Lemon Drop Cookies

Today was about as perfect as a day can be. My sweet little boys woke up so happy, got dressed for church all by themselves, then played together nicely until it was time to leave. The Geologist made me breakfast (even if I did have to coach him through it :) while I got my lesson ready. Sunny, warm, blue skies... angel children in church... lunch together after... baked cookies and delivered to a neighbor... had a blast with two of our favorite little girls in the WHOLE world... We went swimming today, which we usually don't do on Sundays, but it was a reward for the boys being such good "men of the house" while The Geologist was gone all those weeks. This is the Man of the House motto:

This is between them and their Dad, and they take their motto very seriously. Anyway, went swimming, lovely, came home, fed kids and off to bed, all as pleasantly as can be! Joe was out like a light in minutes. Then the Geologist and I made our dinner on the porch (it was running late) enjoying the setting sun and perfect temperature as the air cooled. Altogether, a heavenly day!

Lemon Drop Cookies (adapted slightly from The English Kitchen)
Printable Recipe

6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup caster/ultrafine sugar
zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange (2 lemons if they're small)
2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour

lemon curd
milk
sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Rub the citrus zests into the sugar. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, followed by vanilla. Stir in the almonds and flour, mixing well. 

Divide the mixture into 20 pieces and shape each into a ball between your palms. Place, evenly spaced, on the prepared baking sheets, leaving plenty of room in between. (I did 10 cookies per sheet) Using the handle of a wooden spoon make a deep depression in the center of each ball, wiggling it around just a little to open it up. 

Fill each hole with 1/2 tsp lemon curd. 

Pinch the opening semi closed to almost cover the curd. 

Brush with milk and sprinkle with almonds.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the edges start to brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

So delicious, like little almondy, citrusy shortbreads!

Soft and warm, with that scrumptious sticky, gooey, lemony center!

Summery little cookies, altogether yummy. Have I used up my weekly quota of "y" ending words?