The perfect homemade treats to make for your sweetheart or Valentine! These lemon hoey cookies are frosted with marbled royal icing.
I hated Valentine’s Day during my emo teenage years. I couldn’t understand why a boy like Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessional wasn’t outside my window serenading me with silly love songs on his acoustic guitar. ย
Thank goodness those days are long gone.
As you get older, you realize it is just another day. That is, until you meet someone that gives it meaning.
Table of Contents
Decorating with Icing Royal
STEP 1: Prepare three colors of royal icing- white, pink, and hot pink.
Related Recipes
- Nothing says I love you like a box of glazed letter donuts! Spell out your message using donuts for the ultimate Valentine’s Day sweet treat.
- This 4-ingredient lava cake is a great dessert to share with loved ones.
- This strawberry prosecco jelly is an easy no bake dessert you can make ahead of time!ย
Lemon Honey Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup (6 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup honey powder*
- finely grated zest from 2 lemons
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- juice from 1 lemon, about 2 Tablespoons
- 3 Tablespoons whole milk
Royal Icing: (makes about 1 cup)
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons meringue powder
- 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup warm water
- lemon oil, vanilla extract, or almond extract, if desired
- pastel pink and electric pink gel-paste food coloring, as needed
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugar, honey powder, and lemon zest. Add egg and combine.
- In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice and milk. Set aside.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and milk mixture into the creamed butter. Start and finish with the flour. Mix until just combined.
- Turn dough out into a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into three disks. Plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line sheet trays with parchment paper
- On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out desired shapes using a floured cutter. Transfer cut outs to prepared sheet trays.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Let cool on sheet for a couple minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Royal Icing:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine meringue powder, confectionersโ sugar, and warm water. Also add extract, if using any. Mix on medium speed until mixture is fluffy and has thickened.
- Add water to thin out icing to desired consistency. Add water 1 teaspoon at a time. (*Note: To test consistency, drizzle a little of icing onto a bowl. A ribbon should remain on the surface for about 5 seconds.)
- Divide royal icing in half. Keep one half white. Divide the remaining half into two. Color one pink and the other hot pink. Transfer royal icings into piping bags or parchment bags. To decorate, follow photos and directions above.
Beautiful post, and thank you so much for the award!
Thank you, Willow! You are very welcome :)
These are so so so pretty! :)
Thank you, Courtney!
Those cookies are absolutely gorgeous!Thank you so much for including Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes in your picks- I truly appreciate it :)
Thank you! And you are very welcome. I enjoy reading your blog :)
These are adorable!! I don’t if I’d want to eat them or save them :-P
Thank you, Janet! Take a picture of the cookies and then eat them!
Too cute!! Congrats on the award as well.
Thanks, Lindsey! I read some of your blog posts and I LOVE ramen. I live in LA and I’d be more than happy to volunteer on your ramen tours. lol
Lovely cookies!! Congrats on the award, such a beautiful space you have here :)
Thank you very much, Ambika!
Congrats on the Liebster award! Such an honor to be recognized. Your cookies are gorgeous…a perfect valentine’s treat!
Thank you, Maggie! Yup, I hope to make some again and package them for friends :)
These are such lovely cookies. I love Valentines too now I have someone. Although he gets so excited he gives me my gifts early!
Thanks! Aw, how lucky?! That’s so sweet. He’s definitely a keeper!
Lovely cookies. It is nice to come across something that is lighter instead of the traditional chocolate for Valentine’s. The swirls do ad a wonderful appearance to these and the lemon/honey combo sounds delicious.Funny how our feelings about Valentines changes as we get older! Have a great afternoon.
Thanks, Tina! Have a wonderful week :)