New Year's Dove Cookies

                                                                  Lemon Butter Cookies

On Saturday I had a meeting at my house, so I decided to bake some cookies I have been wanting to try. The recipe shows the cookies cut in dove shapes with a tiny heart cut out. I didn't have a dove cookie cutter or a heart that small, so a couple of weeks ago I went to a site online, Shop Bakers Nook, and ordered them. The tiny heart came in a set of three Wilton Heart Fondant Cut-Outs.  Here is the recipe:

Lemon Butter Cookies

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened (regular butter is fine)

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. grated lemon peel (at least 4 lemons)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 large egg plus yolks of 2 large eggs

2  1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Egg Wash:

yolk of 1 large egg beaten with 2 tsp. cold water

Decoration:

Coarse (crystal) sugar or granulated sugar

                                                             The important ingredients

Soften the butter in the microwave for 15 seconds or so. Do not let it melt completely, because

you will want to cool down the dough before you roll it out.
Grate the lemons and scrape it off the grater. There must be an easier way to do this! :D

I grated four lemons and only ended up with 1 Tbsp. So...when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
I squeezed in about 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice to add some more lemon flavor!
Now you have the butter, sugar, grated lemon peel and some juice, the salt, and one large egg plus the yolks of two large eggs. Mix until pale and fluffy.
Add in the flour, and then I just mix it by hand.
This is only a single recipe so it will not require much stirring.
Flour your hands and divide the dough into four balls. Wrap with plastic wrap and put them into the fridge for at least 2 hours, or until dough is firm. If you want to speed things up and start rolling out cookies, put them into the freezer for 15 minutes, then transfer to the fridge. Only take one ball out at a time so that the others stay chilled. Pie and cookie dough roll out much easier when chilled.
This is what you will need for the second part: waxed paper, rolling pin, flour, an egg, and the cookie cutters.
Put down a piece of waxed paper (I use a plastic mat underneath to protect my counters), and lightly flour the paper and the rolling pin. Take one ball out of the fridge and gently roll out. As you roll, go around the edges with the left thumb and keep pushing in the edges so the dough remains round and not cracked. Continue to lightly flour the rolling pin so the dough does not stick to it.

Roll out the dough until it is approx. 1/4 inch thick. For this recipe I like a fairly thin dough, so you'll have a light, crisp cookie. Now take your dove cookie cutter and start to cut them out!  Important Tip: Dip the cutter in flour each time before cutting. Press down, then as you gently lift the cutter away, tap down very lightly on the left tail, wing and then head with your finger to help loosen it from the cutter so they won't tear off. Then cut out each tiny heart!
Before lifting off the cookies onto the tray, it is helpful to slide the tray under the waxed paper and set the tray in the freezer for just a few minutes. Then take out the tray and carefully lift off each cookie, gently popping out the heart. Line them up on the cookie tray.
Save all the scraps, and re-roll, combining with the new rolls coming out of the fridge. When you get down to the end of the dough, use the last scrap!! :D

If you would like to brush the cookies with the egg wash, do it now. It will give the cookies a bit of a golden color. If you want to skip that part like I did, and have whiter doves, just sprinkle some sugar on each cookie. I could not find the coarse, crystal sugar in our town, but granulated works just as well! The egg wash might be used to help hold the crystal sugar on the cookie.

I also took a toothpick and poked a small "eye" in each cookie and they really look like doves. The recipe made four trays full, almost four dozen, rolled thin. Bake 10~13 minutes or so at 350 degrees, watching very carefully! You want a crisp cookie, just barely tinged light golden around the edges.

Voila! I had plenty for my meeting and to take to church yesterday for coffee hour, and they disappeared so quickly. Yum! Happy New Year, family and friends.