lemon brown sugar cookies with royal icing

every holiday my daughter kelsey makes some kind of cut out cookies.  for this endeavor I am the sous chef.  i help set up, clean up, fetch ingredients and encourage her .....but mostly i watch the artist at work.  she turns out beautifully creative works of art that honestly are too pretty to eat.....these lemon brown sugar cookies tasted delicious!  this is a martha stewart recipe from her collection of recipes for every day cook book.  happy easter brother.....(inside joke those old easter egg dye/decorating kits had some ridiculous stickers in them...we don't have any brothers at our house so the dog had to wear that sticker...every easter we wish each other "happy easter brother!")

kelsey's ducks and carrots

for the cookies you'll need
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
12 tablespoons un-salted butter softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 eggs

sift together the flour and baking powder.
cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl until light.  beat in the eggs, then stir in the flour mixture thoroughly.  place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and form the dough into a disk.  Wrap the dough and chill for at least 2 hours.
preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  line baking sheets with parchment paper.  roll  out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter.  bake 5-8 minutes, until pale golden.  remove from the baking sheets and cool on racks.

for the royal icing you'll need
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg white
3 or 4 drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
food coloring

mix the sugar, egg white and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. it should have the consistence of heavy cream.  add desired food coloring.  kelsey makes multiple colors.
 

these beautiful cookies have a slight sweetness with a hint of lemon....they are like a shortbread cookie...really yummy.