Lemon Buttermilk Cookies

These Lemon Buttermilk Cutout Cookies, found over at Baking Bites, are soft, but not cakelike, cookies (almost like a shortbread cookie) with a hint of lemon, which adds a nice and springlike flavor to what would otherwise be a relatively plain cookie. The dough comes together very quickly and bakes up in only a few minutes, which means that it doesn’t take too long before you can get to the most important parts of cooking-making: decorating (which I am not so good at) and eating (which I am very good at).

Lemon Buttermilk Easter Cookies
(Source: Baking Bites)

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, very soft

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1 tbsp lemon zest (from one lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in buttermilk, egg, zest and extract. Mixture may look a bit curdled if your buttermilk was cold. Don’t worry. With the mixer on low speed or by hand, add in the flour mixture, mixing just until no streaks of flour remain. Dough will be very soft.

3. Divide dough into two pieces. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for about 2 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F.

5. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll out to no more than 1/4-inch thick (slightly less than that is best) on a lightly floured surface and use a floured cookie cutter to make desired shapes. Transfer cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet. Reroll remaining dough, chilling for a few minutes if it becomes too warm to handle easily. Repeat with second piece of dough.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350F, until the edges are slightly firm to the touch but cookies are not browned (they may be slightly gold at the edges). Cool for a few minutes on baking sheet, then cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Makes 3 dozen fairly large cookies.