Hey everyone! We have the privilege of having a guest blogger today. Kayla is Rhonda's business assistant and a very good one at that. She wanted to try her hand at writing a blog post with a baking review and we happily obliged. If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment below.
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Kayla’s Test Kitchen
While scrolling Facebook, I came across a post from a bakery about lemondoodles. Now, maybe you’re like me and your first thought was what the heck is a lemondoodle and why do I think I need it? Or maybe you have encountered lemondoodles and you’re wondering why I live under a rock. Either way, it sparked an idea. I was dead set on making lemondoodles.
When I ran the idea by Cathy, she suggested I write about my experience, so here we are.
I did a quick search and found two recipes that sounded like good contenders for my little experiment. I printed them off and I was ready to go.
Here’s something you should know about me: I sometimes, maybe, just a little bit, fail to follow instructions, especially on recipes. Keep that in mind. I know Rhonda likes to follow the recipe to a T the first time and then make the changes the second time around, but that’s just not me.
First, I started with Mary’s Lemony Doodles from Just a Pinch which can be found here: Just a Pinch - Lemony Doodles
It seemed easy enough (and I had all the ingredients!) so that’s where the adventure began.
I added my dry ingredients and zest to a small mixing bowl and then I started to go a little off script.
The recipe calls for plain shortening, but I added butter flavored shortening (I like Crisco baking sticks) and sugar to a bigger mixing bowl and creamed them together with a hand mixer. Then I added the eggs one at a time and continued to mix until it was nice and creamy.
I added the dry ingredients in batches and mixed them by hand with a large spoon to avoid overmixing (I’m told it creates more gluten and a denser cookie and I don’t like that).
Here’s where things get a little shaky in my instruction-following abilities, but I must be transparent with you so that you don’t make my mistakes. I juiced half of my zested lemon and then added the required sugar. I know. I know I messed up. Half a lemon is WAY more than a teaspoon. I know that. I do. I did it anyway and I won’t do it again.
So, my lemon sugar was very thick and not really acceptable for rolling, but oh well. I thought I would just run with it.
I pulled out the big cookie scoop. I know the recipe says a generous teaspoon, but that’s not a cookie- that’s a disappointment. I understand there’s a time and a place for little cookies. Like for children and people with sugar issues and for dieters and all those other things that I don’t consider when I’m making a cookie. I would rather have more than a single bite. Sorry, not sorry.
Anyway, I went off the rails again and made a large round and plopped it in the too-wet sugar. As you can see, it didn’t exactly roll in the sugar very well.
Some sugar stuck to the dough, but not much. So, I swirled the bowl, sending the dough around and around to coat it without having to put my fingers in the wet sugar, a method I perfected by the end.I placed each sugary ball of dough two inches apart or so on my parchment-lined baking sheet. Typically, I use the parchment paper that is marked with a grid, but we were all out. I had to improvise, but I thought I did a good job.
The recipe warned that the cookies would spread while baking. I was prepared for that, especially since I had used the big scoop.
I popped them in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes.
They were not done. They were super soft, still shiny, and hadn’t cracked. That one is on me though because I didn’t follow the instructions to make them small.
I stuck them back in for another 2 minutes.
Then another 2 minutes.
Finally, I took them out and they had just barely set. That’s how my family likes cookies, so that’s how I left them.
They were very light in color but had formed a nice crust on the bottom and did not fall apart when I moved them to the cooling rack, so I left them.
After a few minutes, I tried one. They were very lemony thanks to all the juice I used, but also very sugary. They had almost no chewiness to them, which I should have expected with the way they spread.
I put more in to bake for 15 minutes. It makes sense that I double or triple the cookie size that I would have to do the same to the cooking time.
It turns out 15 minutes was too long. The next batch came out crisp and not at all chewy like a doodle should be. The sugar also pooled in little spots and turned brown on the second and third batches.
Overall, not the best cookie I’ve ever made. It probably would have gone better if I had followed the instructions exactly. My dad seemed to share in my opinion, but my mom thought they were pretty good, but they’re also believers that there’s no such thing as a bad cookie.
FAMILY REVIEW:
Mom: “They’re really good. I really enjoy them. 4 out of 5 stars.”
Dad: “The first batch is better. The others are too crispy.”
We hope you enjoyed Kayla's review. Have you ever made Lemon Doodle cookies? Do have some helpful hints or a favorite recipe? We'd love for you to share it in the comments below.
Stay safe and healthy,
The Sassy Silver Sisters
Cathy, Rhonda & Kelly
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