Lemon Scented Sugar Cookies

Close your eyes and just imagine the delicate fragrance of the zest coming off a fresh lemon. Capture that essence of citrus and tuck it inside a light buttery sugar cookie, gently glistening with tiny sugar crystals baked on top and you’ve got little bites of sunshine!

My Great Grandmother always had a jar full of cookies on her kitchen counter when we came to visit. Though she died when I was quite young, the memory of her delicious cookies stays with me.

Sugar cookies are truly a vintage cookie and a beloved classic for sure. There are dozens of recipes, many requiring hours of chilling, rolling and cutting. Perfect for a holiday activity but perhaps a bit too much effort for lazy summer days. This style sugar cookie is more of a drop cookie, made in a similar fashion of a peanut butter cookie.

Creaming butter with shortening brings the wonderful flavor of butter with a bit of crispness to the bite while creating a cookie that is still delicate and tender. Add sweetness from sugar, richness from eggs and a heavenly depth of flavor from pure vanilla.

Now for the lemon. Subtle notes of this bright citrus comes from pure lemon extract balanced with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice followed by a generous amount of lemon zest.

Drop the fluffy cookie dough in rounds then press in that fun and familiar pattern used for peanut butter cookies, followed by an extra dusting of sugar.

Then bake until the edges are just golden.

Take one bite, one whiff, and suddenly you’re transported to a simpler time that’s just magical.

Lemon Scented Sugar Cookies

½ cup shortening

½ cup butter, room temperature

1-½ cups sugar, plus extra for dusting the cookies

2 extra-large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Zest from 1 lemon, about 1 teaspoon

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2-½ cups flour, plus ¼ cup extra for pressing the cookies

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Cream the butter into the shortening using medium speed until blended together, about 1 minute.

Slowly beat the sugar into the butter and shortening, adding about ½ cup at a time on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating them into the butter and sugar mixture on low speed.

Stir in the vanilla and lemon extracts along with the lemon zest and juice.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and kosher salt.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture into the batter, about ½ cup at a time.

Drop the cookie dough by rounded teaspoons onto a baking sheet lined with a Silpat liner or parchment paper, leaving about 3” between cookies. A small (about 1” diameter) ice cream scoop works really well for this.

Place about ¼ cup flour into a small bowl. Press the cookies with the tines of a fork, in a crisscross pattern. Dust the fork in the extra flour as you go to prevent it from sticking to the cookies.

Sprinkle the extra sugar across the tops of the cookies, about ¼ teaspoon on each.

Bake in a 375-degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes just until the cookies are set and lightly golden on the bottoms. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.