Grapefruit cookies are for citrus lovers who would like a little something different. This is an easy cookie for beginners.
If Vintage Sugar cookies, my most popular recipe, had a hot date with a grapefruit, the ensuing issue would be these grapefruit cookies.
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Crunchy and just a bit sweet, these grapefruit cookies, which have a sparkly coating thanks to sanding sugar, have a bit of a tang from freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and zest in the dough.
Plus, grapefruit is so good for you. That means you can feel really good about eating these cookies!
Adding fresh juice and citrus zest to a cookie basically turns it into a healthy snack.
This is an easy drop cookie recipe.
I wanted cookies with a bit of extra sparkle and crunch so I used clear sugar crystals.
Ingredients
- Granulated sugar-for sweetness
- Butter-tenderness
- Egg--add structure
- Vanilla Extract-flavor
- Grapefruit juice-flavor
- Grapefruit zest-flavor
- All purpose flour-structure
- Baking powder-helps with rise
- Ground cinnamon-flavor
- Sea salt or kosher salt-flavor
- Sanding sugar-sparkly finish
Please use fresh grapefruit juice for the very best flavor. I was using small, pink grapefruits so I needed two fruits to get enough juice.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Grapefruit Cookies
- Measure ingredients
- Zest grapefruit onto a piece of wax paper
- Juice grapefruit (four tablespoons)
- Beat butter and sugar together until pale yellow and fluffy. (2 to 5 minutes depending on your mixer.)
- Add egg, vanilla extract, grapefruit juice and zest and mix with beater until combined, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt). Mix until just combined and no white streaks remain. Don't over beat or you'll have tough cookies.
- Wrap dough and chill dough.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool briefly on cookie sheet then remove to counter or cookie rack.
- Eat or package for later snacking.
Recipe Notes
Cookies will be slightly puffed in the middle when you pull them out out of the oven.
They will flatten a bit as they cool down and the cookies will have a lovely crackly surface.
Any variety of grapefruit will work.
Please freshly squeeze grapefruits for this cookie to get the best taste. I needed two grapefruits to get the tablespoon of zest and the four tablespoons of juice.
However, my grapefruits were a bit sad and small. You should be able to get everything you need for this cookie from one large, juicy grapefruit.
However, if you don't have any grapefruits and you really want to make the cookie, just use packaged grapefruit juice. However, that will mean you'll lose out on the zest, unless you've got grapefruit zest stored in your freezer.
A Microplane grater zester will make fast work of removing the colored part of the grapefruit skin or zest for the dough.
Zesters are one of the best, low cost kitchen tool investments you can make.
They last you years. Bonus, use the zester to grate hard rind cheese like a wedge of parmesan over a steaming bowl of pasta or grate a block of chocolate.
An alternative to a zester, if you don't have one, is to remove the colored part of the citrus rind using a sharp knife.
Slice the peel into narrow strips. Finely dice those strips.
You'll want the peel to be teensy, tiny. Imagine slicing a penny vertically into six pieces, then slice the penny strips into thirds. That's how small you want the pieces of zest if you don't have a grater, which creates a shower of zest for you.
How do you juice a grapefruit?
- Put grapefruit on a cutting board or even better, in a medium size bowl and slice it in half.
- You want to slice the grapefruit on a surface or dish that will capture all the fresh juiciness that's going to dribble or gush out of the fruit as you slice it!
- Then, take a fork, my preferred method, stick the fork into one half of the fruit at a time and twist and squeeze and twist and squeeze and grind the fork around in the grapefruit flesh until you've wrung out all of the juice you possibly can.
- Repeat with other half of the grapefruit.
If you're a gadget person, there are plenty of juicers to buy to assist you with juicing said grapefruit.
Please let me know if you make this recipe! What's your favorite cookie? How do you make sugar cookies?
This grapefruit cookie recipe has been adapted from The Homesick Texan. If you love southwestern food, Lisa is a must a follow.
f lemon cookies are more your jam, try these lemon shortbread hearts
Or if you're more of a chocolate gal or guy, these never disappoint.
Do you like citrus? Try Copycat Panera Lemon Drop Cookies Recipe or Easy Lemon Dessert Recipes.
Cookie Baking Advice
You may find these baking posts helpful, from How to Freeze Cookie Dough, Room Temperature Butter for Baking to Salted or Unsalted Butter for Cookies? to Do I Need A Cookie Scoop?, Cookie Size Chart to What Should a Beginner Bake? to Where Can I Buy Sprinkles?, Why is my sugar cookie dough too sticky? and Cookie Holidays. What is Sanding Sugar and Where Can I Buy Sprinkles might also be helpful.
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Recipe
Grapefruit Cookies
Grapefruit cookies are for citrus lovers who would like a little something different. This is an easy cookie for beginners. If sugar cookies and grapefruits hooked up, these crunchy cookies with a tang of citrus would be the ensuing issue.
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 Tablespoons grapefruit juice
- 1 Tablespoon grapefruit zest
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sanding sugar or sugar crystals for rolling douugh balls before baking
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until pale yellow and fluffy, this will likely take at least 5 minutes depending on how strong your mixer is.
- Add egg and mix
- Add vanilla extract, grapefruit juice and zest, blend until well combined
- Add dry ingredients-flour through salt--and stir until just combined. Over mixing here will lead to tough cookies.
- Wrap dough and chill in refrigerator for an hour. Or,.roll dough into one-inch balls using a cookie scoop or a teaspoon and roll into sanding sugar then wrap and chill.
- Bake 12 cookies at a time at 350° on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for approximately 12 minutes. Remember oven temperatures vary so check cookies at the 10 minute market.
- Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes on cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
- Makes approximately 30 to 36 one-inch cookies
Notes
Cookies will be slightly puffed in the middle when you pull them out out of the oven.
They will flatten a bit as they cool down and the cookies will have a lovely crackly surface.
Any variety of grapefruit will work.
Please freshly squeeze grapefruits for this cookie to get the best taste. I needed two grapefruits to get the tablespoon of zest and the four tablespoons of juice.
However, my grapefruits were a bit sad and small. You should be able to get everything you need for this cookie from one large, juicy grapefruit.
However, if you don't have any grapefruits and you really want to make the cookie, just use packaged grapefruit juice. However, that will mean you'll lose out on the zest, unless you've got grapefruit zest stored in your freezer.
You'll need a zester to make these cookies.
This Microplane model is my favorite for removing zest or the colored skin of citrus to add to recipes.
Nutrition Information
Yield 36 Serving Size one inch cookieAmount Per Serving Calories 95Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 12mgSodium 64mgCarbohydrates 17gFiber 0gSugar 11gProtein 1g
Kathy
Delicious. I used one cup of sugar instead of 1 1/2.. So good with coffee and/or tea. Light and just-sweet-enough. I agree, 4 tablespoons of (fresh) grapefruit juice is a must. Thank you for this recipe. It will be part of my personal cookbook.
Jennifer
Kathy, I'm so pleased to hear that you enjoyed these cookies. They really are perfect for coffee and tea.
Thanks for the kind words.
Are you under quarantine? What else are you baking?
Jennifer :