Lemon Shortbread Trees Recipes

LEMON-BUTTER SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Sift or whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.
• Place butter in a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until very creamy. Add confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and flour mixture; mix until well combined.
• Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into rounds using a round cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cookies are light brown on the bottom but still very light on top, about 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for about 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
• Whisk melted butter and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Add lemon zest and whisk again. Whisk in confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time. Add more lemon juice if necessary for a thin consistency.
• Dip the top of each cookie in the glaze and transfer to a wire rack placed over waxed paper or parchment paper. Allow cookies to sit until glaze has set, about 2 hours.
• Store cookies in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper.

LEMON SHORTBREAD TREES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream the butter, confectioners' sugar and cornstarch until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon zest and juice. Gradually add flour and mix well., Divide dough into two portions; shape each into two 6-in. logs. Flatten top and push in sides at an angle to form a 2x2x1-1/2-in.-triangle. Wrap and chill until firm, for 4 hours., Unwrap and cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Break pretzel sticks in half; press into short side of each cookie for tree trunk. Bake at 350° 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool., In a large bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, water and meringue powder; beat on low speed just until combined. Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Remove 1 cup and tint red. Tint remaining icing green. (Keep unused icing covered at all times with a damp cloth.), Frost and decorate cookies as desired. Let dry at room temperature for several hours or until firm. Store in an airtight container.

LEMON SHORTBREAD SQUARES

Steps:

• Make Classic Shortbread dough, beating 1 teaspoon lemon zest with the butter. Mix 2 cups confectioners' sugar with the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Spread over the finished shortbread and sprinkle with yellow decorating sugar. Slice into squares.

GLUTEN-FREE LEMON SHORTBREADS

Steps:

• Line a 20 x 20cm cake tin with baking parchment. Blitz the flour, butter, half the icing sugar and the lemon zest together in a food processor until the mixture looks sandy. Add half the lemon juice and blitz again until the dough starts to clump together. At this stage, the dough will keep wrapped and frozen for up to two months. Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3.
• Press half the dough into the base of the tin using your fingertips, ensuring it's in an even layer. Spread the curd over the dough, leaving a ½cm border of around the edge.
• Roll the remaining dough into cherry tomato-sized balls, then press these into flat discs using your fingers. Arrange the dough discs over the layer of curd in a random patchwork pattern until completely covered. Bake for 35 mins until the shortbread is pale and lightly golden at the edges. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
• Mix the remaining icing sugar with enough of the remaining lemon juice to make a pourable icing. Drizzle this over the cooled shortbread and leave to set, then cut into 16 squares. Will keep in an airtight container for three days.

LEMON SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Next, add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and thyme and mix again. Finally, add the flour and salt and mix until just combined. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and flatten into a 1" disk. If the dough is sticky, wrap and chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm but still pliable.
• Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until about ¼" thick. If desired, you can roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Use 2" cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake for 10 to 14 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Keep any extra cut-out cookies in the fridge until ready to bake.
• Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. Store at room temperature for up to 5 days.

LEMON SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F. Blend first 5 ingredients in processor. Add butter; cut in using on/off turns until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Press 1 dough half onto bottom of each of two 8-inch-diameter cake pans. Pierce dough all over with fork.
• Bake until cooked through and pale golden, about 40 minutes. Cool shortbread in pans on racks 5 minutes. Cut each warm shortbread in pan into 12 wedges. Cool completely. Using spatula, carefully transfer to platter. (Can be made up to 4 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

LEMON-ROSEMARY CUTOUT TREES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, rosemary, lemon zest and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture., On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut out 30 trees, using a floured 3-in. tree-shaped cookie cutter; cut out 30 stars, using a floured 1/2-in. star-shaped cookie cutter., Place trees 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. If desired, sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely., Place stars 1 in. apart on an ungreased baking sheet. If desired, sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 6-8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on pan. Attach stars to trees with frosting.

LEMON SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees, with rack in upper third. Sift flour and salt into a bowl; set aside. Put butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl. Gradually add sugar; beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in lemon zest and juice.
• Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture all at once; mix until just combined.
• Halve dough, and shape into disks. Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out rounds with a 2-inch fluted cutter. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Bake until pale golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar.