From the Pantry: Lemon cookies are a perfect spring treat

I always have loved sugar cookies.

That love comes from my great-grandma Edna who stocked her freezer with tins of her thin, crisp sugar cookies with just a hint of almond flavoring.

A visit to her house always involved a cookie or two and a chat at her small kitchen table. I especially think of these visits when spring is on the horizon knowing that, if she still were alive, she would be awaiting the swathes of wildflowers to bloom in her front yard.

While I am sure she served us her sugar cookies all year long I remember them mainly when the sun was warm on my shoulders and I could linger at the flowers that were almost as tall as I was.

When warm spring weather arrived a bit early this month I needed to make sugar cookies. I decided to make these especially sunny and introduce the bright flavor of lemon into the mix. Typically, I like a thinner, crispy sugar cookie much like my great-grandma's, but because that requires chilling, rolling and cutting, I opted for a soft, fluffy version instead.

When it is unusually warm outside, you don't want to linger over cookie preparation and squander the gift of no coat weather in March.

Rolling these cookies in sugar gives them a wonderful sparkle as well as a crunch and I recommend not skipping this step. These cookies are soft but chewy at the same time, which is the only way rolled cookies should be in my opinion.

If you want extra chewiness (and happy guests on a spring day), serve them straight from a tin in the freezer.

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Makes 2 dozen

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Whisk together flour, baking soda and baking powder in medium-size bowl.

In large bowl, using an electric or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy

Add egg yolks, vanilla extract, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix until combined.

Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Scoop dough into balls about two tablespoons each, roll in sugar and place onto prepared baking sheet.

Bake up to 18 minutes or until tops of cookies start to crack. Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from deliciouslysprinkled.com