Sugar Cookies - Light and Lovely

I found the perfect sugar cookie recipe!  This with a little help from Le Cordon Bleu Home Collection and Bakewise by Shirley O. Corriher.

I made two batches and they were both wonderful.  I was looking for a buttery, light cookie that didn’t spread into some un recognizable form if a cookie cutter was used, or didn’t turn itself from a cookie into a flat wafer when it heat the oven heat.  Well…BINGO on all fronts.

The first batch I used butter and finely grated lemon rind.  The second batch I used butter flavored shortening and vanilla.  The textures were almost the same.  The shortening cookies were slightly more delicate to handle, and puffed up a bit more in the oven then the butter based batch but that’s about it.  In house experts Sophie and Alex preferred the shortening cookies.  Me? I liked the lemony buttery ones…so go figure either way you get a traditional sugar cookie that reminds you of an old fashioned bakery!  But as we are getting close to Easter…lemon was just right!

Ingredients

Makes about 36

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8-teaspoon salt

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (see notes below)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, beaten

Freshly grated lemon peel from 1 lemon (or ½ and orange)

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.  Beat butter and sugar in a bowl until creamy and pale.  Mix in egg beating until well combined then mix in lemon peel.  Add the flour and mix by hand until well combined.  Turn dough out on to a piece of cling film and shape into a long roll about 2inches in diameter (or shape into a disk if you are going to roll out and use shaped cookie cutters) Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes until firm. 

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Slice chilled cookie roll into ¼ pieces.  Place on baking sheet 1-inch or so apart.  Press down slightly with a flat spatula and bake for 12-15 minutes until small cracks appear on top, do not let edges burn and do not over cook (mine were done in 12 minutes exactly).  Cool on wire racks.

It’s All Delicious Notes:  If you go the shortening route, just substitute an equal amount of BUTTER flavored shortening for the “proper” butter.

You can substitute ½ teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract for the lemon peel.

Around the winter holiday season a ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon would be Christmas cookie   heaven.  These cookies will hold their shape for intense over the top holiday decorating.

Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu - Cookies