WEEK 7: YOUR BEST ZUCCHINI OR SUMMER SQUASH RECIPE
Zucchini-Lemon Cookies
Photography by Sarah Shatz
BY KELSEYTHENAPTIMECHEF | MAKES ABOUT 24 COOKIES
A&M: When we first saw this recipe, we knew we had to try it. KelseyTheNaptimeChef had come up with a concept we’d never considered before, and we were both intrigued and hopeful. These cookies are delicate and ultra-lemony, the crisp buttery base anchoring a tender, cakey dome. The zucchini is subtle, but every few bites it makes its presence known with a pleasant, vegetal undertone. We agreed that these brought to mind a modern-day English tea cake—we felt a hankering for a cuppa.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of coarse salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest
1 cup shredded zucchini
- Heat the oven to 350°F.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Add the lemon zest and zucchini, mixing until fully combined.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until all of the flour has been added and is completely mixed in. Do not overbeat.
- Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheets lined with parchment and bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden. Cool for a minute or two on the cookie sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Photography by Sarah Shatz
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
The cookies are perfectly baked when they have a scattering of light brown “freckles” on top.
ABOUT THE COOK
Kelsey Banfield lives in Connecticut and writes the blog The Naptime Chef (www.thenaptimechef.com), and will be publishing a book of the same name in 2012. See her Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies and her Chocolate Bundt Cake.
Her top entertaining tips: “Wine chills fastest in a bucket with half water/half ice. Always make sure your steak knives are sharpened before you serve meat to guests.”
WHAT THE COMMUNITY SAID
Kabocha: “Just delicious! Airy and cake-like … perfect with tea or a latte in the morning, too.”