Lemony Launch into Spring Recipe

I made these yummy lemon cookies over the weekend. The recipe is based on the recipe in the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion cookbook. I hope you will enjoy them.

Lemon Coolers

3/4 cup butter
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon rind/zest or
1 teaspoon lemon rind/zest and 1/2 teaspoon lemon flavoring
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter, cream cheese, salt, baking powder, lemon zest and lemon oil. When the mixture is creamy, add the sugars, a bit at a time, beating until fluffy. Finally, mix in the flour. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop out a tablespoon of dough for each cookie and roll into a ball. Place the balls on the baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Flatten each cookie to about 1/4 inch thickness using the bottom of a glass dipped in confectioners' sugar.

Bake the cookies 1o to 12 minutes, until they are very lightly browned on the bottom and edges.

Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Carol's notes:

• I use the lemon zest and lemon flavoring. I made my last batch without lemon zest and they were wonderful.
• I use 1/2 cup unsalted butter and 1/4 cup salted butter to make the 3/4 cup butter.
• When I see just a tiny bit of browning on the edges, I take the cookies out. In my convection oven, that was at about 6 - 7 minutes.