I brought these sunny delights to church yesterday.  I could have made chocolate or mocha or maple cookies.  But after catching a glimpse of Spring, only to be buried in snow again, I was feeling rebellious.  I wanted sunshine, darn it!  So I baked these sunny lemon treats.

I've been making these for years.  I often play with the recipe, adding lemon oil instead of extract, orange or lime in place of the lemon, or even adding chopped lemon thyme in the summer.  Over the years I've changed the original recipe a little, making the glaze thicker and tangier than the original, replacing the shortening with butter, adding more of a lemon flavour to the cookie and omitting the vanilla. I also add a little citric acid to the icing because I like it to be tangy, but I don't include that in the recipe.  Not everyone has citric acid on hand, or likes a tart glaze.

1 1/2 cups white sugar   
1/2 cup butter   
3 eggs   
1/2 cup milk   
1 teaspoon lemon extract or 1/2 tsp lemon oil
zest of two lemons   
3 cups all-purpose flour   
3 teaspoons baking powder   
1 pinch salt   

Icing
3 cups confectioners' sugar   
3tablespoon lemon juice   
1 teaspoon lemon extract or 1/2 tsp lemon oil
yellow gel food colouring   

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).   
       
Blend the white sugar and shortening until light. Beat in the eggs, milk, lemon extract and the lemon zest. Mix until well blended.
           
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the shortening mixture. Mix until combined (the dough will be sticky). Drop
teaspoonfuls of dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.     
       
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes. Let cookies cool then frost with icing.       
   
To Make Icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract to taste.  Add enough food colouring to get the tint you want.  Beat until smooth and make icing thick enough to spread on cooled cookies.  I like to scoop it onto a tablespoon and dip the tops of the cookies into them and let the excess drip off.  Add sprinkles if you like.

Makes 5 dozen