Lemon Butter Cookies

I wanted to make lemon cookies with my cookie spritzer today, so here's my Lemon Butter Spritz Cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool (2 sticks)
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 2⁄3 cup sugar (about 4 3/4 ounces)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 10 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour (about 2.25 cups, but weight it!)

   

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, beat egg. vanilla extract, and lemon juice.
3. Cream the butter, sugar, lemon zest and salt in a standing mixer at medium-high speed (KitchenAid 5?)until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. (Scrape down bowl once or twice.)
4. With the mixer running at medium speed, add the egg mixture and mix until well incorporated, about 30 seconds. 
5. Scrape down the bowl. 
6. With the mixer running at low speed (KitchenAid 2?), gradually beat in the flour about 1/3 cup at a time until well combined. Scrape down the bowl once or twice.
7. After all flour mixed in, stir to ensure that no flour pockets remain especially on bottom.
8. The dough should be a play dough consistency - if it is too soft, chill for 10 minutes in freezer.
9. Fill the cookie press, and press cookies onto ungreased baking sheets (spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart.) 
10. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are light golden brown. (If the edges get light brown, they are still delicious, but will be more crispy.)
11. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet a few minutes, then transfer using a metal spatula to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Carole's Notes:

These cookies were quite tasty - a buttery flavor with a light lemon hint. If you want them more lemony, mix up a lemon glaze and apply it after the cookies are baked.
If you get the dough the proper thickness/coolness, the cookie press works great. This dough ended up being a bit to soft after the first tubeful.  They also would be very nice as a butter cookie without the lemon.

I put the dough and the press tube (filled with dough) in the freezer a few minutes. When I tried to you the press again, the press did not work at first.

The round cookies ones on the left above are where I got impatient with the dough, and used a small cookie scoop to make mounds which I squished down with a glass.

However, I decided the issue was the dough in the press tube got to hard, so I scooped it out & mixed with the other dough. I was able to use the press for the second third of the cookies.

Recipe is very lightly adapted from http://www.food.com/recipe/spritz-cookies-with-variations-americas-test-kitchen-444005