I’m learning French. Yes, you read that right. I am learning how to speak French! If all goes according to plan, Derek and I will be living in France one year from now, so we figure we should start learning the lingo!
Let me tell you: French is not the easiest language on Earth. The whole “put 10 vowels in a row and not pronounce any of them” thing is new to me. Spanish is easy and phonetic! French? Same structure as Spanish (which makes the learning easier), but NOT phonetic at all. At least not to me…
Really though, I’m enjoying learning French. Mostly, I’m enjoying how I’m learning French. If you haven’t yet, you should check out the app Duolingo. It’s free, structured like a game, and really quite addicting. Also, it is apparently proven to be more effective than a college language course. Say whaat?
I mostly like the encouraging dinging noises it makes when I answer correctly, and the hilarious sentences it comes up with. The awesome thing? Duolingo is helping translate the internet! Very cool! You work on real-life sentences on the internet, and translate them one by one (with various people crowd-sourcing the translation and checking each other, to ensure the most accurate translation). If you have ever wanted to learn another language (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and German are offered, I believe), give Duolingo a try! I’m offering this opinion as 100% mine, not coerced to promote them or anything… we just love the app and are having fun learning!
Once your brain is full of new words, take a break to make these cookies. Just like the iced lemon cookies, they’re not too sweet. In fact, these are deliciously tart!
- 2 cups flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tsp lemon zest
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
- With clean fingers, rub the zest into the granulated sugar until very fragrant.
- In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth.
- Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract, and mix again until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture and mix until the dough just comes together.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes before continuing.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Roll dough into ⅛ cup balls, then roll in powdered sugar until well coated. Arrange 2" apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
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These cookies look so pretty!! Very light and I guess refreshing with the lemons!
I’m sure you will love France, the food there is amazing 😉
xox Amy
Je ne parle pas français, mais je ne parle rien de citron. Okay so I parlez en peu français, thanks to one year in high school. These cookies have been on my to do list for sometime. I’ll have to check out that app, maybe learn more than, “I can’t speak French, I’ll have a glass of wine, plus another and another and another, and where’s the bathroom”. We adore France, if I were rich and could have a second home it would be there or maybe Italy, or both.
Félicitations et courage apprendre le francais n’est pas facile .Jai appris l’anglais enlisant des romans d’auteurs américains et le dictionnaire n’étaitpas loin ainsi que mon hubby,After l0 trips in France que bons souvenirs et on rencontre des gentils ……comme aux USA pays que j’adore.
I just made these in preparation for my Christmas treat boxes and they are amazing! I added a little bit of lemon oil to my batch, but I really loved them. They were like little lemon cake bites and were incredibly delicious.
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing delicious recipe! This is now one of my favorite cookie recipes. It tastes just like a lemon bar,but better! I think i’ll make these now instead of the the bars. They have been a HUGE hit with all my friends, family and my husbands co-workers. I’ve already made 3 batches of this recipe this week. Luckily, I have a Meyers lemon tree in my backyard=) Thanks again for sharing!
Made these today. Followed recipe exactly and they turned out perfect! A great, light cookie!
my son and I are making these as I type. The first batch, I just checked in the oven and they are as flat as pancakes?…. What the heck did I do wrong? I just went all back thru the recipe and I did everything right??
Hmmm these are pretty flat cookies, so I’m not sure exactly what to tell you! Did they turn out??
I just tried your recipe yesterday. I had followed your instructions exactly and theit appearance looked okay but the cookie was too eggy & floury. I definitely tried the wrong recipe and threw out the whole batch.
Sorry it didn’t work out for your, Ghia Girl! xo
Bonjour,
Thanks for the recipe! I mixed half white flour with half of buckwheat. The buckwheat gave a little “dirty” look and a tiny bit of nuttiness:)
I also added some poppy seeds. Turned out great.
Yum! Sounds like a fun variation! Thanks for sharing, Julie! xo