Lemon Crinkle Cookies

A few years ago, my Husband and I lost a dear friend, Patrick.  The stories of Patrick's love of history, art, literature, Russia, Orthodoxy and his church -- not to mention his eccentricities -- could go on for days.  My Husband and I helped sort through his house after he was gone.  In the kitchen, stuck to the inside wall of the kitchen cabinet, with a myriad of papers strewn around that cabinet shelf, was a half legal sized yellow envelope, full of index cards.  On each index card was a handwritten recipe.  I did not make the final decisions for his belongings, so I merely wrote with a thick black Sharpie marker: recipes, please do not throw away - Elizabeth.  When we received some of Patrick's things, these recipes and 2 small cookbooks were included for me.  I nearly cried, I was so deeply touched; and I carefully put all of his recipes in a binder, keeping the yellow envelope in the front folder of the same binder.   Such a treasure trove of recipes!  These lemon crinkle cookies are one of these recipes.

LEMON CRINKLE COOKIES
from a dear friend or family of Patrick's in Florida

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbs grated lemon rind
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
about 2 tbs sugar

Cream shortening and brown sugar until fluffy; add egg and lemon rind, beating well.  Combine flour, soda, cream of tartar, ginger, and salt; stir dry ingredients into creamed mixture.  Roll dough into 1 inch balls; roll each in sugar.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350F for 10 to 12 minutes.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen

I made these cookies for the first time today.  I zested 2 (organic) lemons -- avoiding any 'bad' spots and the lemon zest smelt so wonderfully lemony, the air was full of the scent of refreshment.  I baked them in 3 batches in my toaster oven for 10 minutes.  I found that the recipe made about 3 dozen, in part because my cookies were not fully uniform in size.  They came out of the oven soft, warm and a bit puffy.  As it has an egg in it (and today is Friday which is a fast day for us, as it was for Patrick), I am not trying one of these wonderfully smelling cookies until tomorrow morning! They cooled into small slightly crisp cookies and retained a wonderful lemony smell.  I have a feeling that they are going to be wonderful with a pot of hot black tea!

I hope to report back tomorrow on how they taste and my impression of them.  I can't wait!

July 27, 2019 

The cookies, that make a pleasing quiet clatter when placed on one's plate, were so lovely.  These cookies feel part of the past, as if they had an old soul; as if I can feel all the years ago, when Patrick first had these cookies in Florida.  They are surprisingly soft, chewy, a great level of sweetness (not over sweet).  The lemon, my Husband said, was like a 'hint' of lemon; I found the lemon tang lingered and was tasted most right before one swallowed, as if it was a second level of tasting experience.  My Husband found the chewy soft inside of the cookie to be like the texture of a ginger cookie.  The brown sugar and lemon zest made it a lovely balance.  I love how it feels like these cookies would have been made by my Great Aunt, my Grandma's sister who is over 90 years old now.  I can't wait to make these again!