Lemon Butter Cookies

Sense of Home

There were lemons galore at the grocery store I shop at, they had them in bins just inside the entry way, by the fish, and over in the produce section.  No doubt they got a good deal on them because they were priced low.  Not all were organic though, just one bin in the produce section, I wanted to use the zest, so I snagged a few of the organic lemons.  I was thinking of making either a lemon cookie or maybe even a lemon cake.

Well, I was short on time and I do love cookies, so the cake would have to wait for another day.  I saw several lemon cookie recipes, but none of them were quite what I had in mind, I wanted a really lemony taste, so in the end I made a butter cookie and added lemon zest, lemon juice, and a really fine lemon extract.

According to a Purdue University research paper the true home of the lemon is unknown, though it has been linked to northwestern India.  Gradually spreading through the area, the fruit was prized for its medicinal virtues in Egypt and Syria around 1174 - 1193 A.D.  A few centuries later Christopher Columbus carried the seeds to Hispaniola in 1493. They have grown in California since the mid-1700s and in Florida since the mid-1800s though a devastating freeze in northern Florida the winter of 1894-95 halted commercial production until 1953.  It was a long journey, but I am glad to see this yellow citrus in the bins at my local grocery store as I'm sure most people are.  Although I like to eat oranges, lemons are my favorite citrus, I crave that strong acidic flavor with its pucker power, I have been known to eat a fresh wedge of lemon.

These cookies can be baked as drop cookies or rolled, chilled, and sliced as refrigerator cookies, providing fresh baked cookies all week.

Lemon Butter Cookies
~from the Sense of Home kitchen~
Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon extract
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar in a mixer.  Add eggs, lemon extract, and lemon juice and mix thoroughly.  Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together, add lemon peel and stir into butter mixture.

For drop cookies:
Drop by spoonfuls on baking sheet.  Bake for approximately 10 minutes in a 350 degree F. oven.

For refrigerator cookies:
Dust work surface with flour.  Roll dough into two or three cylinders, depending on how many cookies you want to bake at a time.  Wrap dough cylinders in plastic, chill in refrigerator for up to a week.  To bake, cut dough cylinder into 1/2 inch slices and bake at 350 degrees F. for approximately 13 minutes.

Store cookies in air tight container for one week or store in the freezer for up to one month.

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