Soft Blueberry Cookies with Lemon Glaze

As winter is coming to a close and spring is finally peeking its head through the clouds I start to crave things like fresh fruit smoothies, iced sweet tea, home grown vegetables, and a colorful fruit salad.

I don't know about you, but I could sit down and eat fruit for days!  Especially delicious, juicy berries!

If you know anything about me, you also know that I have dangerously active sweet teeth.  Not tooth, teeth.  I'm talking like every tooth I have is a sweet tooth.

If I didn't know how nutritionally awful it was for me, I could definitely survive on cake, cookies, pie and candy. 

I actually gave up chocolate for lent this year, and, let me tell you, it may be the hardest thing I've ever done.

These cookies are the perfect combination between my (our?) love of fresh fruit and sugar.  They are so soft and filled with fresh blueberries that burst in your mouth when you take a bite.  The lemon glaze on top of the cookies is so refreshing, it almost feels like you aren't even eating a cookie!

I also slightly altered the original recipe to improve it health wise, and you can't even tell! 

Soft Blueberry Cookies with Lemon Glaze

Recipe Adapted from: A Happy Food Dance

Ingredients

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 C unsalted butter

1/2 C natural apple sauce

1 C brown sugar

1 C granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 C old-fashioned oats

1 1/4 C blueberries

1 C powdered sugar

Juice of one lemon

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees (make sure your rack is in the middle position) and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk, or mix with a fork the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

in a separate bowl, or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, apple sauce, and sugars until creamy.  Should take about 2 minutes.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then incorporate the vanilla.

With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just moistened.  Stir in the oats, and then the blueberries.  Be gentle when stirring in the blueberries so you do not crush them.

Spoon the dough out onto the parchment paper, spacing them 1-2 inches apart.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, the edges should just be turning golden brown.  

Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

While the last sheet of cookies are in the oven, measure out the powdered sugar into a small bowl.  Squeeze the lemon over top and mix until smooth.  The glaze should be a little thinner than the consistency of royal icing, you may need to add more powdered sugar depending on the size of the lemon.

Drizzle the glaze over the cookies after they are nearly cooled, and allow it to harden.

For best preservation, store in an airtight container.

Enjoy! :)