My Citrus Sugar Cookies are a wonderful sweet treat to satisfy your springtime cookie craving! The citrus combination of lemon and orange makes them doubly delicious!

First off, I would like to apologize to all of you for not posting much recently. The Farmers Market has started up again for the season and I couldn’t be happier! However my time gets spread pretty thin at times. Being a vendor requires a lot of time and hard work. Enough said, as I get back into the swing again it will get better, I promise!

So it’s Monday and I’m starting out the week with Citrus Sugar Cookies. Cookies are one of my absolute favorite things…I consider them one of life’s simple pleasures!

The other day the sun was out and I was feeling rather spring-like. Sadly we have had very little sun lately. Citrus Sugar Cookies just seemed like the natural choice that day. As a food blogger I think about things a little differently, I’m aware. 🙂

Today’s Citrus Sugar Cookies are a combination of a few of my favorite things: Sunny lemon and orange flavors, fresh homemade cookies and a citrus buttercream frosting that is fabulous!

Enjoy!

My Citrus Sugar Cookies are yellow and orange for the bright citrus flavors of lemon and orange. These cookies are all about sunny and bright!

Fresh citrus zest add so much!

For the sprinkles I simply mixed equal amounts of orange and yellow colored sugar sprinkles. I used about 2 tablespoons of each color to total 1/4 cup. The sprinkles go a long way!

Citrus Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:                                                                          

1 cup butter, softened (preferably unsalted)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or sea salt (add only if using unsalted butter)

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1/2 tablespoon orange juice, freshly squeezed

1 teaspoon lemon zest, freshly grated

1 teaspoon orange zest. freshly grated

Citrus Buttercream Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

5-6 tablespoons lemon/orange juice or both, freshly squeezed

1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest, grated

Sprinkles, orange and yellow sugar

Directions:  

1. Using a stand mixer or electric mixer beat butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract, mix well. Add lemon juice, orange juice, lemon zest and orange zest, mix thoroughly. Blend in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.

2. Remove dough from refrigerator; preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with baking mats or parchment paper. With a large cookie scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake 9-11 minutes or until edges just start to brown. Cool at least 2 minutes on cookie sheet. Carefully move cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Citrus Buttercream, in a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Beat in powdered sugar a little at a time, vanilla, grated citrus zest, and enough of both juices to achieve desired consistency. Frost cookies as desired. Top each cookie with colored sugar immediately after icing tops of cookies to be sure they stick. Let cookies sit until frosting has set up just a bit, about 15-20 minutes.

Makes 36 cookies 

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