Zucchini Cookies with Citrus Icing

Summer is just about over, which means it's time to harvest the last of the warm-weather crops. As always, I'm left with more zucchini than I know what to do with, which isn't necessarily a bad thing yet there is only so much zucchini bread a baker can make.

Gigantic, right?

So I recently made a plan to bake up some zucchini cookies, with inspiration from My Baking Addiction. The original recipe called for baking these in a whoopie pie pan (which I don't own), however I opted for a plain old baking sheet instead. The cookies turned out a bit thinner, but delicious nonetheless. It's all in the combination of tender cookie and delicious icing!

My changes to the recipe included adding almond extract and tweaking the icing glaze by adding some orange juice to it. I would definitely refer to these as muffin top cookies due to their fluffy, near-muffin like appearance and taste.

And again, my taste testers gave these high scores for flavor, uniqueness, and the ability to eat several in a row without realizing it. Enjoy!

Zucchini Cookies with Citrus Icing 
Adapted from: My Baking Addiction 
Cookies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup finely shredded zucchini
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup raisins

Citrus Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg, zucchini, lemon zest, vanilla and almond extracts.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in raisins.

Use a medium cookie scoop (1 ½ tablespoons) to drop dough into the center of each whoopee pie well or simply drop them directly onto the prepared cookie sheet. If you are using a cookie sheet, be sure to leave a few inches between each cookie.

Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Make the icing by mixing together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Drizzle the icing over cooled cookies.