Christmas Buttery Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread Cookies traditionally have just a few ingredients, so the buttery flavor really comes through. My cookies get a little extra crunch from the sugar sprinkled over the hot baked cookies as they come out of the oven. You can cut out any size or shape you like. Shapes with rounded edges bake best, because sharp points (on stars, for example) tend to get too brown. These caveats aside, shortbread is really quite easy to make.

Serves: 36 cookies
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes

1. In the bowl of a heavy duty electric mixer fitted with the paddle blade, beat the butter, superfine sugar, vanilla and lemon zest on medium speed until light in color and texture, about 2 minutes. With the machine on very low speed, gradually add the flour, mixing just until the dough is combined. Do not overmix. Gather the dough into a ball.
2. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle the top with flour. Roll into 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Place on a large piece of plastic wrap. Fold the plastice wrap loosely over the dough to enclose it, keeping the edge of the wrap at right angles. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to fill the corners of the wrap. This will give you a nice rectangle that will be easy to roll out after chilling. Transfer to a baking sheet and refrigerate until the dough is chilled and firm, but not rock hard, about 1 hour.
3. Position the racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
4. Rap the 4 edges of the dough rectangle a few times on the work surface. Unwrap the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Roll out the dough into a 1/4" thick rectangle. (If the dough cracks, it is too cold; let stand at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes and try again.
5. Using a 2" round cookie cutter dipped in flour, cut out the shortbread, cutting them out very closely to reduce the amount of scraps. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1/2 inch space between the cookies. Gather up the remaining dough, rewrap in plastice, roll into another 1/4" thick rectangle, chill for about 10 minutes, and cut out more cookies. Repeat chilling and cutting until all of the dough is used up.
6. Bake, switching the position of the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, until the shortbread is very lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle the cookies with the granulated sugar (the sugar will not stick if the cookies aren't hot). Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheets. Remove and serve!