1. Add the sugar and lemon zest to a large bowl and rub the zest with your fingers into the sugar to release some of the oils from the zest. Add the melted butter and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Next, add the eggs and lemon juice and mix until everything looks light and fluffy. Mix the flour with baking powder, and salt. Add to the bowl and fold in. You will get a quite wet and sticky dough that looks more like a cake batter – but that’s what we want. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours (or overnight).

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and set aside. Use a cookie scoop* to get dough portions out of the bowl – you want a bit more than a tablespoon of dough per cookie. Shape into balls and then roll in the regular sugar first, then roll the balls in the confectioners’ sugar. Make sure you got a good amount of confectioners’ sugar on each dough ball. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet, leaving enough space in between – the cookies will spread quite a bit. I normally do not place more than 12 dough balls at a time on the baking sheet. Place the rest of the dough back in the fridge for the next round.

3. Place the baking sheet in the middle of the oven and bake the cookies for about 9-11 minutes or until they have expanded nicely with loads of cracks on top. Take out of the oven and let cool down on the baking sheet for some time then transfer to a wire rack and let cool down completely. Repeat with the remaining dough until everything has been used. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.