Friday 11 May 2012

Lemon, Lime and Basil Cookies


Time for something different from all the fancy cupcakes and Jubilee baking. Back to basics with fresh, simple ingredients. I saw these on Chasing Delicious and bookmarked them immediately. You have to click through to see the awesome pictures and read the beautiful post. I'm so pleased I finally got round to making these as they are delicious!! I love citrus and the addition of basil is inspired. You can really taste the freshness of the citrus and the smell and taste of the basil is lovely. Everyone really enjoyed this at work and I had a few requests for the recipe. 

I made very minor modifications to the recipe as it's such a good one. I decided to add in some lemon and lime juice for extra citrus zing! The batter was not too liquid but required a few extra minutes of cooking time. I also used plain flour as I didn't have bread flour as specified in the original recipe and it worked fine. 

I'm entering this to multiple challenges as I am a bakingaddict and a challenge-addict. Plus I love killing many birds with one stone (no animals were harmed in the making of these!)

First up I am going to enter this to Simple and in Season as basil is currently in season as are lemons. Simple and in Season is run by Ren from Fabulicious Food and hosted this month by Urvashi from The Botanical Baker. 




Next I am entering this to Herbs on a Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.


As this recipe uses fresh ingredients I'm also entering it to Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior's Cookin' w/ Luv where the idea is to make foods from scratch. 


I am also entering it to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes as I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages! 



Finally I am entering it to One Ingredient Challenge where the theme is Lemons. This is a monthly family friendly cooking challenge hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food and Nazima from Working London Mummy.



 my lovely fresh ingredients - basil, lime and lemon

 adding chopped basil to the batter 

 lovely cookie dough

 

 How many would you like? :) 

Recipe adapted from Chasing Delicious - published with kind permission from the author

Makes approximately 24 cookies of the size shown
(My modifications are highlighted in blue)

113g butter, at room temperature
170g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 lime
2 tablespoons basil leaves, finely chopped
200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional:
2 tablespoons lemon juice 
1 tablespoon lime juice 
Note - if adding juice, the cookies need to be cooked for a few minutes longer

  • Preheat an oven to 190°C. 
  • Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Cream the sugar and butter together until it is light and fluffy.
  • Add the egg, vanilla, zests and basil and mix in well.
  • Add in the lemon and lime juice if using.
  • Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. 
  • Mix well.
  • Spoon the dough onto the lined baking sheets. I used an ice-cream scoop. 
  • Bake in a preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes - you may need 15 minutes with the addition of the juice. 
  • Allow to cool for a couple minutes before removing from the baking sheet.

47 comments:

  1. What a fresh and fun summer cookie!

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    1. Thanks! Perfect for the spot of sunshine we are finally getting :)

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  2. What a lovely refreshing combination of flavours!

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  3. Very cool recipe - I love the use of citrus with basil in a cookie. I've seen herbs like thyme used in cookies before, but never basil with citrus... And you must be the queen of challenges ;) Thanks so much for sharing with Made with Love Mondays!

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    1. Thanks! I was really pleased with these cookies, I'll have to make them again :)

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  4. Sounds like a great lemon cookie. I like the basil that you have in these cookies.

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    1. The lemon and basil work really well together.

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  5. Great recipe Ros. Thanx for sharing. Love the combo of lemon and basil.
    Have a wonderful weekend.

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  6. This sounds like a really refreshing and zingy cookie to me, I am not surprised you bookmarked them!
    The basil is such a good idea and I love it used in sweet dishes as well as savoury.
    Thanks so much for entering these into #oneingredient this month!
    Laura@howtocookgoodfood
    xx

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    1. It really is a very refreshing and zingy cookie! Thanks for hosting #oneingredient.

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  7. Love the sound of these. They look gorgeous, and the citrus with basil is definitely intriguing! :)

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    1. It's a really good combination. I used to make basil lemonade - very delicious too!

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  8. From what I've read, I can imagine, the cookies were so enjoyable.
    Yes, evidently, you are a challenge-addict. I've just discovered this challenge thing myself, but doing so many challenges with just one post is brilliant!

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    1. Thanks the cookies are really good :) I like multi-tasking so I was pleased I could fit so many challenges into 1!

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    2. PS I also run an AlphaBakes challenge if you are interested... Caroline is hosting this month, details at the top of my blog on AlphaBakes tab.

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  9. I love citrus too and am loving the lemon and lime in these but I'm just not sure my taste buds would stretch as far as the basil! very interesting combo though! and wow that is a lot of challenges! haha

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    1. The basil really complements the citrus and it's quite subtle in itself. Maybe try basil lemonade first and see what you think! I've got another multi-challenge post for next week :)

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  10. I love the sound of these. I think your post wins most entries into blog challenges!

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  11. FABULOUS entry into Herbs on Saturday Ros, and I am SO impressed with how many blog challenges you covered with these lush looking cookies!! THANKS so much for entering these little beauties into my herby event!
    Karen

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    1. Thanks Karen, it's all about being efficient and multi-tasking :) I'm so glad you brought the herb event back as it will challenge me to bake sweets with herbs!

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  12. They sound lovely - such a nice combination of flavours. It's been far too long since I made cookies, must recify this. I'm intrigued by the addition of basil here too.

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    1. Thanks! The flavours work well together. I love cookies and would eat them everyday if I could!

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  13. They are some amazing looking and sounding cookies! They looks so inviting... nom nom!

    I've nominated you for some awards - check it out :-)

    http://misscakeaholic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/awards.html

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    1. Thank you so much for the awards - I'm flattered! Glad you like the cookies too :)

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  14. Hi BA, what a coincidence! I just made some citrus cookies today myself which I'll be posting about in a few days, although mine didn't have basil inside. What a lovely addition - I bet it gives a lovely twist to the flavours!

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    1. Great minds think alike :) Look forward to seeing your cookies. The basil really complements the flavour and elevate the cookie.

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  15. Such a great idea to use basil in sweet cookies!

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    1. I was really pleased it worked out and will not experiment more with herbs in cookies :)

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  16. Wow, I bet they pack a punch. I love the flavour combinations. I tried basil chocolate yesterday and once made strawberry basil cupcakes so I am coming round to the idea of basil in sweet recipes. I'm sure the lemon and lime gave them a lovely zing, perfect with a cup of Lady Grey? x

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    1. I've seen strawberry and basil a few times - must try that myself. The citrus worked really well with the basil, perfect with a cup of tea :)

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  17. Great looking cookies...and like you say, sometimes nice to go back to basics!! I'm sure they taste lovely and fresh, I don't think I've ever tried basil in a cookie!! :-)

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    1. I've been making quite a few fancy things recently it was nice to go back to basics and my all time favourite - cookies!

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  18. Ha ha, I think you must have broken the record on number of challenges entered on one bake - excellent. Love the sound of these cookies and now want to get hold of some basil immediately.

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    1. LOL it was by chance as I wanted to make this recipe and then I discovered all these other challenges I could enter it to! yay! The cookies were very good - highly recommend them.

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  19. Oops another recipe for me to try..lol.. Hubby will be my tester, thank fyou xxx

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    1. I hope you both enjoy the cookies - do let me know what you think x

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  20. I'm awfully fascinated by your awesomeness. That's a lot of challenges... I can never compete in them if you're in it.

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    1. Thank you so much :) *blush* It's all friendly competition so feel free to enter!! It's good fun :)

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  21. These sound like such a light, zingy cookie- delicious! Which is why they're in my Foodies 100 Ten at Ten today
    http://www.foodies100.co.uk/2012/05/16/best-of-the-foodie-blogs-ten-at-ten-19/

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    1. Wow thank you so much for the honour!! I'm extremely flattered :)

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  22. These are so light and airy and very pretty. They look like you could eat a lot of them.

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    1. Yes I could eat a whole plate of these! :)

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