and turn the mixer on. Add vanilla extract and lemon juice.
5. Turn mixer to low setting and add dry ingredients one cup at a time and keep mixing till incorporated but not too long.
6. Remove 1/2 of the dough from the bowl and make a disc. Repeat with other half portion. Wrap discs in plastic wrap and chill both dough for at least 15 minutes in the freezer till hard.
7. Remove one disc from the fridge/freezer and out of the plastic wrap. Take your cookie sheet and line with parchment paper. Sprinkle lightly with flour.
8. Place your 1/4” wooden dowels on either side of the dough then place a piece of wax paper on top of the dough and begin to roll out.
9. Roll until dough is flush with the dowels to ensure even thickness. Then place back into your freezer for 10 minutes with wax paper on top.
10. Remove from freezer and remove wax paper. Start to cut out shapes.
11. Line baking sheet with new parchment paper and places cut cookies with at least 2” clearance around each cookie. Place back into the oven for a quick minute to re-chill.
12. Make sure when laying out the cookies to place all the smaller pieces on its own baking sheet. They bake faster so you can remove them from the oven before the larger cookies.
13. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Then cool cookies on the sheet for 10 minutes then remove and finish cooling on wire racks.
