Lemon + butter + cookies = YUMMY!

We all know I love lemons. I think I love lemons more than I love chocolate. I've made my margarita cookies and my lime meltaways - both of which have become fast favourites. But this might become one of my new "go-to" cookie recipes. It's a freezer cookie - the dough gets rolled into a log, wrapped in plastic wrap, allowed to chill and then sliced into thin pieces. All this means is making the dough in advance - but since it's going into the freezer you can make it up to 2 months in advance... just think of it as a baking investment :0)

I found this little gem of a recipe in my grandmother's recipe book (I know, I've used this book several times in the past couple of weeks... I guess we all know where I'm finding my inspiration).

Lemon Butter Cookies
adapted from: The Fannier Merritt Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook
ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch of salt
2 c. all purpose flour

In a large bowl, cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat it well into the butter. Add each egg individually, beating well, adding the lemon zest and juice, cinnamon, cloves and salt into the batter. The cookie dough will be fluffy at this stage. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon, making sure all the flour is incorporated.

At this point I placed the bowl with the batter in it in the fridge and allowed it to cool a little (about 30 minutes).

Then I removed it from the fridge and divided the dough in half - shaping it into a log over plastic wrap. Grab your plastic wrap, lay it out flat and put some of your cookie dough on it. Pull up the sides of the wrap so that all of the dough is covered and just form it into a log.

Quick and easy - I promise (I was intimidated the first time I tried too - and have since made 3 cookie dough's that require this process). Make sure that the ends are well twist-tied closed and place in the freezer to allow the logs to really chill. This makes cutting the dough much easier.

Allow to cool in the freezer about 2 hours (or more).

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Remove a log from the freezer and peel off the plastic wrap. Thinly slice the dough. Place them on the cookie sheets (about an inch apart) and bake for about 10 minutes - you want them to be golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

This amount of dough will make about 60 cookies (good ol' fashioned recipe books... you always get the most out of a recipe right?)

Like I said, you can bake them all at once, or divide the batter into lots of little logs and only bake a dozen at a time. If you have problems with self-restraint I recommend the latter... unless raw cookie dough is your weakness :0)