Lemon Cutouts

For Kati I also decided to stay away from chocolate. I focused specifically on lemon since I remembered that she likes limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur (like my mom, she has happily embraced being an Italian-by-marriage). When I came across Lemon Cutouts in a Taste of Home Best-Loved Cookies & Candies magazine, it seemed perfect: a couple years ago for my birthday, she, Anthony, Kevin, and Helen got me a set of cookie cutters but I hadn't yet had the opportunity to use them. Until now.

St. Patrick's Day Double Post: Irish Shortbread and Mint Sugar Cookies

I didn't just make pretzel bites for our day of St. Patrick's Day performances; I also made Irish shortbread. Amber had asked me one day if I knew how to make Irish shortbread and I said no but I could most likely follow a recipe for it. This basically got the idea in my head that I had to make it for St. Patrick's Day.

My original plan was that I would make a batch then divide it in two: half for performance day and half for work. But I ended up only making about 8 so I figured I'd make something else for work. So I turned to my cookbooks for a sugar cookie recipe (since I wanted to give my hard copies some attention). At the end of performance day, though, I had almost the same amount of shortbread that I'd started with. So I still made the sugar cookies and took both to work on St. Patrick's Day.