Salted Lemon Shortbread Cookies for Non-Bakers (Like Me)

We have seven - seven - mature lemon trees between our front and back yards. Which means that, this time of year, we have a metric ass-ton of lemons on our hands. We literally can't give all of them away fast enough. We put them in boxes marked "FREE! ORGANIC! PLEASE TAKE!!" on our front lawn, and though we live on a very busy corner, they still go bad. Needless to say, I make a lot of lemon vinaigrettes, pastas, sauces, etc. 

Although I'm not a baker by nature - no one could ever accuse me of being precise or deliberate - I decided to make lemon shortbread cookies to give away this holiday season.  To my immense relief, these cookies were exceedingly simple to put together and extremely delicious - holla! The rich, buttery texture and tangy lemon flavor are a perfect match.  The recipe didn't use up many actual lemons, unfortunately; I tried making them with fresh lemon juice as opposed to extract, but that just didn't work.  Maybe I'll get my shit together in time to do limoncello or Moroccan-style preserved lemons next year. In the mean time, I'll be giving whole lemons away with this year's shortbread cookies. Want some? Come on over!

Prep Time: 20 mins
Bake Time: 25 mins
Ingredients: 5

1 1/2 sticks room temperature butter
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

*Optional - Sprinkling a pinch of fresh lemon zest on the tops of the unbaked cookies gives them extra zing! Sprinkling a pinch of kosher sea salt on top of the zest really brings out the lemon flavor.

Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugar and butter together on medium til light, about 2 minutes. Sift in flour, mixing on low or by hand. The dough will be crumbly. Add extract. Add zest. On an un-greased surface using your hands, press dough into a 10 or 12-inch square. Score large square into smaller, 1 or 2-inch squares with the back of a knife. Transfer little squares to a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Maker's Mark Frosting

 These are good. Like, eat-half-a-dozen-by-yourself-straight-out-of-the-oven-good.

The recipe is based on a Barefoot Contessa classic, tweaked to suit my not-so-sweet tooth. I wanted just a suggestion of sweetness in the cupcakes, because I really like the dark, slightly smoky unsweetened cocoa, and tangy creme fraiche and buttermilk.

In all honesty, my sole reason for making these cupcakes was to have a vehicle worthy of the Maker's Mark frosting I knew I wanted to attempt for Mike's birthday, whiskey being his spirit of choice. It was delicious (though next time I would add more a little more, because, let's face it... more booze is always better).

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Cupcakes

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients: 12
Dishes you'll have to wash: Too many.

1 1/2 sticks room temp butter
2/3 cup white sugar (I used a little less)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp good vanilla extract
1 cup room temperature buttermilk
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 tbsps strong, brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup good, unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven 350. In a large bowl, cream the butter and two sugars about 5 minutes, until fluffy. Add eggs on at a time, then add vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, creme fraiche and coffee. In yet another bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low, alternately add the buttermilk mixture and flour mixture to the sugars. Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full and bake about 25 minutes.

Maker's Mark Frosting for Mike

1 stick room temperature butter
1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup room temperature cream cheese
3-6 tbsp (I used 6, but will use more next time) Maker's Mark
1/2 tsp good vanilla extract

With mixer on medium, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 4 mintues. Add cream cheese.  Switch speed to low and add vanilla. Add whiskey to taste, 1 tablespoon at a time.  Serve with Maker's on the rocks, if you're awesome.