Lemon Glitter Cookies

My housemate, Stephen, bought a bag of small Meyer lemons from the Berkeley Bowl, then he couldn't find a use for all of them and generously donated them to the cause of Charlie's Kitchen Blog. Thanks, Stephen! I love lemon-y anything, so I was happy for the chance to work with these tangy little guys.

I can't claim authorship of this recipe. It's another classic from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I just made minor alterations based on personal preference, such as substituting soy for almond milk and playing with the quantities of flour and lemon.

[Weird aside; lemon cookies and cakes remind me of Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones. Imagine how stoked I was, therefore, when lemon cakes got featured during this week's episode. Who knew that being a fantasy fiction nerd could make baking more fun?!]

3 tbsp turbinado sugar, or other coarse granular sugar

1/2 cup Earth Balance

1/4 cup soy milk

3/4 cup sugar, I used white sugar

2 tbsp lemon zest (this was equivalent to the zest from four small Meyer lemons)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp cornmeal, finely ground

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your baking sheet. Use a grater or microplane to zest the lemons. Next, grind the cornmeal into a fine powder (I used a coffee grinder). In a large bowl, cream together the Earth Balance and sugar using a fork. Add the soy milk, lemon juice, vanilla and continue to stir with a wooden spoon. When an even liquidy mixture has formed, slowly sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring continuously. The resulting mixture should smell nicely zesty and stick to your fingers when you touch it.

Use a measuring spoon to drop tablespoon-sized dollops of batter on to your baking sheet. Leave plenty of space around each dollop because it will spread out as it cooks. I put 12 cookies on each sheet, which works out perfectly because the recipe makes exactly 24 cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes on the top shelf of the oven. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Each cookie contains 105 calories.