Lemon Wreaths and Hearts

Here is a delicious alternative to all of the tasty chocolate treats that are everywhere this time of year.  While my first love for desserts is chocolate, I have some serious trouble turning down a lemony dessert.  There is something so appealing about a dessert that is flecked with fresh lemon zest!

The original recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cookie of the Day.  Once I saw this in my inbox, I knew I would be making them the next chance I got! 

The lemon glaze is an amazing touch as well, the more lemon the better!


To make the wreaths, roll out 1 tbsp of the cookie dough into about a 4 inch rope.  Then pinch together the ends and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  After my cookies had cooled and been glazed, I decorated the wreaths with yellow jimmies to highlight the presence of lemon. I think they look pretty cute.

To make the hearts, I rolled out 1 tbsp of the dough into a rope about 6 inches long, and then pinched it in the middle to form a 'V'.  I then brought together the ends to form a heart.  To decorate the hearts, I used these amazing new sprinkles that I got from bakeitpretty.com after dipping them in the glaze. They are perfect for Valentine's Day desserts!

I made about 2 dozen cookies from this recipe.

Lemon Wreaths and Hearts

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• zest of two lemons
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• For the lemon glaze
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
• juice of 2 lemons
• your choice of sprinkles

1. Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. Place the lemon zest and sugar in a bowl, and whisk it together for a few minutes (I used the whisk attachment of my stand mixer and let it go for about 2 minutes)
3. In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4. Add the room temperature butter to the sugar/lemon zest and mix it until it is light and fluffy
5. Add the eggs to the butter/sugar, and mix well
6. Add the vanilla and the lemon juice to the wet ingredients and again mix well
7. Add the flour mixture in batches, mixing until the batter just starts to come together
8. Remove about 1 tbsp of cookie dough, and roll it into a rope (4" long for a wreath, or 6" long for a heart)
9. Pinch the two ends together to form a wreath (or form a 'V' and then pinch the ends together to form a heart)
10. Place on the prepared cookie sheets, and then repeat with remaining cookie dough
11. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the bottoms are just golden brown
12. Let the cookies cool on wire cookie racks
13. While the cookies are cooling, whisk together the lemon juice and icing sugar until smooth
14. When the cookies are cooled, dunk the top of each cookie into the glaze, and then set it back on the cookie rack
15. Decorate with your favourite sprinkles
16. Enjoy!