Oatmeal Lemon Cookies

Raspberry Danish Murder

## Ingredients

**The Cookie Dough**

* 2 cups brown sugar ***(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)***
* 1 cup ***(2 sticks, 8 ounces, ½ pound)*** salted butter, softened
* 1 large egg
* ¼ cup whole milk
* ¼ cup sour cream
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* ½ teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon lemon zest ***(the finely grated yellow part of the lemon peel)***
* 2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour ***(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)***
* 1 and ½ cups quick-cooking oatmeal ***(I used Quaker 1-minute)***
* 1 teaspoon lemon extract ***(if you don't have it, use vanilla extract)***

**The Topping**

* ¼ cup lemon juice
* ¼ cup white ***(granulated)*** sugar

## Directions

* Preheat oven to 350°F, rack in the middle position.
* Prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray or lining them with parchment paper.
* Place HALF of the brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.
* Add the 2 sticks of salted, softened butter.
* Sprinkle the other half of the brown sugar on top of the softened butter.
* Beat on MEDIUM speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.
* Continue to beat and add the egg on your mixing bowl. Beat the brown sugar, butter, and egg mixture until it is lighter in color and thoroughly blended.
* With the mixer running on MEDIUM speed, add the milk and the sour cream. Mix thoroughly.
* Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then add the lemon zest and beat until they are well combined.
* Add one cup of the flour and mix it in thoroughly on LOW speed. Then add the second cup of the flour. Once that is mixed in, add the remaining half cup of flour and mix it in. The dough should be fairly stiff.
* Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula.
* Sprinkle in the quick-cooking oatmeal, turn the mixer back on LOW speed, and mix in the oatmeal.
* With the mixer still running on LOW speed mix in the lemon or vanilla extract.
* Take the bowl out of the mixer, scrape it down again with the rubber spatula, and give your cookie dough a final stir with a wooden spoon.
* Drop by rounded spoonful onto your prepared cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a standard size sheet.
* Moisten the palm of your hand and press the cookies down slightly. You can also do this with a metal spatula dipped in water to keep the dough from sticking to the spatula.
* Bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are nice, golden brown. ***(Mine took 14 minutes.)***
* While the first pan of cookies is baking, mix up the topping.
* Heat the lemon juice just a bit in the microwave. ***(The sugar will dissolve more easily if the juice is warm.)*** Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved. Place the topping next to your wire cooling racks, along with a pastry brush.
* When the cookies come out of the oven, remove them to a wire rack with a piece of foil placed under the rack to catch the drips when you brush on the topping. If you've used parchment paper, just pull the paper with the cookies on it from the cookie sheet onto the wire rack. Leave the cookies on the parchment paper and there's no need for a piece of foil under the rack.
* Brush the Lemon Topping onto the hot cookies. The faster you do this, the quicker the topping will dry into a glaze.

Yield: Approximately 5 dozen sweet and tart cookies, depending on cookie size.