1. Place butter in a microwave safe bowl, and heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Let the butter barely melt and then let it cool. Once cool, pour into a stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment.
2. Mix the butter, lemon juice, zest and sugars on medium speed for about 90 seconds. *Hand mixer and/or whisk also works. Let the mix rest for about 10-15 minutes (this allows the zest and sugars to become friends!). Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Mix on low speed until combined.
3. Sift all dry ingredients into a medium bowl. Give the dry mix a good whisk or two so everything is combined. Add the dry to your butter and sugar mixture. Mix on low until flour is barely combined. Add 2 cups of lemon chips.
4. At this point, I like to scoop, cover and chill my dough for 24 hrs (*see note below). You can also bake right away. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, form dough into about 14-22 cookies, depending on size. I like my cookies big and chunky, so I my recipe produced 14 cookies. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Important Note: Let your cookie dough come to room temp for about 10-15 before baking. Push on your dough and dimple it to help make each cookie tall before baking.
5. Place 3-4 cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 10 minutes, or when edges browning and tops are slightly brown. (*see note about shaping cookies below). Remove from oven, add a few more lemon chips on top and… INHALEIT!!!
If you try this recipe, I would love your feedback! Please leave a star rating, a comment below or on the reel in Instagram! Also please share what you made and tag @eatmaudes !! Thank you so much for stopping by and making yumminess with me!
When measuring your flour, be sure not to scoop your measuring cup into the flour (that is too much flour!) You want to spoon your flour into your measuring cup (spoonful by spoonful) until the cup is full. Then use a knife to scrape off the top, excess flour. This tip will ensure that you are not using too much flour in your recipes.
To get that classic Levain cookie shape, try making your balls of dough a little taller than usual. Height helps the cookies maintain shape and not spread too far. You can also pinch a few areas of each cookie dough ball. The end result will look like the balls of dough have dimples (small dents) all over.
Chilling cookie dough is a sure way to improve the flavor of your cookies! The chilling process allows the flour to moisten and the sugars and butter to get acquainted… which creates an almost butterscotch/caramel-like flavor to your cookies! It is heavenly! Try not to skip this step!
When baking your cookies, try not to crowd your pan as your cookies will spread. For this recipe, I usually bake 3 cookies at a time.
I often bake ugly looking cookies (LOL). To avoid ugly cookies, and to create uniformed cookies, I take a cup or cookie cutter and place it over each cookie- give it a nice swirl, which helps the cookie return to a circular shape. Its a bomb technique, and no skill required!