Lemon Birthday Cookies

Recipe Name: Lemon Birthday Cookies

Notes: I sent these to Jill for her birthday. I had searched for a recipe for lemon cookies everywhere, and didn't find any that were satisfactory, so I took the best parts of a bunch of them and created these cookies. The dough is very soft and batter-like, which worried me at first, but in the end it creates a very light, moist cookie.

Servings: about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup shortening
  
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
  
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
  
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened lemonade mix powder
  

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the shortening, butter, sugar, and egg. Then add the lemon juice, lemon extract, and water. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Sift the powdered ingredients into the creamed ingredients, mixing all thoroughly. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, place one-inch balls of cookie dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. If your cookie sheet has a very dark nonstick coating, be sure to line it with parchment paper before baking. The dough is very soft and sticky, so it is probably best to scoop it right onto the sheet without trying to shape it with your hands. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes, or until the bottom edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown, but not the tops. While the cookies are baking, mix the confectioners' sugar and the lemondade powder thoroughly in a small bowl. When the cookies are cool enough to hold their form without crumbling, but are still a little warm, take them off the cookie sheet and toss them in the powdered sugar bowl so they are coated with the powdered sugar/lemonade mixture, and put them on a plate to cool.