Lemon Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies and Cut-Out Cookies are synonymous to me.  If you ask for sugar cookies, you're going to get cut-out cookies.  It wasn't until I was almost in college that I even became aware of a difference between the two.

These cookies came to my mind during church yesterday.  I seem to get a lot of cooking ideas during church...inspiration maybe?  The plan was to make them last night, but I admittedly got lazy, and put it off until today.  I will say, the one benefit of having such a hot house is that butter softens super fast!

The dough is fragrant and slightly sticky at first, but once it takes a break in the fridge for an hour or so, it is incredibly easy to cut into your favorite shapes.  I opted to make mine look like the lemons they taste like, and I am very happy with the result and got two thumbs up from the husband.

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c. butter (softened)
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp lemon emulsion
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 c. flour

Directions:

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg, emulsion, lemon juice and zest and mix thoroughly.  Stir in the flour and salt until evenly combined.

Roll the dough into a large disc between two large pieces of plastic wrap.  Chill the rolled dough for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove the dough from the fridge.  Smooth out the top with the rolling pin if desired.  Cut into your shapes using cookie cutters and place on a silpat lined baking sheet. (*if your dough had become soft and warm during this step, place the baking sheet back in the fridge for an additional 10-15 minutes until firm).

Bake 8-10 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool completely before icing (if you decide to ice them).  I used a royal icing recipe with a little lemon juice.  I may post the recipe later.

Enjoy!