Lemon zucchini cookies

Lemon zucchini cookies

Today, all my friends are posting pictures of their kids' first day back to school, my dogs have nearly stopped their seemingly constant shedding and I had to wear my Ugg slippers to sit out on the porch this morning.

I guess it's official.

Summer is over.

Although not quite over in the garden, I'm happy to report. Knock on wood, my tomatoes have been spared both bugs and blight this year and are producing almost more than I can eat or freeze, the green beans continue to proliferate, I'm giving away bags of cucumbers on a near-daily basis and the kale is plentiful.

So let's have one last huzzah for summer veg, shall we?

And what typifies summer veg better than the ubiquitous zucchini?

And who better than The Ninj to put it in a cookie?

You know I like unusual cookie combinations (salt and bacon are fine cookie additions, in my book), so this recipe for zucchini cookies caught my eye when I stumbled across it on Food52.

I think it's fair to say that this is more of a small scone than a cookie (unless you drizzled some icing on it) -- really delightful with afternoon tea or for breakfast. I love that the shredded zucchini gives the cookies a little touch of color, too.

As I love lemon, I modified the recipe to give it a little more lemon oomph, and I'm glad I did. The flavor was zingy without being too lemony or overpowering the texture of the zucchini.

This recipe also gave me the opportunity to freeze a bunch of shredded zucchini so I can make this recipe (or zucchini bread) during the dark days of winter. I'm currently completed enamored of my Food Saver handheld vacuum sealer but I didn't want to have use a bunch of the special bags for small, one-cup portions of shredded zucchini. So I put the zucchini portions into sandwich bags, removing as much air as I could, then put the bags into one Food Saver bag and sealed it. When I need zucchini, I can open the Food Saver bag, take out what I need and then re-seal it!

How are you planning to say farewell to summer? And what non-summery dish are you most looking forward to making again, now that fall is in the air?

The Ninj wants to know.

Lemon Zucchini Cookies (adapted from a recipe by The Naptime Chef via Food 52)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 10 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (2-3 small lemons)
• 2-3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup shredded zucchini

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the first three ingredients, whisking to combine. Spread the zucchini on paper towels to absorb as much liquid as possible.

Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Add the lemon zest, juice and zucchini and mix well. A little bit at a time, add the dry mixture to the wet and mix to combine.

Drop the batter in heaping teaspoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (note: the cookies can be pretty close together as they don't spread much at all). Bake for about 15 minutes until the edges begin to brown slightly. Cool completely on a wire rack.