Lemon cloud tea cookies

Let me tell you a secret: sometimes I feel like one of Mr. Ivan Pavlov’s dogs when I hear (or read, for that matter) the word “lemon”. :)

That is why I could not resist this recipe when I saw it on Joy’s blog – and I’m glad I didn’t, because these little cookies are delicious.

Lemon cloud tea cookies

1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
¾ cup cornstarch
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
113g (8 tablespoons/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (140g) confectioners’ sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 160°C/325°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Combine the butter and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low speed with the paddle until well mixed. Increase the speed to medium and continue beating until light, about 2 minutes.
Beat in the eggs one at a time. Batter may look broken and curdled. Beat in the juice and zest.
Decrease the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture. Remove the bowl from the mixer and give the dough a few good turns with your spatula to bring it all together.
Arrange rounded teaspoons of the dough on prepared pans. Space the balls about 5cm (2in) apart. After all the cookies have been placed on the pan, flour a fork and press a crisscross design into the top of each mound of dough. Bake the cookies until they spread and become golden, about 20 minutes. Slide the parchment paper off the pan to cool completely.

Makes 48 tiny cookies – I halved the recipe above and still got 32 cookies