This is one of my “maybe” Christmas cookies – I haven’t quite decided if this is going on the final baking list. Every year I always make at least one lemon treat because in the winter our lemon tree seems to always be exploding with lemons – and this year is no different.  I decided to experiment ahead of time to see if this new recipe would be a winner for the cookie list this year – but I can’t decide! People seem to always really enjoy what I’ve made in year’s past, so it’s hard to decide what to mix it up with. Maybe you’ll have an opinion?

You don’t need too much for this batch – fresh lemons, pistachios, and the usual suspects: sugar, flour, eggs and butter.

Start by whipping that butter and sugar together in a frenzy. Frenzy, I tell you! Anything else and it won’t turn out as right.

Well… it probably will. But I just like to say the word “frenzy”.

After that, you must add eggs. And flour. And lemon juice. Continue with the frenzy.

Then, pull it off the mixer and fold in your pistachios. I suppose you can to this in the mixer, too, but I rather like doing it by hand.

Just a thing, I guess.

Then you take your lemon zest…

and mix it in with a half a cup of sugar. Mix and smoosh it together to make “lemon sugar”.

The lemon sugar is super sparkly and makes the cookies shiny and glittery!

You’ll take a ball of dough and roll it up and then roll it around in the sugar.

Then place it on your cookie sheet and slightly flatten out the cookies. You can use your fingers or a little spoon, like I did.

The cookies spread out a bit, so I did rows of 2 so they’d have a little extra room for expanding.

If you like a really nice lemony flavor, use extra lemon juice when making the dough. If you’d rather have a “hint” of lemony flavor without feeling like you’ve been punched in the face, use about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice instead. I kind of lean towards “punch me in the face” but not everyone is into that (ie: Jake).

I love how the sugar sticks to the cookies and create a glittery effect. It reminds me of ornaments and frosted things. The pistachios give a nice little crunch to this cookie as well. If you want a crispier cookie, cook these for a tad longer – otherwise, these have a soft inside with a light crisp edge. Get the recipe below!
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