Zesty Lemon Shortbread Cookies

A week ago, I headed up to the White Mountains to stay at Silver Lake with the Cormiers.  Knowing that this is a family that likes to eat - and eats a lot! - I planned to bring a few different things with me.  I will be sharing all the recipes I made for the trip north, and the first thing I decided to bring was a platter full of cookies.  I made three different kinds of cookies, including my famous fluffernutter cookies, which are always a hit.  The second cookie was zesty lemon shortbread.  I am a sucker for anything lemony, and these have a quarter cup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice, not to mention the zest of 2 lemons.

This cookie dough has to be formed into logs, wrapped in wax paper, and refrigerated for an hour.  Once it is nice and firm, you slice it into individual cookies.  This was actually tough because apparently all my knives are terrible.  If i used a serrated knife, I just shredded the dough; non-serrated knives smushed the dough log.  So I ended up cutting them and then reshaping them a bit into the circles they are supposed to resemble.  They ended up looking just fine... and tasting ever finer.

These cookies are very, very lemony with a soft crumbly texture.  They are small enough to justify eating at least two or three, and they just taste like summer.  I only made about 2 dozen of these for my cookie platter, and since I baked them when my family was still home, we ate quite a few before it was time to bring them up to the mountains!  Again - bad blogger syndrome - no pictures, but accept my summer brain apologies!

Recipe:

zesty lemon shortbread cookies

from Baking with Blondie

Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups + 1 teaspoon flour, sifted
2 tablespoons corn starch
2/3 cup powdered sugar (again, for dusting after cooking)

Instructions:

1) Cream together butter and powdered sugar in a stand mixer.  Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla and beat until combined.  Add flour and corn starch and beat until a smooth dough forms.

2)  Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half.  Place each half onto a large piece of wax paper and form into a log.  Roll paper around log, and twist the ends.  Place in refrigerator for about an hour, or until firm,

3) Preheat oven to 35o degrees.  Spray your cookie sheet or line with baking paper.  Slice your log into about 1/3 inch cookie discs.  Place onto prepared baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes.  Lightly toss the warm shortbread cookies in the extra powdered sugar and allow to cool completely on wire racks.