Lemon Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies

I don't know if it's possible to truly dislike any cookie but there definitely are two schools of thought.  The soft and chewy cookie lovers versus the crunchy cookie lovers.  I am completely in the second group.  Not even thin and crispy but, rather, thick and crunchy.  And that means shortbread.  Wonderfully, buttery, thick, crumbly, sweet but not too sweet shortbread!

Although I generally prefer my shortbread plain so that I can enjoy the texture, this time I wanted to add just a little bit of "tooth" to the batch.  I enjoy the touch of savory element that cornmeal adds to quick breads so why not to cookies?  And a little fresh lemon zest gave them a wonderful aroma.  Enjoy!















Ingredients
1 1/2 Sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon
1 Cup all purpose flour
3/4 Cup cornmeal
1/2 Teaspoon salt

Add the butter, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest to a bowl and beat together using a stand or hand mixer.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal and salt and beat it into the butter mixture.  Note that the mixture will be crumbly and you may need to work it into a dough ball with your hands but it will come together.  If it's a dry day and the dough still seems too crumbly, add a tablespoon of milk to help form it.  Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a sheet of parchment paper, cut with your favorite cutter but leave the cookie in place and simply peel the dough away from the sides.  You can keep the cookies pretty close together because this dough will not spread.  Place the parchment paper on a baking pan and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes.  The cookie edges will only be barely browned and the cookie itself will still be soft.  Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes until the cookies harden a bit.  Then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.  I used a 2 1/2" round cutter and got 18 cookies.