Lemon Shortbread Cookies

From Nanci Zombro

Do not preheat oven- dough must chill before baking.

Ingredients:

2 cups melted butter (4 sticks, 1 pound)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp lemon extract (orange works well too)

1 Tb lemon zest (or orange zest)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar (critical)

1 tsp salt

4.25 Cups Flour (regular or gluten free)

½ cup granulated sugar in a small bowl (for later)

Instructions:

Melt butter in microwave for 3 minutes.  Add sugars and mix.  Let mixture cool to room temperature before adding eggs.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Add the lemon extract, zest, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.  Mix well.

Add the flour in half cup increments, mixing after each addition.

Chill dough for at least 1 hour (overnight is fine too)

Preheat oven to 325.  Use your hands to roll dough into walnut sized balls.  Roll each ball in the sugar.  Place on cookie sheet and flatten.  (I use the bottom of a glass)

Bake at 325 for 10 to 15 minutes – should have a tinge of gold on the top.  Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

 That’s all I did for the lemon ones.  If you want, you can dip each cookie in melted chocolate and place them on waxed paper to dry.

                Chocolate Dip = 2 cups chocolate chips and 1 stick of butter – melted together in the microwave.  Stir to make sure the chips are melted.  I use a half and half mixture of milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate.

Original recipe is for the orange shortbread with half of the cookie dipped in chocolate – called Sun Moon Cookies