Lemon Icebox Cookies

Or Refrigerator Cookies. I prefer Icebox Cookies myself, they sound very old fashioned. The name Refrigerator Cookie calls to mind a different sort of cookie beast, the stovetop cool in the fridge delight. While those have their own appeal there are firmly, in my mind, a Refrigerator Cookie. To me the Icebox Cookie was something your grandmother, smelling of rosewater, made just for her grandchildren. They were best eaten with the late afternoon sunlight cutting through dust particles in the air, while grandma looked on fondly and then sent you back outside to play. Sigh, I miss those days.

Now Icebox Cookies can be made into any flavor, I happened to have flavored mine lemon because lemon sounded so cool and refreshing in the summer heat. The real charm is how flexible they are; you can make them orange, chocolate, vanilla or swirled and you can make the dough ahead of time and keep it in the icebox to use when you need cookies STAT. I like flexibility, don't you? So have fun, try my recipe for lemon or try your own concoction.


Icebox Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon turmeric for color
juice of half a lemon
zest of half a lemon
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon of salt

cream the butter and sugar
beat in the eggs and turmeric
and then the juice and zest
sift the flour and salt together
then stir into the butter and sugar
divide into three or four logs and roll in waxed paper
chill in the fridge until ready to use or wrap better and put them in the freezer
when ready to bake slice into 1/4 inch or so slices and bake for 8-10 minutes in a 350˚ oven

Peace and Love--