Classic Sugar Cookies

I recently received some dessert icing samples and this gave me the perfect excuse to make some sugar cookies.  I did a quick search on the Food Network website and stumbled upon a really easy recipe for classic sugar cookies.

First I gathered my ingredients:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest (the original recipe calls for orange zest)
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

I beat the butter, granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar until fluffy.  I was feeling a bit lazy and didn't want to use my hand mixer so I threw everything into my food processor.  I've seen other people use their food processor instead of a mixer and it seemed to work fine.

I then added the egg yolks, vanilla and lemon zest.

I transferred the butter mixture from the processor to a large bowl and then whisked in by hand the flour, baking powder and salt. 

I had some errands to run so I ended up chilling the dough for about two hours instead of the suggested thirty minutes.  The dough was pretty hard so I let soften up a bit at room temperature before I scooped out a tablespoon at a time, rolled each tablespoon into a ball and flattened it with the bottom of a drinking glass.

This recipe made over three dozen cookies.  They baked at 350 degrees for ten minutes.

The lemon zest added a really nice flavor to the sugar cookies.  They were moist and not overly sweet.  Bret's parents love cookies (especially his dad).  Since Bret is seeing them today, I sent a bunch of them with him to give to them.  The rest I'm going to decorate with the dessert icing samples!

I'm planning on doing some more baking and cooking this weekend.  I'm also running a 5K, cheering on my friends who are running the marathon and possibly heading to the Red Sox game.  What are you up to this weekend?