Easy Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cookies 5 Minutes Prep 4 Ingredients Money Tips For Moms Recipes

MEYER LEMON SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Spray or butter a 9" pie plate. Cut out a piece of parchment and line the pie plate.
• You can make this one of two ways (both ways are easy, one is noisy). If you have a food processor (like this), add the flour, sugar, and butter and pulse around 20 times. Alternatively you could blend it for 10 seconds in the processor. Stop, then add the lemon zest and juice. Pulse a few more times until it's all mixed together. It should look a bit wet at this point.
• If you don't have a food processor or don't want to wash one, you can use a pastry cutter like this. I often use this instead if I bake during nap time because it's the quiet option and we live in a small house. It's more of an arm workout but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In this case, put the flour, sugar, and butter into a bowl and use the pastry cutter to mix everything together. The butter should be in teeny pieces by the time you're done and the dough should look slightly wet. Add the lemon zest and juice and use the pastry cutter briefly to mix them in so it's uniform.
• In either case, dump out the dough (it will just look like crumbly bits at this point) into your prepared pie plate. Press very firmly into the parchment-lined dish. Really press it down. This will help it hold together and will cut nicely for you after it's baked.
• Put the pie plate with the shortbread dough in the freezer for 20 minutes. This chills the dough so it doesn't puff up as much while it's baking and keeps its shape. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350F.
• After the chill time, remove the pie plate from the freezer and prick the dough all over with a fork. Bake at 350F for ~35 minutes, until it starts to lightly brown.
• When you take it from the oven, immediately cut it into 16 wedges while it's still hot. This will making slicing it much easier before it firms up more. Let it cool completely in the dish, then remove and devour. Or bite daintily. Whichever.

LEMON SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat in lemon zest and vanilla. Combine the flour, cornstarch, nutmeg, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. (Dough will be crumbly.) Shape into a ball., On a lightly floured surface, press dough to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 1-in. fluted cookie cutter; place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Prick cookies with a fork. Reroll scraps if desired. , Bake until firm, 12-15 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before carefully removing to wire racks to cool completely. , Combine confectioners' sugar and lemon juice; drizzle over cookies. Store in an airtight container.

CLASSIC SHORTBREAD COOKIES IN 4 INGREDIENTS WITH ADDED 1 INGREDIENT VARIATIONS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Add the flour, salt, and powdered sugar to a food processor and pulse to combine. Add in the vanilla, the butter and the 1 teaspoon of water. Pulse together just until a dough is formed. Put the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a log, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 5 inches long. Tightly twist each end of the wrap in opposite directions. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Arrange on nonstick cookie sheets, parchment lined or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are just light brown, about 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans half way through the baking process. Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and cool until room temperature. Enjoy!
• Variations:
• Pulse together the tea with the flour and salt in a food processor just until the tea is in small pieces evenly distributed throughout the flour. Then add the powdered sugar, vanilla, the butter and the 1 teaspoon of water. Continue as instructed above.
• Pulse the toasted and chopped pecans into the dough and then shape into a flattened round disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough out to approximately 1/3-inch thick. (If the dough is too hard to roll or begins to crack, let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes until pliable.) With a sharp knife, cut the dough into rectangle shapes about 1 by 3-inches. Arrange on the prepared baking sheets and follow the cooking instructions as above. Dust slightly cooled cookies with powdered sugar through a fine mesh strainer.

LEMON-BUTTER SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Sift or whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.
• Place butter in a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until very creamy. Add confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and flour mixture; mix until well combined.
• Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into rounds using a round cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cookies are light brown on the bottom but still very light on top, about 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for about 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
• Whisk melted butter and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Add lemon zest and whisk again. Whisk in confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time. Add more lemon juice if necessary for a thin consistency.
• Dip the top of each cookie in the glaze and transfer to a wire rack placed over waxed paper or parchment paper. Allow cookies to sit until glaze has set, about 2 hours.
• Store cookies in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper.

LEMON SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees, with rack in upper third. Sift flour and salt into a bowl; set aside. Put butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl. Gradually add sugar; beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in lemon zest and juice.
• Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture all at once; mix until just combined.
• Halve dough, and shape into disks. Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out rounds with a 2-inch fluted cutter. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Bake until pale golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar.