Lemon Verbena and lemon are a heavenly combination so I thought I’d make that flavor into a cookie. Fresh Lemon Verbena is difficult to come by but you can plant it at the beginning of the growing season so you have some. To my surprise I didn’t have lemon extract in my pantry so I used the zest of two extra large lemons and a tablespoon of lemon juice. I still wanted to bump up the lemon taste and grabbed a pinch of lemony tasting sumac. The sumac turned out to be a nice warm surprise that happens to work! The recipe is very easy to prepare. just hand mix everything mostly in order. Leave in the refrigerator over night to chill very well. Sometimes I roll the dough in parchment paper into a log shape so i just cut off 1 oz pieces of dough to bake. The cookies come out crisp and a little chewy. they are really perfect and delicious. They seem light but I know they are not. They have the just right sweetness and refreshing flavor. I think they are the just right cookie for summer time. The cookies keep for about two weeks or can be frozen.

Ingredients for 27 servings

4oz unsalted butter – room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 XL egg – slightly beaten

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons bread flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 XL lemons – just the zest and one Tablespoon of fresh squeezed juice

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon verbena – (one handful) – chopped fine

12 oz white chocolate chips

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

pinch sumac

Directions

In a medium/large mixing bowl add the butter and mix with a fork till creamy. Add brown sugar and mix. Add egg and mix well. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda. Mix half way because it will be a little dry. Add the zest and lemon juice, lemon verbena, salt and sumac. Mix well. Lastly mix in the chips. You can use a bowl or the bag from the chocolate chips to wrap the dough. You need to refrigerate this dough over night.

Set the oven to 350 degrees F

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Make 1 oz meatball shaped pieces of dough and space them out really well on your sheet pans. Sort of like this.

In my oven they came out perfect in 14 minutes.

“We FORKING want some cookies”

The Flavor is so lemony and refreshing. Not too sweet but sweet enough and the perfect crisp and chewy texture. I think part of the secret is letting the dough chill over night and baking on parchment on a thin aluminum pan.

My husband was slightly disappointed that I didn’t make some sort of chocolate cookie but when he tasted these cookies he said that these are just very good cookies. Really really good cookies. He keep repeating…”really good cookies”….”I really like these”….”you should bake more often.”