Lemon Cranberry Cookies
A light, soft butter cookie with the tang of lemon glaze and cranberries. Lovely cookies!
Lemon and cranberry are great friends - both tart and tangy and both like to jam with sugar!
Lemon Cranberry Cookies
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
grated rind of one lemon
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
-In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening, butter, sugar, powdered sugar and eggs. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are incorporated. Mix in the lemon rind. Scoop the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press together into a ball, then press into a flat disc, wrap well with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
-Roll the dough on a well-floured counter to a uniform 1/2 inch in thickness. With a round cookie or doughnut cutter, about 3-4 inches in diameter, cut the dough into as many cookies as possible. Press left-over dough into another disc and roll a second time, once again cutting out as many cookies as possible. Continue until most of the dough is used.
-Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, a silpad, or sprayed with cooking spray. Make a slight indentation with your thumb into the center of each cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven, 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies are slightly puffy and golden around the bottom edges (be careful not to overcook). Remove from oven and let sit for 5 mintues, then place a few cranberries in the center of each cookie. Allow cookies to continue to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
-Mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until the glaze is smooth. Place the glaze into a ziplock plastic sandwich bag. Close the bag tightly and push the mixture down into one corner of the bag. Snip off a very small portion of the corner of the bag and then drizzle the glaze back and forth across the cooled cookies. Let cookies set for about 30 minutes, until glaze is firm. Makes 3 dozen cookies.
Roll out cookie dough and cut into 2 -3 inch diameter circles.
Drizzle lemon glaze over cooled cookies.
Attractive, delicious butter cookies with the zing of lemon and the tang of dried cranberries!
Great cookies to share with friends, if there are any left in your cookie jar after your family samples them!
