SOLC 2013 Day 30: The zen of baking

It's been about three months since I last made roll-and-cut sugar cookies.  Truth be told, they're kind of a pain to make, with all the steps it takes to get from mixer to decorated cookie.  For some reason, though, the baking bug bit me this weekend, and I decided to make a batch for our Easter dessert.

I love Penny's Roll and Cut Recipe from Cookie Stories by Penny McConnell and Kathy Sutton.  It consists of a no-chill dough that, as the authors claim, "cuts like a dream".  I added fresh lemon zest and juice to make them taste spring-y, and cut out egg and flower shapes.  

The recipe calls for six cups of flour, and makes dozens of cookies (a fact I seem to forget each time I make the recipe, when it's already too late to cut it in half).  Pretty soon I was in my "baking zone":  flouring and re-flouring the counter as I cut out the shapes, placing them on my silicone-mat-lined baking sheets, re-rolling the scraps to cut more.  Each batch takes nine minutes in my oven, which means I'm turning the sheets every four-and-a-half minutes.  One sheet is in the oven as I'm filling the emptied, cooled sheet with the next batch to go in.  

As the last of the cookies slide into the oven, I realize two hours have passed.  My kitchen meditation done, I wipe down the counters, dump the bowls, spatulas, and cutters into the sink, and wait for the final beep of the timer to sit down and rest...until it's time to make the royal icing and decorate them.

Not my best work...but I don't think my family will mind!