Lemon Cookies

As much as I love chocolate (baking with it AND eating it), sometimes it's good to mix things up and bake something different. And if I can't bake with chocolate, I might as well bake with fruit - like lemon. Over the years I've begun to like lemon-flavored foods and that includes these lemon cookies that my mom found online last year and made for Christmas. I guess they were such a hit because she added them to our list of what to bake. I volunteered to bake them, not realizing that they'd be a little more complicated than I originally thought. No problems - just time-consuming.

Lemon Cookies (source)

Cookies

• 1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® lemon cake mix
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/4 cup shortening (or butter)
• 1 egg
• 1 container Betty Crocker® Whipped or Rich & Creamy lemon frosting (instead I used a frosting recipe that my mom wrote on the printout of the cookie recipe, below)
• 1 lemon's peel (yup, the whole lemon. Just take out enough for the frosting)

Frosting

• 2+ cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1+ tsp lemon peel
• 1/4 cup (or more) lemon juice

1. Heat oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick cookie sheets). In large bowl, beat cake mix, butter, shortening and egg (and lemon peel) on medium speed about 1 minute or until blended.
2. Onto ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart.
3. Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until light brown around edges. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely.
4. To make frosting, mix all ingredients together (most likely, more powdered sugar will be needed. After the 2 cups, I started adding it by the scoopful). Frost cookies with frosting. Store covered.

My mom couldn't help herself and snuck one. She told me it was delicious. I snuck one as well; she was right. I'm sure they'll be a hit this week.