Lemon Poppy Seed Cutouts {Recipe}

I have never been overwhelmingly interested in New Year parties, and the older I get, the more apparent it becomes.  I was SOOOO excited because this year I had nothing to do on New Year's Eve but stay home and try out some of the recipes I have been working on. 

They were all good, but my taste-testers (the Bern-Dogg family)  picked a winner hands down...

*LEMON POPPY SEED CUT-OUTS*

I have wanted to test this cookie for a LONG time, but just never had the time.  It made perfect sense to me, since some of my most favorite baked treats like scones and muffins are often this flavor. 

I tried this recipe two ways.  The first batch I iced with lemon royal icing, which is my RI flavored with vanilla and a splash of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

*Don't worry, I'm not going all Martha on you*

 The bottled stuff is fine, but my next  idea required real lemons anyway, so it only made sense to use the whole thing...

The first thing I noticed when making these cookies was how PRETTY the dough was.

For the first batch, I made black-eye pea cutouts.  They were very tasty, but for the second batch I wanted something simpler, and not as sweet.  So, I decided to top them with lemon sugar. 

To make the lemon sugar, I zested two whole lemons, and mixed the zest with half a cup of light yellow sanding sugar.  {White sugar works just fine, but I was feeling "yellow", so I went with sanding sugar}

  

For round one, I cut out simple scalloped circles and topped them with my sugar mixture.

Baked, they were GORGEOUS!

Then, seeing that they stood so well on their own two feet, I decided to go rustic...

As far as Bern-Dogg is concerned, if I only made THESE cookies for the rest of forever, that's good enough for him ...

 *he's easy to please =)*

And the best part is, the kids LOVED them.  Surprisingly, they actually preferred these over the iced ones!

However if you are feeling industrious, this would be the PERFECT base cookie for something like this...

If not, these are much simpler, and just as good!

I hope everyone enjoys this recipe as much as my family did!

SweetSugarBelle's Lemon Poppy Seed Cut-Outs

 *Preheat oven to 400° *

1c unsalted butter

1 ½ c confectioner's sugar

1 egg

2 tsp lemon baker’s emulsion (I LOVE baker's emulsion)

1 tsp vanilla

2 ¾-3 c all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

2 tsp poppy seeds

Cream together butter and confectioner's sugar.  Add to this the egg and flavorings.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, adding this mixture one cupful at a time to the wet ingredients.  Mix until the dough forms a ball on the paddle.  Roll out on floured parchment paper and cut into desired shapes.  Bake at 400° for 7-8 minutes.

No matter how you cut and decorate them, they are delicious!

I wish everyone a good week, and happy baking!

PS-Stay tuned later this week for my best giveaway yet!!!