Author Heather Greer shares a recipe with the taste of lemon.

Last Thursday, I featured Christian fiction writer Heather Greer on my blog. I normally share recipes on Tuesdays, but because of an interview that needed to post yesterday, I delayed sharing this until today. It looks and sounds delicious. Thanks, Heather, for sharing!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cutouts

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup confectioner’s sugar

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest

4 tsp. lemon juice

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. poppy seeds

¼ tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, poppy seeds, and salt.  Gradually beat this into the creamed mixture. Shape into a disk and cover tightly. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm enough to roll. 

Preheat oven to 350. Roll the dough between two sheets of waxed paper to ¼ inch thickness. Cut with a floured 1 ½ inch cookie cutter. Reroll scraps. Place 1 inch apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake until edges begin to brown, 10-12 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. 

Recipe makes about 3 dozen. 

Every year I try to add one new recipe to my list of Christmas cookies. This year everyone was less than enthusiastic when I said I was adding this one. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be one of the most requested cookies on the Christmas cookie tray. Everyone loved it, and it’s not a recipe that’s good just for Christmas. This recipe was originally printed in the Taste of Home Cookies book from 2018, and the recipe came from Ilana Pulda.