Lemon shortbread cookies

A melt-in-your-mouth summer treat

Why is everybody down on lemon? I love lemon: Lemon bars, lemon pie, lemon cake, lemon Sour Patch Kids (I know). I feel like I'm often in the minority on this one, but whatever — more lemony goodness for me! 

These cookies have just a few ingredients (awesome) and the texture is wonderful: crisp, but totally light and melt-in-your-mouth. You can play with the amount of lemon, vanilla, and salt (I did some winging it here since, after mixing up the original recipe, the dough tasted like it needed a little something extra). Let's get down to it! 

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LEMON SHORTBREAD COOKIES

WHAT YOU'LL NEED
1 cup unsalted butter 
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch 
1 and 1/2 cups flour
zest of 1-2 lemons
1/2 tsp lemon juice, or to taste
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (or try salted butter?)
granulated sugar and extra zest (for rolling out the cookies)

WHAT YOU'LL DO
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter, then slowly add all other ingredients just until the mixture sticks together when pressed into a ball. (It might look like clumps or fluffy bits of dough, but press  it together and it should stick!) 

2. In a small bowl, pour some granulated sugar and some lemon zest. Pinch together some dough and use your hands to roll it into a ball (I made mine smaller than a ping pong ball). Place the dough ball in the bowl of sugar and zest and toss to coat. Place the dough on a cookie sheet. Repeat to fill up the cookie sheet (since I made mine small, I got about 24+ cookies out of this recipe). 

3. Use butter to grease the bottom of a small, flat-bottomed drinking glass. Dip the bottom of the glass in the sugar and zest, then gently flatten the first dough ball to about 1/4-inch thick. Repeat to flatten the remaining dough. Sprinkle each with additional sugar/zest. Bake at 375 for 8 to 15 minutes (depending on the size), until the cookies have just set (they should be very barely golden — to know if they're done, check to see if the bottom of the cookie is golden). 

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These aren't a flashy cookie. They're not for people who need a lot of frosting and chocolate and ooey-gooey-ness in order to appreciate dessert. While I love those things, sometimes you just want something simple and sweet — and for that, these lemon cookies are perfection!