Lemon Sugar Cookies & Last-Minute Sweets, 2010 Edition

This time last year, I was blogging five nights a week. Needless to say, I’ve had to cut back a bit and in so doing have forced myself into consolidating any holiday recipe contributions I might like to make this year.

Today I want to share a new cookie recipe, but I should also direct you back to 2009 when I posted a week’s worth of easy, last-minute dessert ideas. I’ll be referring back to it myself for sure!

In the meantime, I’ve come up with a fresh idea for a Christmas cookie to share with my family. It’s not one of our traditional Christmas treats, but I’m pretty sure they’re gonna dig it. (Earmuffs, family!)

Last week I got to meet the very cool Elina over lunch and she brought me a sampling of some of the most brilliant homemade cookies I’ve ever tasted. Homegirl has talent! One of the treats she made was a lemon sugar cookie. It was love at first bite and I decided the rest of the fandamily needed to try it too. So I did some scrounging and ended up with a hybrid of a couple cookie recipes. A bit nervous to bake a cookie that wasn’t chocolate chip, I cobbled together the following:

Lemon Sugar Cookies

(inspired by Elina's cookies and Suzan’s Favorite Butter Cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1.5 cups flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• zest of 1/2 a lemon
• extra sugar for garnish, if desired

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a medium bowl.
2. Separately, in a large bowl, beat egg and sugar together until smooth and creamy, a minute or two.
3. Add butter and extracts to egg + sugar mixture.
4. Gradually add flour mixture a little at a time and mix until incorporated.
5. Divide dough into two parts and shape into two logs about two inches in diameter. Roll in wax paper and freeze overnight.
6. Slice (about 1/2 inch thick) and sprinkle with a little sugar for sparkle, if desired. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350*.

Makes 3-4 dozen

They came out so well! Far better than I deserved, I’m sure. The lemon flavor is most definitely there, but so is the butter and sugar so it’s quite the happy cookie indeed.

I understand that lemony sweets are not for everyone, though, so here again are a few other holiday-appropriate desserts (that don’t require freezing overnight, might I add!):

• Homemade Peppermint Patties
• Chocolate-dipped Crystallized Ginger
• Double-Chocolate Peppermint Bark
• 10-Minute Raw Carrot Cake bites
• Cinnamon-Graham Ice Cream

Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the giveaway I promised either! I just decided to save it and make it my Christmas present to blog-land. And for those of you for whom Christmas is not a holiday, it shall be my December 25th present to blog-land. Look for it next weekend!

What’s your favorite holiday treat? I actually just got hit with a craving for 7-layer bars—they are the ultimate! Also a fan of the omnipresent 2-pound box of See’s nuts & chews.