Lemon Shortbread Snowflake Squares

 

I have had this snowflake pan from Nordicware for years.

    

And over the holidays I baked up some of these Lemon Shortbread Squared and gave them to some friends and neighbors.  Shortbread.  An amazingly simple cookie.  Pretty much just butter and flour.  And of course any extra flavoring you might like to add.  There is something about the lemon in this cookie though that makes it one of my favorites.  I use real lemon zest and fresh squeezed juice when I can.  But lemon extract works just fine too.

And I love, love, love this snowflake pan.  The shortbread always releases easily for me and the cookies are just so darn pretty when you cut them into individual squares.  I love that the cutting lines are built in.  Foolproof and beautiful results every time.  And shop around for the pan…I’ve seen it online from several different sources and the prices vary greatly.   And the snowflakes are perfect for the wintertime not just the holidays.  Most of my baking seems to happen in the colder months and this pan is just plain fun to use.

         

Here is a link to the recipe I used:  Lemon Shortbread

Lemon Shortbread Squares

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or 2 teaspoons lemon extract
zest of one lemon
2 cups flour  ( I like to use Gold Medal unbleached all purpose flour)

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer.

Scrape sides of the bowl.

Add lemon juice, zest and flour and mix thoroughly on low speed. 

Pour the shortbread dough into your shortbread pan.  I lightly spray mine with Pam nonstick spray.   

Bake 15-20 minutes until the shortbread is very light brown and golden  in color.  (mine took 25 minutes)

 

And here is a variation that I just tried.  I added

3TBSP of Bailey’s Irish Cream Liquor  and baked them for 25 minutes.  They turned out delicious…not as much of a Bailey’s flavor as I had hoped but delicious just the same.