The other day I had some fresh thyme left in my kitchen and I was trying to figure out how to use it… the only thing I knew was that I wanted to make something sweet with it as I am always intrigued by the use of herbs in sweets. I surfed the web for a while for inspiration without finding anything interesting… until one recipe finally caught my attention: thyme scented lemon cookies! I checked that I had all the ingredients that the recipe called for and I didn’t (when do I ever?), but I thought I could adapt it and still make it with what I had in my pantry. I can tell you that the result was outstanding. The flavour was a perfect balance between lemon and thyme and they were not overly sweet. The lemon glaze on the top was perfect to complement the cookies as it was sweet and tangy. These are not supposed to be crunchy cookies, they have to remain soft and chewy on the inside and only slightly crunchy on the outside. As they go terribly well with a cup of hot tea (preferably lemon), I thought they would be the perfect treat to submit to the contest held by Jessica of La ciliegina sulla torta: E’ sempre l’ora del te’ (It’s always tea time). Enjoy them!
(Per la ricetta in italiano, guardare a fondo pagina).
Adapted from Healthy Schools Campaign’s recipe
Ingredients (makes 25 cookies):
For the cookies
60 gms butter
200 gms sugar
Zest of 1 lemon, grated
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 ½ cups plain flour
1 pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp fresh thyme
For the glaze
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup icing sugar
Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and thyme in a bowl and keep aside.
Put the butter and sugar in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and whisk for a few minutes until pale.
Add the eggs one by one and keep mixing until well incorporated.
Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract and mix until combined. NOTE: you can grate the lemon zest with a box grater and cover it with a piece of baking paper so the zest doesn’t stick to the grater. This makes it much easier to collect all the grated zest, without wasting a big part of it in the grater.
Now gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Line cookie sheets with baking paper and put rounded tablespoonfuls of dough on them.
Bake in a preheated fan forced oven at 180°C for 10 minutes or until lighly browned.
When ready, remove from the oven and let them cool down for about 10 minutes before putting them on a cooling rack to cool down completely.
In the meantime, add the lemon juice to the icing sugar. Add it little by little while stirring continuously, as you may require less lemon juice than you think to obtain a thick but fluid glaze.
Ice the cookies by dipping the tines of a fork into the glaze and dripping it over the cookies. Allow icing to dry before serving the cookies with a hot cup of lemon tea.
This recipe has been submitted to the contest held by Jessica of La ciliegina sulla torta: E’ sempre l’ora del te’ (It’s always tea time).
RICETTA IN ITALIANO
BISCOTTI AL LIMONE AL PROFUMO DI TIMO
Ingredienti (per 25 biscotti):
Per i biscotti
60 gm burro
200 gm zucchero
Buccia grattuggiata di 1 limone
1 cucchiaino di estratto di vaniglia (o 1 bustina di vanillina)
2 uova
300 gm farina 00
1 pizzico di sale
½ bustina di lievito chimico per dolci
1 cucchiaio di timo fresco
Per la glassa
Succo di 1/2 limone
125 gm di zucchero a velo
Mescolare la farina, il sale, il lievito e le foglie di timo in una ciotola e tenere da parte.
Montare il burro con lo zucchero con un robot da cucina fino ad ottenere una crema bianca.
Aggiungere le uova una ad una, continuando a mescolare finche’ ben incorporate.
Aggiungere la buccia di limone grattuggiata, l’estratto di vaniglia (o la vanillina) e mescolare.
Aggiungere poi, gradualmente, gli ingredienti secchi e amalgamare il tutto.
Foderare delle teglie con carta da forno e metterci l’impasto a cucchiaiate.
Cuocere in forno caldo e ventilato a 180°C for 10 minuti o finche’ i biscotti saranno dorati.
Una volta cotti, togliere dal forno e lasciarli raffreddare per 10 minuti prima di spostarli su una grglia per farli raffreddare completamente.
Nel frattempo preparare la glassa aggiungendo il succo di limone allo zucchero a velo. Fatelo a poco a poco perche’ potreste aver bisogno di meno limone del previsto per ottenere una glassa densa ma fluida.
Glassare i biscotti intingendo una forchetta nella glassa e lasciandola cadere sui biscotti freddi. Lasciare asciugare la glassa prima di servire con una tazza di te’ caldo al limone.
Lyn says
June 2, 2011 at 8:46 pmHi Manu! Wish you all the best and good luck for your contest! 😀
I love the glaze topped on those cookies! Sweet and sour are always the best combinations! 😀
AireAl mays says
June 4, 2011 at 1:10 amHi my name is aireAl mays and I attend Simeon career academy in Chicago,il we actually created the thyme sented lemon cookie for a healthy food competition!! and it won 1st place for the audience cookie choice if any questions you could email me at [email protected]
Manu says
June 4, 2011 at 4:25 pmThanks aireAl mays! The cookies were amazing, no wonder you won 1st place! Well done!!! And thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Liz says
June 2, 2011 at 8:56 pmGorgeous cookies (and photos!), Manu! I adore thyme, but have never added it to my cookies…but these are so tempting with their beautiful glaze. Good luck, my friend!!!
Katherine says
June 2, 2011 at 9:08 pmOh yum! I actually have some lemon thyme that I need to use up and I bet that would be amazing! I love herbs in sweets. And cocktails. And just about everywhere. Great post!
Giulietta @ Alterkitchen says
June 3, 2011 at 2:37 amI love these cookies! 🙂 I like herbs in cookies… nicely done!
[email protected] says
June 3, 2011 at 5:15 amThyme and lemon in a cookie?! WOW! Can I have a dozen?! They sound ammmmazing!
muppy says
June 3, 2011 at 9:38 ammmmmm these look delicious, and I have all those ingredients!! I love your thyme crown 🙂
Tiffany says
June 3, 2011 at 10:38 amI’m a big fan of herbs and sweets! I would love this cookie. Um, and SO smart to put wax paper over the box grater! Good luck on your contest… and guess what? It’s almost Friday! 😀
PolaM says
June 3, 2011 at 11:50 amThese look like great cookies. I love cookies that are not too sweet!
The Harried Cook says
June 3, 2011 at 4:43 pmThese cookies sound fantastic, Manu! I love the idea of lemon and thyme in a cookie… one of the recipes on my ‘to-bake’ list is actually a herb-y cookie… The glaze on this cookie looks & sounds great too! All the best for your contest! I hope you win 🙂 Thanks for sharing 🙂
daksha says
June 3, 2011 at 4:46 pmThis looks fantastic! love the lemon flavor.
Nami @ Just One Cookbook says
June 3, 2011 at 5:28 pmManu, I have thyme that are going to dry out soon…and lemon….but I never thought of making cookies out of them. You are very creative… These cookies look so delicious! I will not stop eating these unless someone will take them away from me. Do you have that problem? I won’t be able to control…for sure!! >_< Good luck with the contest! I'm going to scroll up and take a look at the cookies again. Haha torturing myself.
Manu says
June 3, 2011 at 5:38 pmHehehe yes, I do have the same problem… and so does the rest of the family… so luckily for me they all beat me to it!!! hehehehe
Nami @ Just One Cookbook says
June 4, 2011 at 2:20 pmSo that’s the key… But I’m pretty sure I can “win” the battle. LOL.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
June 3, 2011 at 9:04 pmThese sound absolutely delightful Manu! I always seem to have extra herbs lying around too so this a great use for thyme! 🙂
[email protected]'s Kitchen says
June 4, 2011 at 12:20 amManu, I have a bunch of thyme in my kitchen right now begging me to make them into cookies! These look absolutely gorgeous, I might give your recipe a try this weekend :-). Good luck with the contest!
Mark says
June 4, 2011 at 12:26 amWow these look beautiful! Thanks for sharing and linking back to the original.
Just so you know, the original cookie was created by a team of students as part of a healthy school lunch contest called “Cooking up Change” – http://www.cookingupchange.org
This cookie won the cookie portion of the competition where the items had to meet fat, sugar and calorie requirements. All I can say is that during the competition, I ate lots of cookies. Yum!
Again, thanks for sharing and your photos are beautiful!
Manu says
June 4, 2011 at 4:24 pmThank You Mark both for your compliments and for stopping by! 🙂
You guys have done a FANTASTIC job! These cookies are some of the best I have ever eaten!!! Definitely the best lemon cookies ever! Thank you guys for creating them! 🙂
sarah says
June 4, 2011 at 1:25 amManu these cookies look lovely! I have great recipe for lemon rosemary cookies but I think I’m going to have to try them next with thyme!
Samah says
June 4, 2011 at 1:37 amRefreshing flavor addition, thyme with lemon, nice looking pictures, and lovely tea time cookies.
Sandra's Easy Cooking says
June 4, 2011 at 1:59 amWhat a fantastic cookies..thyme and lemon, must be so tasty!
Your pictures are breathtaking and mouthwatering…yummy for sure!!!!
wishing you good luck on the contest!!! Talk to you soon!!:)
Parsley Sage says
June 4, 2011 at 3:05 amThese look so lovely! Great use of thyme in a sweet, I never knew 🙂
Nuts about food says
June 4, 2011 at 3:26 amI am in love with that first photo without having even tasted them. And I love the tip for the zest, thanks.
chopinandmysaucepan says
June 4, 2011 at 8:37 amThese cookies look delicious and a great tip on grating lemon rind! 🙂
Karin @yum and more says
June 4, 2011 at 5:54 pmgood stuff Manuela!
I love the clarity of the recipe through the pictures and steps.
kankana says
June 5, 2011 at 2:19 pmmanu this is exactly the type of cookies I enjoy and I am going to make this sometime soon. Love the presentation 🙂
Lilla says
June 6, 2011 at 8:04 amIl timo lo uso sempre di più: ho cominciato con la ribollita e non mi sono più fermata. Mi piace tantissimo il sapore e poi lo trovo molto bello… mi manca solo di provarlo nei dolci, come hai fatto tu! Complimenti per questi meravigliosi biscotti
Shilpa says
June 7, 2011 at 12:01 amLemon and Thyme….wouldn’t have guessed that they would go together in a cookie..must be divine with a cuppa – have bookmarked this – next time I have friends over for a cuppa – it shall be these lovely cookies. Will let you know how I get on…
-Shilpa
Jasmine says
June 7, 2011 at 2:29 amHi everyone! Im glad to know that you all like the cookies. Believe it or not I am one of students in Chicago that created this cookie for a compitition and won! If anyone jas any questions just let me know and I would love to, answer them.
[email protected] chef in disguise says
June 9, 2011 at 6:03 amThese look amazing Manu..I love the use of herbs in sweets and these are just a must try…good luck in your contest
[email protected] says
June 9, 2011 at 2:20 pmHi Manu- these cookies sound so yummy. I’ve never attempted to make a savory cookie before but I always have left over thyme. This sounds like a great way to use it up!
Nicole says
June 27, 2011 at 11:56 amThose cookies look amazing! Was just wondering if you weighed the butter and sugar, or if it can be converted to cups, as in 200g sugar = 4/5 cup sugar? I don’t have a scale, so I’m not sure how that would work! Thanks!
Manu says
June 27, 2011 at 1:53 pmHi Nicole! So happy you like these cookies… they taste great! You can definitely convert the ingredients into cups. If you look under the “Tips” page in this blog, there is a page on Conversion tables that could be useful! Let me know how you go! 🙂