I started some Christmas baking early this year. Usually I do it all coming up close to Christmas but I am learning what stresses me out and finding ways to relieve or eliminate that stress all together, so this year I got done a lot of baking already, beginning in November.

So far we made two different types of nanaimo bars, white chocolate raspberry and chocolate peppermint flavors. Both recipes I do want to post soon! We also made shortbread, regular and chocolate chip, and some lemon sugar cookies, which I am sharing here today!

I was going to make lemon shortbread, but the girls wanted to try chocolate chip shortbread instead so I just made a lemon sugar cookie with the lemon I had already zested and anticipated using in the shortbread recipe. So we had three batches of cookies on the go and it was a longer evening spent baking, but no one is complaining now that there are delicious cookies to snack on leading up to Christmas. And it keeps them away from the nanaimo bars which I find harder to replace if they get eaten before Christmas since that recipe requires a lot more work.

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups Earth Balance buttery spread, or other non-dairy margarine/butter
• 1 1/3 cups organic powdered sugar
• zest of 1 lemon (2 tablespoons lemon zest)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups organic unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup organic cane sugar, for rolling the dough into

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Place the 1/2 cup cane sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Cream together the margarine and powdered sugar in a medium mixing bowl.
4. Add the lemon zest and mix.
5. Add the baking powder and the flour, 1/2 cup at a time and mix until a cookie dough forms.
6. Roll the dough into teaspoon-sized balls between your hands, then roll the cookie dough into the cane sugar.
7. Place onto the baking sheet and press down slightly.
8. Repeat to make 3 dozen cookies.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven when cooked through but not golden.
10. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. Store in a container or cookie tin.

What are your favorite treats to bake and share at Christmas time?