Recipe: Lemon Cookies Made w/Instant Potatoes

by Texas Homesteader ~

We were given a package of instant potato flakes. But I don’t cook with instant potatoes since we both much prefer the taste of real mashed potatoes to instant.

But y’all know how I hate to waste food, so I set out looking for ways to use them up. Thickening for soup? Sure. Topping for shepherd’s pie? Ok.

But it’s taking too long to use this bag of instant potatoes. So I set out to find a recipe to use ’em up a little faster.

Then I stumbled on a recipe to make COOKIES with them. Cookies? Really!?? Hummmm….

I figured I’ve got nothing to lose, RancherMan likes cookies and I love all things lemon so why not?

I pulled out the few ingredients the recipe would require – instant potatoes, flour, sugar, eggs, butter, lemon & baking soda.

I found the original recipe on food.com. Why but of course I changed the recipe to suit our tastes, why do you ask?? LOL

Y’all know I simply cannot leave a recipe alone!

I took my lemon and juiced it and added the juice to the batter, then I zested it and added the zest of the entire lemon to the batter as well. I think this added a little more lemon flavor, which is what I was after.

Butter Melted, NOT Softened

The recipe said the dough would be crumbly and they were right. I was confused initially reading the recipe & added the butter softened but not melted. So that may have made the batter more crumbly than it was supposed to be. Next time I’ll actually melt the butter completely before adding it in.

As it was, I was able to take a handful of dough and press tightly & the warmth of my hands made the dough stick together enough to plop it onto a cookie sheet.

(update: Yes, yes, YES – melt the butter before mixing in and the cookie dough is perfect!)

Baking The Lemon Cookies

I stuck those cookies on a cookie sheet and set it in a 350-degree oven for about 10-12 minutes. Then I cooled the cookies just a bit before attempting to move them to a cooling rack.

Yes I sneaked one cookie into my mouth while it was still warm – don’t judge me! 😉

The verdict? Both RancherMan & I LOVED them. They were soft, lemony and almost cake-like. But not overly sweet. Success!

I baked only 1/2 of the recipe that day and baked the other 1/2 the following day when we had company visiting. They loved them as well, the cookies were devoured in short order.

And hey, if you’re going to have to put to good use a grocery item that would otherwise go to waste why not cookies, right??

Here’s the recipe as I amended it:

5 from 1 vote

Instant Potato Lemon Cookies

Lemon cookies made with instant mashed potatoes? Oh yes, and they're delicious! #TexasHomesteader

CourseDessert

CuisineAmerican

Keywordcookies, lemon, snack

Author www.TexasHomesteader.com

Ingredients

Ingredients:

2cupsall-purpose flour
2cupsinstant mashed potatoes
1cupsugar
1cupfirmly packed brown sugar
1/2cupnutsfinely chopped
1teaspoonbaking soda
3/4cupbuttermelted
2eggs
Zest of 1 lemon,about 1 Tablespoon
OPTIONALJuice of 1 lemon, about 3-4 Tablespoons. (NOTE - this will make cookies much thinner & crispy!)
1/4cupsugar to roll dough in

Instructions

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F.
In large bowl, combine all ingredients except last 1/4 cup sugar; blend well. (Mixture will be crumbly.)
Firmly press into 1-inch balls, roll cookies in reserved sugar & place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly before attempting to remove from baking sheet. Place on rack to cool completely.

~TxH~

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