Lemon Cookies

I love lemons and I always try to have a bowl of them in my kitchen. They are bright and cheerful, last longer and are definitely cheaper than a bunch of flowers. Of course their other advantage is that you can eat them. These little lemon cookies are zesty and fresh and use both the juice and zest of the lemon, so no waste. Made small, they are a perfect sweet canapé, made larger they are a delicious teatime treat. They keep for a few days in a tin, but freeze as well, so you can keep some to liven up another day.

Ingredients - makes approximately 40

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Zest of 1 lemon (for extra lemon flavour use the zest of 2 lemons and freeze the extra juice)

2 tbsp lemon juice

100g caster sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

0.5 tsp vanilla essence

240g plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

0.5 tsp salt

Icing sugar to dust

Method

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Cream the softened butter with the sugar and lemon zest until light and pale.

Gradually add the beaten egg, lemon juice and vanilla essence. Don’t worry if it curdles at this stage.

Slowly add the dry ingredients - this will sort out the curdling

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for an hour or so.

Heat oven to 180°c /160°c fan.

For the canapé size, make small (walnut sized) balls, flatten them slightly and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cook for about 9 minutes. Place on a cooling rack and dust with icing sugar.