Duckie Lemon Sugar Cookies Recipe (with Video)

Making the cookie dough
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, add granulated sugar and lemon zest. Using your fingers, rub the lemon zest and sugar together until combined and fragrant. This step infuses the citrus oils with the sugar, enhancing the lemon flavor of your cookies.
3. Using a hand mixer, stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or a fork, mix in softened butter until smooth. Scrape bottom of bowl.
4. Add in egg, lemon juice, and vanilla extract until combined. If batter splits it's ok—it will come together after adding flour.
5. Mix in all of the dry ingredients until no dry spots remain.
6. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This step will hydrate the dough and solidify the butter, making the dough easier to work with. This will also help the dough from spreading in the oven.
Shaping the duckies
1. In a small bowl or plate, rub together the lemon sugar ingredients.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.
3. Use medium cookie dough scoop to gather dough (about 1 ½-2 tablespoons each). Shape into ball, roll into lemon sugar, then place onto lined baking tray. This will be the duckie's head.
4. For the tufts of hair, take about ¼ tsp of dough, shape into ball, roll into lemon sugar, and place on top of the head. Repeat with a slightly bigger or smaller piece of dough, and place it next to the other ball.
5. Place ducks about 3-4 inches apart.
6. Bake for 9-12 minutes. Cookies should look slightly puffy + soft, and the edges should be set + firm.
7. Let cool on pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Let cool completely.
Decorating the duckies
1. You can use a toothpick, cookie scribe, or piping bag. I used piping bags + toothpicks.
2. Add oil-based yellow or orange food coloring to the melted white chocolate. If you don't have oil-based food coloring, then the chocolate will seize/become lumpy. To counter this, stir in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time, until it becomes smooth again. Use this for the beak.
3. Dye any leftover yellow/orange white chocolate with pink/red food coloring. Use this for the blush.
4. Use the melted chocolate to draw on the eyes.
5. Enjoy!