Lemon and Brown Sugar Shortbreads

I discovered a few more food blogs...this is getting to be a problem. I end up saving up tons and tons of recipes from these fabulous food blogs...who knows when I will make all them!! Or even remember which ones I've saved! Anyway, this new one I found is Pinch My Salt. She had this great simple recipe for lemon shortbread and brown sugar shortbread. I picked up some lemons on my last shopping trip so I was happy to find something simple and delicious to use them in. I made half a batch of each cause I didn't want an over abundance of left over cookies, although I did send some to work with the Hubs, his co-workers love me :) I also didn't want to use up all my butter.


Lemon Shortbread
(find original recipe here.)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 T lemon zest
1 1/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream together the softened butter and sugar, until smooth. Add the lemon zest and beat until incorporated. By hand, stir in flour a little at a time. Dough will be crumbly, so dump it out onto counter top or pastry board and work it together by hand, until smooth. Pat or roll out dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into small squares, rectangles, diamonds or triangles (which ever you prefer) Arrange cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are just brown.


Brown Sugar Shortbread
(find original here.)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream together the softened butter and sugar, until smooth. By hand, stir in flour a little at a time. Dough will be crumbly, so dump it out onto counter top or pastry board and work it together by hand, until smooth. Pat or roll out dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into small squares, rectangles, diamonds or triangles (which ever you prefer) Arrange cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are just brown.

These recipes are nearly identical except for the type of sugar and the addition of lemon zest. These cookies are light and crisp and the lemon ones have a nice buttery, lemon flavor that is really refreshing. The brown sugar ones are little more earthy and deep in flavor. I enjoyed both kinds, the lemon was nice, but I do love brown sugar. These were really simple to make and didn't make as big a mess as I thought they might have, with having to handle the dough on the counter.

These were fun to make in between the episodes of True Blood I was watching! Haha!! I hope you guys try these out, they were easy and would be a great with a cup of tea...hmmm I know what I am gonna go do....

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

-BellaRosa