Lemon Drop Cookies

This recipe came originally from Bev, a clerk in our department for many years. The glaze is a bit of a pain and covers up the interesting texture but the tangy zing really makes these cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, at room temperature

½ cup shortening

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon lemon extract

zest from one lemon

4 cups flour, 18 ounces

1 ½ teaspoons soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

9 ounces lemon drops, cracked*

juice of 3 large lemons, about ¾ cup

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

 Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. Beat butter and shortening until fluffy.

4. Beat in sugar until fluffy.

5. Beat in eggs, vanilla, lemon extract and zest.

6. Slowly add flour mixture. Stir until combined.

7. Stir in lemon drops.

8. Form into balls on prepared baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes until edges just starting to brown.

9. Cool completely.

10. Prepare glaze: Combine lemon juice and powdered sugar. You may need to adjust the amount of juice or sugar depending on how big the lemons are.

11. Dip tops of cookies in glaze and let them dry on wire racks.

 Note:

To crack candy I put the lemon drops in a quart-sized Ziploc bag. I place the bag on a hard surface and hit each candy with a single hit, just hard enough for it to crack. This allows for relatively large pieces.